The Outreach Resources of the Year honors the past year’s best books that emphasize outreach-oriented ideas.
Last fall we invited publishers and authors to submit resources that released between Nov. 1, 2022, and Oct. 31, 2023. The Outreach magazine editorial team then placed the qualifying titles into 13 key categories for review by expert panelists in each field. After thoughtful consideration, they selected one or more entries as an Outreach Resource of the Year and spotlighted some titles as “Also Recommended.”
Here you will discover valuable tools that belong on your bookshelf. You will reach for them time and again as they enhance your effectiveness in ministry through the years.
CHURCH
Evaluated by Knute Larson, pastoral coach; founder of Adult Bible Fellowships; and former pastor of The Chapel in Akron, Ohio.
RESOURCES OF THE YEAR
The Great Dechurching: Who’s Leaving, Why Are They Going, and What Will It Take to Bring Them Back? by Jim Davis and Michael Graham with Ryan P. Burge (Zondervan)
While too many people have waved goodbye to the church in recent years; this book brings to light research-based reasons as to why they left. But The Great Dechurching goes a step further by detailing excellent pastoral opportunities to bring them back.
The graphs throughout the book showing why attendees quit offer very good warnings to today’s church. The chapters on engaging the unchurched and lessons for the church will cause any serious believer or church leader to rethink their strategy. This carefully researched study and the accompanying suggestions should help close the back doors of many churches.
Hybrid Church: Rethinking the Church for a Post-Christian Digital Age by James Emery White (Zondervan Reflective)
Post-pandemic, many churches wondered when all the people were going to return. The truth was and is that church leaders need a hybrid strategy to reach those in the pews and those watching online.
While the use of communication techniques is prominent in this book—the reason to use a church app alone is convincing—this pastor’s warnings about the “limited gospel” instead of the whole Christian manner of caring like Jesus did is as strong as can be. The extra thoughts about being missional with the digital are practical and doable. And the five challenges that close this excellent how-to book should be embraced by every church leader.
ALSO RECOMMENDED
Planting by Pastoring: A Vision for Starting a Healthy Church by Nathan Knight (Crossway)
This specialty study not only is great for leaders who start churches from scratch, but it also is a wonderful challenge for every person who seeks to walk with Christ.