Taking Your Church to the Next Level: What Got You Here Won't Get You There

All local churches experience a predictable life cycle of growth and decline. But if a church is on a downward trend, how can it turn around? Taking Your Church to the Next Level explains the impact of age and size on churches and outlines the improvements that must be made at each point for a church to remain fruitful and faithful to its mission.
McIntosh deftly describes the cycles of fruitfulness and the importance of continual improvement to diminish destructive forces that keep a congregation from its mission. Church leaders, pastors, and all who care about the church and desire to see it experience biblical growth will benefit from the sage wisdom offered in these pages.


-Publisher

"Understanding church life cycles is one of the most helpful insights a pastor can gain. This book is the best I've seen on gaining those insights."--Charles Arn, president, Church Growth Inc."As a church consultant over a number of decades, Gary McIntosh pours his experience into his latest book Taking Your Church to the Next Level. He has seen it all over the years as he has interfaced with church leaders in the situations he describes. Now a wide readership can benefit from his astute observations, careful analysis, and acquired wisdom."--Edmund Gibbs, senior professor of Church Growth, Fuller Theological Seminary"Leading a church is, of course, a spiritual task. However, leading a dynamic, healthy church is also a managerial task. In this book, Gary McIntosh skillfully draws on the most up-to-date management research to provide strategic guidance to leaders of churches of all sizes and stages of life. With these practical principles, you can take it to the next level!"--C. Peter Wagner, chancellor, Wagner Leadership Institute"Gary L. McIntosh has done his research well, and taken Church Growth to a new level of understanding. He examines why some churches stop growing from a sociological and intrinsic level. Then he tells how a church can start growing again. There have been many other authors who have explained nongrowth in a superficial method of examining methods. This book is a must read for all serious students of Church Growth, because it will help them understand some of the intrinsic problems that keep a church from growing. Then the serious Church Growth student can address the issues properly and cause a church to grow again."--Elmer L. Towns, cofounder, Liberty University"Gary McIntosh is absolutely right: 'What got you to where you are won't get to where you want to be!' Here's the tool to help you take your church to the next level. Upon reading his helpful book, I kept asking myself: 'Where was Gary McIntosh when I needed him?' I highly recommend Taking Your Church to the Next Level to every church planter, pastor, and leader, regardless of the life stage or size of church. Dr. McIntosh provides so much helpful information and insight that this book will not gather dust on your shelf, but will become a well-used reference tool for years to come."--Stephen P. Struikmans, teaching and founding pastor, Rancho Community Church"In this book Gary McIntosh goes beyond simply identifying the challenges in the church today--he supplies the reader with practical tools to address those challenges. If you have the desire to move your church to the next level and are willing to put in the effort, you will want to read, share, and implement the insights this book offers." --Phil Stevenson, general director of Evangelism & Church Growth of The Wesleyan Church "Gary McIntosh has presented new ideas to describe the life cycle of the local church. His analysis assists church leaders in understanding what level of life cycle they are in and suggests action initiatives to take to reach the next level of fruitfulness. This book is an excellent resource in coaching pastors and lay leaders on strategies in leading a church to embrace new ways of doing ministry to break growth barriers, and go to the next level.--Ray Ellis, director of the Consulting Network for the Free Methodist Church of North America; senior pastor of Willow Vale Community Church
-Publisher