Almost everywhere throughout the greater church are unsustainable trends — endowments are being depleted, building maintenance deferred, congregations are aging and dwindling, and budgets are too far out of whack. And although there is much literature on what to do to grow congregations, little has been said about how to get those things done.

 

Help is on the way to help bring caving congregations Back from the Dead as prescribed by church leader/priest/executive Gerald W. Keucher.  Following the same pointed writing style of his earlier published works, including Remember the Future: Financial Leadership and Asset Management for Congregations, Keucher’s newest book focuses in very practical terms on how to bring the right spirit, approach, and tactics to the work of bringing a congregation back from the edge of the abyss:

 

Back from the Dead: The Book of Congregational Growth

Gerald W. Keucher  978-0-8192-2806-2 $18.00  Paper  6 x 9  128 pgs  October 2012

 

According to Gerald W. Keucher, retired chief operating officer of the Diocese of New York, “My years at the diocesan office in New York gave me opportunities to observe and think about what was working, what wasn’t, and what might be more effective. I came away with two deep convictions, each of which led to a book. First, unless leaders understand their responsibility to the future, they will make decisions that will shortchange and perhaps foreclose that future. Second, unless leaders at the parish and diocesan levels bring true mutual accountability to all their relationships, they will abuse the powers of their offices and weaken the part of the church they should be building up.”

 

Keucher’s advice for congregations is not denominationally specific, so it holds exceptional ecumenical appeal for all churches facing what appear to be insurmountable challenges.  It is expressly written in highly accessible, anecdotal prose for clergy and lay leaders in congregations of all mainline churches, plus Bishops and diocesan staff, and their ecumenical equivalents by a church management expert.

 

The new book can be ordered through any Episcopal, religious, or secular bookstore; through any online bookseller, or direct from Cokesbury Christian stores, www.Cokesbury.com, or from Cokesbury customer service at 800-672-1789.

Founded in 1918 and headquartered in New York City, Church Publishing Incorporated is the publisher of official worship materials, books, and music for the Episcopal Church, plus a multi-faceted publisher and supplier to the broader ecumenical marketplace. Publishing imprints include Church Publishing, Morehouse Publishing, and Seabury Books. Additional CPI divisions include Morehouse Church Supplies, a provider of church supplies and clergy shirts; and Morehouse Education Resources, which produces lectionary-based curriculum, faith formation programs, plus e-publishing resources and services.

 

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Table of Contents
1. The Ground Has Shifted. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Writing The Book of Congregational Growth

“Closing the Sale”

Can This Parish Be Saved?

How Can We Talk About These Matters?

Why It Isn’t Working

A Method, Not a Checklist or a Tool

How We Will Proceed

Filling in the Blanks

2. New Ways of Living in Our Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

The Legacy of Establishment

Obsession with Hierarchy

Preoccupation with the Institution

The Seductive Power of Coercion

3. Our Conventional Wisdom Isn’t Helping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

A System Produces What It Is Designed to Produce

The Question of Diversity

Uniformity Versus Comprehensiveness

Talking About Decline

4. Packing Your Toolkit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Make All Relationships Two-Way

Believe That Death Is Not Inevitable

Be Enchanted

Keep Some Emotional Perspective

Remember: Laypeople Are the Solution, Not the Problem

Integrate Your Prayer and Your Work

Figure Out How to Deal with Being Taken Advantage Of

Put on the Whole Armor of God

5. Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Get the Gestalt

The Totalitarian Vestry

Be Transparent

Remember: You Are Indispensable, But It’s Not About You

Get the Right People on Board

Address the Major Sources of Anxiety

Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff

Start Talking, Start Doing

If Manna Falls from Heaven, Eat It

Personal Generosity Primes the Pump

Summing Up

6. Get Control of the Buildings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Get Rid of the Junk

Tackle the Immediate Problem

Reasonable Debt Plays a Role

Work with the Diocese

Develop Some Kind of Capital Plan

Learn About Buildings

Let Other Things Happen as They Can

7. Make the Budget Work. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Getting from Here to Health

There Are No “Bad” Sources of Income

Papering Over Financial Problems

Misplaced Faith, Unrealistic Projections

Hiding Numbers in the Budget

The Shape of the Budget

The Solution Is Always on the Income Side

How to Stop Overspending the Investments

8. Healthy Leadership in a Post-Christendom Church . . . . . . . . . . 122

Remember: The People Are Part of the Solution

Difficult Things Do Not Require Conflict

A Fight Worth Having

Central Authority and Personal Faith

Control as Little as Possible

Live with What Cannot Be Fixed

I Have No Agenda: I Just Want It to Work

Endnotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

 

Other Books by Gerald W. Keucher

 

Humble and Strong: Mutually Accountable Leadership in the Church

978-0-8192-2408-8  144 pgs  6X9  Morehouse Publishing  October/2010

 

Remember the Future: Financial Leadership and Asset Management for Congregations
978-0-89869-518-2  160 pgs  6X9  Church Publishing  April/2006

 

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Contact

Bill Falvey
502-614-6629