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Title: Who Stole My Church?: What to Do When the Church You Love Tries to Enter the 21st Century
ISBN: 078522601X
Author:
Gordon MacDonald
Publicate Date: 2008-01-08
Publish: 2008-01-08
List Price: $21.99
Average Customer Rating: 4.5
Format: Hardcover
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $10.95
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $13.64
Amazon Merchant Price: $14.95
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| Customer Review: |
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1: good dealer
Product was in perfect condition and delivered in a timely manner. I highly recommend this dealer
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2: A sensitive and well written appeal for change
I could not put this book down and I am sharing it with the older members of our church who are working through just how things have changed. Although it is a novelization, I thought I recognized so many of the characters in the book and the tough times and triumphs of the fictional church. It is a sensitive and loving guide for those over 50 on how our churches must change in order to survive. It is also a wonderful witness to who the church really belongs to and what its real mission is.
There are many guides to change but this is one of the most insightful on how change impacts the lives of people of faith.
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3: Pastor Gordon Tries to Keep The Older Generation Onboard
This is a fictional story where the author writes himself into the story as the pastor of a church struggling with change. The older members don't like all the powerpoints and the loud praise music with the same words and phrases robotically repeated. They don't appreciate the organ being turned off and put out of the way. They miss hearing the old hymns. They want to know "Who Stole My Church?"
Pastor MacDonald convenes a Discovery Group with many of these older members. He discusses church history, the history of change within Christianity, and the need to modernize and update the way ministries are carried out.
Gordon also does a good job of developing the characters around the table. John is a quiet, mysterious, long time church member with an explosive temper. Russ is a businessman estranged from his son. Win, Yvonne, and Lillian are some of the more outspoken members of the group. Clayton is dating someone, but is still grieving the loss of his wife.
A fine job, and Macdonald brings the point home with clarity: The church belongs to God, and we need to reach out across generational lines and come together.
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4: Great book about changes in the church today
The author, a pastor with 40 years of experience writes as if dealing with a small committee of people who are concerned with the changes taking place as the church tries to reach out to be more contemporary. With humor, but with compassion, he addresses the fears and concerns of his parishoners when the verities they have clung to about worship style, music, priorities etc are challenged. The characters he posits are much like those I've encountered in my church experience. I can hear my own complaints about change echoed in the words of his characters. It is a thought provoking and well written book.
Ruth Smith - Elder, Presbyterian church.
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5: Nice Read
The author of the book does a good job at highlighting the cultural shift that is taking place and how the older generations in the Church are reacting to it. This is not an academic piece. This narrative reads as a fictional account of a Church going through the changes that postmodernity has brought and asks itself how to deal with it. I found it valuable and a joy to read.
I can thoroughly recommend it!
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