Books on church transformation and growth tend to be from the perspective of “conservative evangelical” pastors or churches. I believe mainline congregations have a lot to learn from the successes and the failures of these churches. I have read tons of these books and in general they say similar things. Each year a new slant will garner about 100 new books on growth and transformation. At times these texts are annoying to me because having grown up in conservative evangelical churches I have intentionally left their walls for more freedom. While there is conversation about growth I often feel like the only interest of such texts is numerical growth and not growth of the person or the spirit. (I know this is my own bias but this is also my own blog so what can I say) Transforming the Mainline Church is one of the first books that I found that is written from a mainline perspective. Chesnut is a Presbyterian pastor. His book walks you though his glorious and tragic years at East Liberty Presbyterian Church.
One of the things I enjoyed this book was his scholarly perspective. He continually refers to theologians and theological perspectives that influence the decisions we make in our churches. While his book is based in his history it all flows from a paper he wrote in his undergraduate nearly 50 years previous.
Before I go any further let me tell you this is one of the most profound books I have ever read in this genre. While you will see a lot of things I have gleaned from this text in the next few posts what is most transformative for me has been Chestnut’s ability to remain through conflict. It was a few months ago that a mentor pastor (thanks sam) told me that every pastor faces deep conflict in their congregation and while I might not have experienced much of it yet I will. The question is, do you leave when conflict arises? Now I’m not talking about little conflicts that we face every day, I’m talking about the kind of conflict where your character and calling is called into question…The kind of conflict that makes you despise the church…the type of conflict where it would be clearly easier to leave than to stand strong for what is right and just.
I would like to think I would stand but you never know till the time comes…
One thing is certain my father has met this moment and continues to stand. Thanks for good examples pops and sam.
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