Across North America, congregations and their leaders are experiencing unprecedented anxiety. Despite the many organizational and growth strategies offered to congregational leaders over the last five decades, few congregations are growing, and most are coping with numerical decline. With fewer people attending worship and fewer students offering themselves for ordination, at least in mainline denominations, many Christians worry that the church across the continent is in the process of dying. While Ervine's book may not offer swift solutions, it does offer hope. Fearful congregations and their leaders are invited to set the search for quick-fix solutions aside and, instead, take the time to discover and then respect the identity, purpose, and ministry priorities that the New Testament provides to congregations. This book is written in the conviction that clarity about their "in Christ" identity, their purpose in God's ongoing mission, and what is essential to their ministry will give congregations new confidence to offer Christian witness rooted in biblical teaching while respecting twenty-first-century cultural realities.
