I read a lot of different authors, especially those who speak truth and wisdom about the challenges and opportunities facing churches. Robert Creech released a book in 2019 about Family Systems and Congregational Life. One of my favorites is Philip Yancey’s book, Church: Why Bother? Several years ago Bill Hybels released a book titled, Just Walk Across the Room, about creative ways to build connections. I was glad to contribute to the recent Center for Healthy Churches book which addresses the question, What Is a Healthy Church? Before her passing, journalist Phyllis Tickle gifted us with The Great Emergence: How Christianity Is Changing and Why. And I continue to be inspired by Bishop Michael Curry’s book, Crazy Christians: A Call to Follow Jesus.

Recently I read Carey Nieuwhof’s book Lasting Impact: 7 Powerful Conversations That Will Help Your Church Grow. Nieuwhof’s message is painful, helpful, and encouraging. At times it almost seems like Nieuwhof has been reading my mail, although the truths he shares are applicable to most congregations.

Here are 12 excerpts from Nieuwhof’s recent books that can help us navigate the challenges and opportunities knocking at our church door:

• Remember, it’s not your programs or methods as a church that are sacred; it’s your mission.
• We’re leading people to Jesus, not to ourselves or to our awesome church. Keeping the focus on Christ ensures that genuine life change happens and lasts.
• Churches in decline often think in terms of what they can get from people—money, time, growth, etc. Churches that will make an impact on the future will be passionate about what they want for people—financial balance, generosity, the joy of serving, healthier families, and of course, Christ at the center of everyone’s life.
• The staggering truth is that 40 to 50 percent of students who are active in the church in their senior year of high school will drift away from the church as young adults. Did you catch that? Not 40 to 50 percent of kids, but 40 to 50 percent of kids who are active in their final year of high school will walk away.
• If your church is a museum of 1950 or even 2012, the likelihood of reaching the next generation diminishes with every passing day.
• Many individual congregations and some entire denominations won’t survive the next ten years. The difference between those who make it and those who don’t will be the difference between those who cling to the mission and those who cling to the model. When you go through a cultural shift as deep as the present shift, the mission survives but the model changes.
• People need to be reached. The love of Jesus was designed to spill far beyond the walls of the church, not be contained within them.
• Talk to people you disagree with, not about them.
• A B-plus plan brilliantly executed beats an A-plus plan that never gets implemented, every single time.
• If the change inside the church isn’t equal to or greater than the change outside our walls, greater irrelevance is inevitable.
• The challenge is not to resist change but to learn how to thrive in the midst of it.
• The remarkable part of Christianity is not that we have a Savior who came to deliver us but that we have a Savior who sees us for who we really are and loves us anyway.

As God continues to do a “new thing” in our churches, let us treasure the past yet embrace the future. Let us be faithful and flexible. Let us be prepared to change our methods of ministry to accomplish our mission. And let us always prioritize God’s plan more than our preferences.

(Barry Howard serves as pastor of the Church at Wieuca in North Atlanta. He also serves as a leadership coach and columnist for the Center for Healthy Churches. He and his wife Amanda currently reside in Brookhaven, Georgia.)