Unbinding the Gospel: Real Life Evangelism

by Martha Grace Reese

Book Overview

Based on a major, four-year study of superb evangelism, funded by the Lilly Endowment, Unbinding the Gospel sparkles with life, practicality and spiritual depth. Unbinding the Gospel: Real Life Evangelism is a book for pastors who want to know the truth about the state of evangelism. Recently selected by The Christian Century as a featured "Take and Read"book (2007 book issue), Unbinding the Gospel is a book for Christians who want a hopeful, powerful,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0827238088
• ISBN13: 9780827238084
• Release Date: September 2008
• Publisher: Chalice Press
• Length: 210 Pages
• Weight: 1.03 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 7.0" x 9.9"

Customer Reviews

Useful Work

Unbinding the Gospel is a very useful book in a field overfull with relatively theoretical books. It is fact filled, starting with a base in a solid survey of growing churches. But it gets to real issues of parish ministry and outreach. The survey asked the right questions about how to engineer any kind of growth in a more main-line culture and theology, in which, specifically, it is NOT asumed that eternal damnation is at stake. Ms. Reese and her associates designed a telling survey. They discovered that only a small percentage of churches "so conceived and so dedicated" have experienced significant growth. That is the bad news. But then they delved into the culture, leadership, spirituality and experience of those churches. Very good news here! Conclusions? The book is designed primarily to be read with a group in a parish. The conclusions reached are best implemented in small goups. Simply stated, the growth of these more open churches was related in each case to a sincere spirituality. The experience of God is paramount, and crosses theological and cultural boundaries. While it may be too simplistic to say that where there is real prayer, churches will grow, it is a clear conclusion that where there is no prayer -- where there is no experience of a living God, churches will wither. And virtually each of the interviewed leaders, while diverse in ministry style and tradition, rooted their ministires in prayer and spirituality. These are stories of churches doing the possible: of committing to six months of prayer before launching any outreach program, of reaching out to a small rural and demographically static community, of actually growing a congregation! Very encouraging and helpful work.

Review from Congregations Magazine - Summer, 2007

Unbinding the Gospel REAL LIFE EVANGELISM Martha Grace Reese St. Louis, MO: Chalice Press, 2006 "For the purpose of this book," writes Martha Grace Reese, "evangelism is anything you do to help another person move closer to a relationship with God, or into Christian community." With those freeing words, the Gospel already feels a little more unbound, and likely so will anyone who reads Unbinding the Gospel. Throughout this engaging book, the author relies on a combination of creativity, humor, straight talk, keen organization, and most importantly, the power of prayer to help us reframe what it means to be faithful disciples through evangelism. She reveals the heart of what it means to share good news with others. Based on a four-year evangelism research project that included 150 churches and more than 1,000 interviews, the book is written in three parts. The first examines the state of evangelism in mainline churches today, the second provides examples of "great churches sharing their faith," and the third explores what Reese describes as "the possibilities God has in mind for you." Each part carries a helpful reminder of where one is in the "map" of the book, imparting Reese's clear sense of direction and purpose in writing the book in the first place. Though an excellent and practical study book for an evangelism team, it would be a shame if this volume gets pigeonholed as one more book about technique. In the end, Reese helps us take a long, hard look at what it really means to be church--to be the living, breathing, effective body of Christ in the midst of a world so desperately in need of the kind of peace Christ gives. The overall feeling one gets from reading Unbinding the Gospel is that of having a real heart to heart conversation with the author, one that is long overdue. Her delightfully conversational style is so punctuated with exclamation points that from time to time I had the feeling I was reading Mark's gospel. But her sense of urgency is well-founded, as she illustrates. Citing sobering statistics, such as the fact that "in 2000 there were only half as many mainline Protestants as there were 40 years before," Reese prepares us for a hard landing by putting the numerical losses in human terms. In the next decades, she says, millions more will join the ranks of those who have never attended a church. "They won't have memories of a Christian grandmother, father, or next-door neighbor. The thought of `going back to church' when they're in trouble will never occur to them, because they have never been inside a church building in the first place. For them, a church is an alien, possibly intimidating place--not a cradle of comfort and hope." But if you think this is another shrill warning of the ecclesial sky falling, it's anything but. With a great deal of optimism, hope, and honesty, Reese helps us sort through the tangle of issues surrounding evangelism and distills one poignant question for us to ponder:

For any Christian struggling for a new perspective of evangelism

Excellent review and study tool for the Mainline Evangelism Project. Reese challenges those Christians and churches that have underplayed the role of evangelism in their congregations to look at the call of the gospel anew. There are questions at the end of each chapter that make this an excellent study for Sunday School classes or any church leadership group.

Sharing Our Stories

If anyone had tried to tell me we could get 80 church members to come to a Saturday retreat to talk about Evangelism, I would have told them they were crazy... We're a mainline church - and Evangelism just isn't something we are comfortable with.. But Unbinding the Gospel motivated my church to move in ways I couldn't imagine.. As the book suggested, we prayed - not just once, but faithfully... and 80 people read the book and showed up on a Saturday.. And they joined in groups to pray for each other... for the church.. and for all those who needed to hear the story.. I have been an active layperson in my church for a decade.. We've tried many things along the way.. This book challenged us to be more faithful - and to share our faith more faithfully. I'm convinced it has planted mustard seeds that will bloom in ways only God can imagine.

From Surviving to Thriving

Unbinding the Gospel, Real Life Evangelism, Martha Grace Reese, Chalice Press, St. Louis, Mo., 2006. Who says mainline churches can't do evangelism? Former pastor Martha Grace began a Lilly grant study to prove some can and do. Several years later she has come to the conclusion that though they can they need conversion themselves, first. The purpose of the mainline evangelism project was to find churches that are doing effective evangelism. What she found was that only 150 out of 30,000 mainline churches were. That's a demoralizing one half of one percent. Enough to dull the edge of anyone's resolve, but Martha Grace was convinced that things could be different, and that there are actions that every church along the full spectrum of theology and styles could take to reverse the sad trend of the last four decades. This book will convince you that she is right! And will (more importantly) inspire you to act on what you have learned. From the bad news statistics we move quickly to "three stories of victory" that show us how evangelism is being done in "real life," in some mainline churches throughout North America. The inspiration these real churches provide help us to understand what new members want and need and how they are finding it in the transformation of their own lives by the gospel of Jesus Christ. What we find here is not more idealistic rhetoric but natural, proven ways and concrete examples of some of our churches that are really touching their communities with Christian hope and making a definite difference in their neighborhoods. The last section of the book helps us work confidently and effectively with our congregations as they re-pattern themselves for ministry in the 21st Century, praying their way through changes that can drive them forward with confidence instead of just trying to survive. Here is sound advice for pastors to lead out of example and stay long enough to see their congregations change. Each chapter of this compelling book ends with "honest to God" discussion questions to be answered first personally, and then in small groups. Suggestions for concrete action also help us move from clear, biblical motivation to the world of real church and community. There is enough fertile ground here for any pastor and her/his church leaders to plow for at least a year. It would make a dynamic Lenten or Fall study for any group or a whole congregation. And those who sow are bound to reap in this soul searching and hope-filled guide to mainline church life in the days ahead. Don't miss this one! Bruce Laverman