No Perfect People Allowed: Creating a Come-as-You-Are Culture in the Church - Softcover

Burke, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0310275016 ISBN 13: 9780310275015

Publisher: Zondervan, 2007

Synopsis

How do we live out the message of Jesus in today's ever-changing culture? The church is facing its greatest challenge--and its greatest opportunity--in our postmodern, post-Christian world. God is drawing thousands of spiritually curious "imperfect people" to become his church--but how are we doing at welcoming them? No Perfect People Allowed shows you how to deconstruct the five main barriers standing between emerging generations and your church by creating the right culture. From inspiring stories of real people once far from God, to practical ideas that can be applied by any local church, this book offers a refreshing vision of the potential and power of the Body of Christ to transform lives today.

 

"We now are living in a post-Christian America--and that means we must be rethinking ministry through a missionary mindset. What makes this book both unique and extremely helpful is that it is filled with real-life stories of post-Christian people becoming followers of Jesus--not just statistics or data about them." Dan Kimball, Author, The Emerging Church 

 

"No Perfect People Allowed is a timely and necessary word for church leaders in a post Christian culture. John Burke serves up quite a tasty meal full of the rich nutrients that will strengthen the Body of Christ." Randy Frazee, Senior Pastor, Pantego Bible Church; Author, The Connecting Church and Making Room for Life

About this title

About the Author:

John Burke and his wife, Kathy, founded Gateway Church in Austin, Texas, in 1998. Since then, Gateway has grown to over 3,000 people, 70 percent of whom are in their twenties and thirties, and consists mostly of unchurched people who began actively following Christ at Gateway. Burke is also the author of No Perfect People Allowed: Creating a Come-as-You-Are Culture in the Church.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

No Perfect People Allowed Copyright 2005 by John Burke Requests for information should be addressed to: Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Burke, John, 1963-- No perfect people allowed : creating a come-as-you-are culture in the church / John Burke. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. Summary: 'Discusses ways church leaders and congregations can reach out to and connect with postmodern, post-Christian society'--- Provided by publisher. ISBN-10: 0-310-25655-0 ISBN-13: 978-0-310-25655-7 1. Pastoral theology. 2. Postmodernism---Religious aspects---Christianity. I. Title. BV4011.3.B87 2005 253---dc22 2005000359 This edition printed on acid-free paper. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible: New International Version. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. The quotations from the writings and interviews with Mark Laaser are used with his permission. The Twelve Steps are reprinted with permission of Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. (AAWS). Permission to reprint the Twelve Steps does not mean that AAWS has reviewed or approved the contents of this publication or that AAWS necessarily agrees with the views expressed herein. AA is a program of recovery from alcoholism only---use of the Twelve Steps in connection with programs and activities that are patterned after AA but address other problems, or in any other non-AA context, does not imply otherwise. Additionally, while AA is a spiritual program, AA is not a religious program. Thus, AA is not affiliated or allied with any sect, denomination, or specific religious belief. The website addresses recommended throughout this book are offered as a resource to you. These websites are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement on the part of Zondervan, nor do we vouch for their content for the life of this book. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means---electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other---except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher. Interior design by Tracey Walker Printed in the United States of America 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 /?DCI/ 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Artist: Patrick Shinn All artwork has been contributed by artists at Gateway Community Church. INTRODUCTION: GOD'S STORY IN OUR STORIES People ask me how long it took to write this book. The truth is---about fifteen years. I left the business world for campus ministry fifteen years ago because I wanted to help my generation find authentic faith like I was beginning to experience. The first seven years of ministry to America's first postmodern* generation were discouraging---I almost lost hope. Since then, God has turned my philosophy of church and ministry upside down. I now believe that only a church full of imperfect people, acting as his Body, can bring the hope and healing needed to change our postmodern world for the better---one life at a time. That's why I've written this book, because I see God powerfully at work in our generation. A year ago I attended a conference about ministry in a postmodern context. I found myself terribly discouraged and bothered---and tired of modern-church deconstruction! For the past six years, I've read numerous books, attended conferences, and surfed the blogs about the emerging trends of new generations and their new ways of thinking.We have deconstructed everything, identified all the problems with the current church, and proclaimed what we knew would not work.We've read statisticians like Barna, Gallup, and Regele warn of the impending doom for our generation and the church in America. What disturbs me is the absence of a path forward. We don't need more deconstruction, more theories, and more statistics; rather, we need tangible evidence that God is still doing what God has always done in every generation, constructing his church out of the most hopeless situation. It's not tearing-down time anymore---it's construction time! At the conference that day, I ran into Jack Kuhatschek from Zondervan, whom I had met years earlier. He listened as I shared stories of the amazing things we've seen God doing in a cynical, skeptical, broken generation. I explained the hope I see for our generation in our church and in other churches around the country. Intrigued, Jack flew to Austin later that month and heard many powerful stories from the people themselves. Jack encouraged me to share this with others who desire to see God reaching our broken post-Christian, postmodern culture. No Perfect People Allowed gives tangible evidence that God can and does reach our generation through his church. Austin is a window into the future because it attracts so many young adults. A Forbes survey called it America's 'coolest' city, ranking it the best place for singles in America---singles who move here from all over the country, seeking employment in our high-tech, recreational, artsy capital city. The stories in this book represent the diversity of our generation across the nation. You'll read about people who grew up on the East Coast and the West and in between, from the wealthy to the poor, from Anglo, Black, Hispanic, and Asian backgrounds, singles and marrieds. This is truly the most diverse generation in American history, and, as you'll see, it's a generation not easily reached by a one-size-fits-all approach. But the people of this generation form the context in which the church must function, and they live all around you right now. Though I've changed some names and details where necessary to protect the privacy of my friends at Gateway, the stories in this book are about real people dear to my heart. (Those who requested I use their real names are noted with a double dagger---††.) They have willingly shared their struggles, barriers, and brokenness 10 enness in hopes of helping others find God's goodness. Some have not arrived at faith but have allowed me to present their stories in process. The hardest part was selecting a few stories to include, since there are hundreds more to be told of God's amazing works in reclaiming our generation as his family. I've written this book primarily for leaders---church leaders, small group leaders, and ministry leaders---to help them create a come-as-youare culture to bridge the chasm between the church and our postmodern world. Yet I believe No Perfect People Allowed gives a unique insight into the struggle for faith that will benefit everyone---skeptics and believers alike. You will see in vivid detail how God meets seeking people in mysterious, unique ways, and you will see how no one is too far away or too far gone for God's loving reach. Whoever you are, I pray this book inspires in you a confidence that God is still at work in our generation. I pray you are motivated to action so that we may see his-story continue to unfold through his church for generations to come. My desire in writing is to tell God's story about his work in one church for our generation. I'm amazed at God's great work and what he's showing us. This is simply a gift we've received that we share, and so we pass on what we received in the hope that others might receive the same gift from God.My prayer for this book is that God might use it to give his greatest gift to our generation---and the next and the next---through his church.

About this edition

• Publisher: Zondervan
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0310275016
• ISBN 13: 9780310275015
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336