The Perfectly Imperfect Church: Redefining the "Ideal" Church

This is the first of Sjogren's books I have read. His reputation for innovative ideas, especially in servant evangelism and seeker awareness is well-earned. For this book, Sjogren has reflected on his many years of ministerial experience and lays out a new case for what most churches should be striving to achieve. One interesting and often overlooked insight is that mega-churches are often built around one key, super-leader. This may work well in those isolated cases, but the formula is not repeatable no matter how many conference sessions attempt to make it so. Instead, small (struggling) churches, defined as less than 200 in membership, should not aim for the stars, but for the next fruitful plateau which the author defines as being in the 300-500 member range. Size itself is de-emphasized in this book with the focus instead being on making many effective community oriented churches. Sjogren says these days he would prefer 12 500-member churches that are well attuned to various communities in a city over one 6000 member mega-church. The Perfectly Imperfect Church is so named because its perfection lies in the fact it is an effective, kingdom-through-community-oriented church, not a giant postcard perfect one that is polished to a high gloss. After laying out the background motivation and vision for the book, Sjogren paints a portrait of the Perfectly Imperfect (or Pretty Good) Church in thirteen short chapters. Each chapter is focused on a Path for creating an effective mid-size church.Path1 is to keep it all "Simple" by being basic and service minded in virtually every aspect. Path 2 points the church "Upward" to God with worship that is authentic, inviting and intertwined with evangelism. Path 3 points the church "Outward" towards consistent and real evangelism that is simple enough to work. Path 4 is "Anointed", or authentic embodiment of service to others as a way of showing Christ's love to them. Path 5 is to have "Fun" by lightening up a bit and even being silly sometimes. Path 6 Provides excellent details on how to make church "Safe", in numerous ways, so people can focus on God. Path 7 is to be "Inclusive" by seeing Christian life as cycling through the 4 stages of hospital, family, school and army. There are no completely arrived Christians that no longer need these 4 stages. Path 8 is to make "Trusting" small groups; good hands on details here about leading a small group. Path 9 is to be "Atmospheric" in a way that makes the church experience inviting in every conceivable category. Path 10 is to be Generous in all directions, including towards other churches in need of help. Generosity is considered the most important of the 13 Paths. Path 11 is my favorite part of the book where "True" is described in three circles of 1) essential doctrine all Christians need to hold in order to be Christian, 2) tradition that various denominations will hold, and 3) opinions, which abound among individuals. The point is to not squab

A few years ago I read Conspiracy of Kindness by Steve Sjogren and it radically altered the way I view evangelism. Conspiracy of Kindness was biblical, doable and practical. That's a pretty good description for this book - it's short on theory and long on practicality. Warren's "Purpose Driven Church," and Pope's "The Prevailing Church" are great places to go for theory and some practical steps, but this book by Sjogren is particularly useful for small churches looking for ways to grow. To begin with, Sjogren defines four kinds of churches - the struggling church, the ego-driven church, the launching pad church, and the pretty good church. I think he rightly points out that many of the mega-churches of the day are ego-driven churches. This is not to say that the pastors of those churches all have big egos, but rather that those churches are built around the particular skills and the charisma of these larger than life leaders. And, since most of us don't possess the same skills and charisma as those leaders it is going to be very hard to duplicate their sucesses. In The Perfectly Imperfect Church Sjogren focuses on one audience - the church of less than 200 - the struggling church. This is where most churches in the U.S. are today. He says that most of us won't make it to the level of a mega-church but most of us can have a pretty good church of 300-500 people which is active in ministry. This book is targeted to such churches and is full of great ideas. Some of the ideas are a little off the wall, but each pastor can filter it through his own theological grid and use what is helpful. I particularly like his emphasis on outreach. Throughout the book his passion for outreach comes through - this must be central to all we do and he also shows that outreach is alot easier and more doable than we thought. I like it that Sjogren also defines discipleship as doing, not studying and getting mystical. I could go on, but suffice it to say - this book is worth your while - it's an easy read, but it has food for thought that will keep you going for quite awhile.

As a new church planter who has been a part of new churches in the past, I can say that this book is a must read for anyone wanting to extend the kingdom by building a powerful, intimate faith community. Sjogren has an understanding of what people are looking for in church. They do not want watered-down entertainment. They want depth and an experience of God. Sjogren masterfully shows how we can be build great churches that are giving people what they want and need. A great book.