Change Your Church For Good: A book review

Change your Church for Good: The Art of Sacred Cow Tipping
By Brad Powell; Thomas Nelson Publishing, 2007.

At the very least, you have to admit that the title is a creative and good one. It is probably one of my favorite book titles. But, at some point, we have to actually read the book, and see if the content is as good as the title! The inside book cover says this about the church that this particular author is pastor of: “Transitioning NorthRidge Church into a thriving congregation, recently named the Midwest’s Fastest Growing Church and One of the Top 50 Most Influential Churches, was hard work but eternally worth it. Through once irrelevant and dying, this church is now reaching thousands of people for Christ and providing the hope of renewal to churches around the world.”

As a pastor, the story of a church making an eternal impact on its world is a story I am very interested in. It is my desire that our church, regardless of size, be a church that is a positive influence in its surrounding communities, for the glory of God. This book is basically the story of NorthRidge Church, formerly Temple Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan. The principles shared are those this pastor discovered along the way, in transitioning his church into one that reached people with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Here are my favorite quotes from the book:
“Though churches are in possession of the most profound, exciting, needed, and life-changing truth the world has ever known, the way many of them present this truth is superficial, boring, undesirable, and nonimpacting.” [p.16]

“Any given church is simply a reflection of those who attend. Each church reflects those ideas and principles that the people who attend genuinely value and love.” [p.19]

“I believe that the church is the hope of the world, with this one caveat…when it’s working right.” [p.24]

“I learned that the only way I could effectively lead the church through change was from the bottom…in full recognition of my weakness and inability and complete dependence on Him.” [p.31]

“In fact most of its problems were being caused by a commitment to yesterday’s solutions…All of the methods being used by this church were relevant for an era that no longer existed…Over time, they had allowed their practices to supersede God’s principles.” [p.33,34]

“God wants the church to be authentic. It should be a place where broken people can come in and find help. It should not be a place that forces people to hide their hurts, temptations, addictions, flaws, and problems. It should be a place where they can find grace and healing.” [p.49]

“God intended the church to be relevant, not irrelevant…The church is supposed to be answering the questions about God’s hope that people are asking. But, in most churches, no one’s answering their questions. Generally, they’re wasting time answering questions nobody’s asking.” [p.50]

“The goal of the church should never be to get people to know and fall in love with their religious traditions but to get people to know and fall in love with God.” [p.53]

“His purpose isn’t to protect denominational identity, traditional liturgies, dress codes, musical styles, outdated ministry methods and programs, or particular translations of t eh Bible. His purpose is to seek and save the lost.” [p.57]

“Unfortunately, most churches are organized to serve the interests and well-being of the insiders rather than the outsiders.” [67]

“Most Christians…are trying to keep people from leaving…their churches rather than reaching out to new people…In light of Jesus’ promise (to build His church), what causes His followers and churches to cower in fear of losing people? The only answer is that we aren’t fully trusting or believing Him.” [p.68]

“The truth is that relevance, speaking in the language of the culture, in no way compromises God’s truth. Irrelevance is the compromise.” [p.81]

“As long as the truth remains pure, the delivery method does not matter. It’s the truth that is essential for life.” [p.87]

“As a result of the example of Christ, I strongly believe that it’s up to the mature Christ-followers to sacrifice for the lost, rather than the other way around.” [p.99]

“How sad that people paint their faces, wear bizarre outfits, and make fools out of themselves to support and cheer on their favorite sports team. But when it comes to supporting and celebrating the One who died and then came back from the dead, churches can be so dispassionate.” [p.100]

[quoting a familiar saying] – “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.” [p. 1460

“The church should be structured to let leaders lead, not to keep leaders from leading.” [p. 150]

“The only legitimate vision, purpose, and values for a church are those lifted from the pages of the Word of God…Unfortunately, too many churches fall in love with the way they do ministry instead of with the reason they do ministry.” [pg.194,195]

“Yet many are content for church to be everything they want, enjoy, and love, though it offers no genuine help or hope for those broken and hurting people.” [p. 212]

“If the primary services of the church aren’t relevant to outsiders, the church will not grow or reach people. In general, this is the place where change needs to begin.” [p. 228]

“The church needs to be experiencing God in fresh ways – in the now. God hasn’t changed. He is still doing new things and writing new songs. It’s so sad that so many churches refuse to enjoy those things and sing those songs. He’s the same God, but He isn’t always experienced in the same ways.” [p.249]

Although I said these were my favorite quotes, it doesn't necessarily mean that they have no flaws, or that I fully agree with them. They made me think, and pray, and question my own leadership and our own church. I have certainly been a part of churches, where it was all about the insider and much real concern was given toward the outsider, who was unfamiliar with our tradition and terminology.

As far as negatives about the book, I suppose I can say what I say about every other book, that tells a story about their church and then shares priniples that can be applied anywhere. Every church is different; and how God blesses certain principles in one place is not necessarily how He blesses those principles in another. If we try to be just like this church, or any other, for that matter, we would do what this author woudl counsel against. I need to spend some more time, thinking through this story, and its principles, in order to determine where exactly it fits into our present ministry. That has already been a discussion between myself and our other pastor.


One thing that drew my interest, especially to this book and story, was that the church the author was talking about was once a very traditional church, holding onto to the past, and applauded by others. However, they had lost sight of what was most important. It was crucial, in this author's opinion, that a transition had to take place, in order to reach people and glorify God.
I have grown up in and have experienced churches just like this. My desire is that the present church I have the privilege of pastoring, will pursue God's glory, by pursuing people who are not yet His; and sacrifice everything but the truth in order to do it. That is my prayer.

I recommend that every pastor read this book; and use it to discuss their own church, evaluating it based on the Bible, and God's command to "make disciples". It can be a challenging, exciting process. I feel we are going through that right now.