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Though we believe in outreach, most Christian communities tend to turn inward, focusing on our own needs and developing insular groups lacking many relationships with outsiders. The result is occasional evangelism and rare conversations.
Don Everts, Val Gordon, and Doug Schaupp's Breaking the Huddle applies the insights regarding the five thresholds of postmodern conversion forwarded in Everts and Schaupp's groundbreaking book, I Once Was Lost, to demonstrate how whole communities can move from huddled communities into witnessing and conversion communities, where evangelistic growth becomes the new normal.
Our churches and fellowships can become places where evangelism is not done by a just few people, but where the whole community itself becomes a winsome, thriving witness to those around it. Break out of the huddle. Find out how.
| Title: Breaking the Huddle: How Your Community Can Grow Its Witness By: Don Everts, Doug Schaupp, Val Gordon Format: Paperback Number of Pages: 220 Vendor: InterVarsity Press Publication Date: 2016 | Dimensions: 8.25 X 5.5 (inches) Weight: 9 ounces ISBN: 0830844910 ISBN-13: 9780830844913 Stock No: WW844913 |
Most Christians are stuck in the huddle. Even though we believe in outreach, most communities tend to focus on our own needs. That turns us into insular groups without many relationships with outsiders. So evangelism is occasional and conversions are rare. How do we change? In their groundbreaking book I Once Was Lost, Don Everts and Doug Schaupp identified five thresholds that individuals cross when they shift from being skeptics to followers. Now they and Val Gordon show how huddled communities can become witnessing communities and then conversion communities, where evangelistic growth becomes the new normal. The authors have studied the growth of congregations, what enhances and limits them, and have gathered best practices for transformation. Our churches and fellowships can become places where evangelism is not done by a just few people, but where the whole community itself becomes a winsome, thriving witness to those around it. Break out of the huddle. Find out how.
"Don, Doug, and Val are fantastic coaches, and they've given you a playbook to get you off the evangelism sidelines. If you put these field-tested plays into practice—with God's Spirit—you'll get your church or faith community back in the game that truly matters."
—James Choung, national director of evangelism, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, author of True Story and Real Life
"If you liked I Once Was Lost on the five thresholds of postmodern conversion (which I loved!) you will love Breaking the Huddle, which applies those insights to whole communities, helping them break their inward-focused huddle and ultimately become a conversion movement for the kingdom of God. Who wouldn't want that? Read this book and catch the wave of the Spirit for witness in our day!"
—Rick Richardson, professor of evangelism and leadership, Wheaton College, evangelism and research fellow, Billy Graham Center, director, Evangelizing Churches Initiative, author of Reimagining Evangelism
"One of the most difficult things in building a missional congregation is to knead into the dough a real passion for evangelism that becomes a cultural norm. Many books motivate personal witness. This is one of the few books that gets at how to lead a cultural change toward being a community that stimulates real ongoing conversion."
—Jim Singleton, associate professor for pastoral leadership and evangelism, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
Don Everts is minister of outreach at Bonhomme Presbyterian Church in Chesterfield, Missouri, where he spends time cultivating relationships with people who are generally skeptical Christians with a passion for evangelism and global justice. He previously served as an area director for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship in Boulder, Colorado. His books include I Once Was Lost, Go and Do, and Jesus with Dirty Feet.
Doug Schaupp is associate director of evangelism for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. A writer and teacher, he focuses on racial issues, postmodern evangelism, and leadership development. He is based in Los Angeles and graduated from Fuller Seminary. He is the coauthor of I Once Was Lost and Being White.
Val Gordon is the owner of Gearshift Consulting, a firm specializing in assisting mission-driven organizations to overcome their obstacles to growth. She is also a consultant with the learning and talent department of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, and she previously served InterVarsity as associate regional director of New England. She lives with her family in Mystic, Connecticut.
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