10 Great Ideas from Church History: A Decision-Maker's Guide to Shaping Your Church

When considering various books and other resources for our vision casting as a local church leadership team, I came across this interesting title. As I looked into it further, I discovered that our team (and me, personally) had been looking at the "Vision" paradigm for local church ministry from the context of the last ten years or so. The books, articles, speakers, conferences of the last ten years are very, VERY similar, but often very, VERY shallow and man-centered (although Bible verses abound to show at least some attempt to include God). The key aspect that caused me to purchase this title was that these were people who had lived out what we are endeavoring to do, from a biblical base/foundation, and without the "bells and whistles" of our contemporary evangelical world. The "Ideas" of the book are key principles from the lives and learning of some of the greatest Christian leaders of history. With vibrant faith and often bull-dogged determination, these leaders displayed the power of God in personal and inspiring manner. This book cuts through the fluff and reminds us that building the church is God's work, and He chooses to reach the world through people who are fully surrendered to His Spirit's control and guidance. I invite local church leaders (pastors, Elders, Vision-casting teams, etc.) to consider this resource when they are seeking to follow God's Vision for the local church.