The Upside-Down Church

by Greg Laurie

Book Overview

$2000 Gold Medallion Award winner!$$$The Upside Down Church$is a must-read for pastors and church lay leaders to help them grasp the principles of biblical church growth. Any church can revolutionize... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 084237812X
• ISBN13: 9780842378123
• Release Date: May 1999
• Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers
• Length: 222 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

An Easy & Rewarding Read

Before I began to read The Upside Down Church I had already decided I was not going to like it. I'm not sure if it was the picture of Greg Laurie sitting on his Harley that turned me off (to my shame) or if it was that I had just read The Purpose Driven Church and I didn't much want to hear another theory on church growth. My first two minutes of reading only confirmed my irrational preconceptions. Laurie begins his book by listing the accomplishments of his church (Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California). Over fifteen thousand attend the church every week; three to four thousand come to Christ every year through those services and so on. This all seemed a little self-serving to me. He then describes the unusual way he was thrust into the ministry.Laurie spends the next 200 pages laying out the principles he used to grow his church from a small Bible study of 30 converted hippies to a thriving fellowship of over fifteen thousand. What is shocking about the book is not the success of his church or that God could take a man from such humble beginnings and grant him great success. What is shocking is that the church exploded in growth and continues to grow without applying any of the principles deemed so important by today's church growth experts. Harvest Fellowship has never advertised in any way. They have never done community surveys, have never sent flyers out to the homes around their church and have never even placed an advertisement in the local newspaper. Their growth has come entirely from the people within the church living out the Great Commission.The title of the book reveals a truth about the Christian life and a truth about Harvest Fellowship. Christians are called to live their lives in a way that appears to the world to be upside down. Only an upside down heart could love an enemy and turn the other cheek. The other truth contained in the title is that Greg Laurie's church has used church growth methods that are upside down when compared to today's church grown models (The Purpose Driven model would be an example). Where these models insist that the only way to be relevant to a culture is to study it, interview the people and then meet their felt needs, Harvest Fellowship's approach has simply been to live out the Great Commission.What I undoubtedly appreciated most about The Upside Down Church is that every point the author makes is drawn from Scripture. His method of church growth is based very simply on a keen understanding of the early church and an emphasis on studying and applying Scripture. This compares favorably with a book like The Purpose Driven Church, which draws heavily on marketing and business models, at least as heavily as it draws on the Bible. Laurie spends a entire chapter of the book discussing the problems with treating the unbelievers a church hopes to reach as "consumers" rather than "communers." Laurie also turns to prominent preachers of the past such as Tozer and Spurgeon,

The Acts Model of Church Growth

In the Upside Down Church Greg Laurie calls on the church to leave slick marketing strategies behind and return to the ministry model demonstrated in the book of Acts. He challenges Christians to refocus their attention to evangelizing their world, committing themselves to God's Word, loving others, praying with power and worshiping in spirit and in truth. Laurie's writing style is humble, down to earth, well illustrated, relevant, and enjoyable. The testimony of his personal ministry calling and the launching of Harvest Church are interesting and God honoring. This isn't a book of techniques or methods but rather a back-to-the-basics model of Biblical mandates and challenges presented by one of the most effective evangelists and pastors of our generation.

Are we doing "church" or being "church" ?

In this book, Pastor Laurie uses the biblical guidance found in the book of Acts to show what the New Testament church really looked like. We have come a long way from them! The author shows us how we can overcome our traditional methods and get back to the point where we can quit "doing" church and get back to the original root and intent of Jesus Great Commision: go out and show the love of Christ and tell others about what He has done for you! Oh, if only we could emulate the first Christians in this manner! Only read this book if you are ready to have your understanding and beliefs of traditional "church" to be challenged and maybe the modern church would begin multiplying daily as the New Testament church did, "41 So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and there were added that day about three thousand souls. 42 And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 And everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. 44 And all those who had believed were together, and had all things in common; 45 and they {began} selling their property and possessions, and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. 46 And day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, 47 praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved." Acts 2:41-47 (NAS)God bless!

Reminding the church to get back to God's basics.

Using the book of Acts as an example, Greg illustrates how God moves and adds to His church and stresses the importance of following His plan.