Culture Shift

This book was eye-opening for me, and gave me a fresh new prespective on the life of a church. We need to focus less on self and on the future of the church to bring life and vitality to the church.

This book is about how to think, not what to think. It is a great book that helps pastors and leaders see the importance of setting the culture rather than trying to do patchwork quick-fixes on the church. Because culture has a way of communicating itself, if culture is not changed, things would slide back to what they were, and may continue to deteriorate. Your culture is the lens through which you view your life. If you change the lens, you change your outlook. Change the culture, and everything else changes, including the future. Changing a culture is an inside-out approach that transforms the place. Transformation can never be brought in from the outside. Transformation is inside work, and every church already possess the elements that can bring it about. Because culture shapes the church, and leaders make the culture, this book helps leaders work through cultural issues in their church, and to find ways to change and incarnate the godly culture that they would want. In this book are also questions and suggesstions that guide the reader into looking at how things are, working out where you want to go, and areas to focus on to take you there. In general, a church that goes through a culture shift would likely go through the following (pg. 183-4): 1. Identify and believe God's promises about your church's potential. 2. Model kingdom culture personally. 3. Enlist allies to champion the culture shift. 4. Focus on "what we're becoming." 5. Compare the vision of the future to present reality. 6. Outline a specific, doable pathway. 7. Help it filter through the church, and learn from feedback you receive. 8. Stay focused on transformed people, and on those receptive to change. 9. Make heroes of people who best represent the kingdom values. 10. Celebrate every success, and give God the glory.