Breaking the Huddle

Breaking the Huddle
How Your Community Can Grow Its Witness
(IVP, 2016)

WHO: Don Everts, minister of outreach at Bonhomme Presbyterian Church in Chesterfield, Missouri; Doug Schaupp, associate director of evangelism for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and Val Gordon, a consultant with the learning and talent department of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.

THEY SAY: “Real community-wide change is possible, and purposeful (not magical) practical steps and influence and leadership can help make that change possible. There are real ways that we can help our communities grow their witness.”

THE BIG IDEA: Entire church communities can grow their witness for Christ, and evangelistic growth can be the new normal, even in a postmodern context.

THE PROGRESSION: Part 1 helps churches recognize what kind of outreach community they have by defining three types: huddled (limited witness), witnessing (engaged in witness) and conversion (aligned around witness).
Part 2 is a roadmap for taking a church community from where it is currently to the next level by following Jesus’ example, nurturing discipleship momentum and mobilizing relational evangelism.
Part 3 offers two strategies—embracing God movements and aligning vision, structures and people—to help churches become communities that produce real conversion.
Part 4 wraps up the book with inspiration and practical tips for leading an outreach change in the church.

“You will enjoy the authors’ holistic, process-driven approach that culminates in the reality that God is at work in the world today, and Christians need to recover a sense that it takes a team on a kingdom mission to move forward and be the force for good that God intends.”

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A 2018 Outreach Resource of the Year—Evangelism Category

”This book will be especially helpful to leaders who desire a greater alignment to vision and structure and the participation of people. You will enjoy the authors’ holistic, process-driven approach that culminates in the reality that God is at work in the world today, and Christians need to recover a sense that it takes a team on a kingdom mission to move forward and be the force for good that God intends.”

Evaluated by Ed Stetzer, an Outreach magazine contributing editor, who holds the Billy Graham distinguished chair of church, mission and evangelism at Wheaton College and the Wheaton Grad School, where he also directs the Billy Graham Center.

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