Shrink: Faithful Ministry in a Church-Growth Culture
Digital Verbum Edition
Overview
Among followers of Jesus, great is often the enemy of good.
The drive to be great—to be a success by the standards of the world—often crowds out the qualities of goodness, virtue, and faithfulness that should define the central focus of Christian leadership. In the culture of today’s church, successful leadership is often judged by what works, while persistent faithfulness takes a back seat. If a ministry doesn’t produce results, it is dropped. If people don’t respond, we move on. This pursuit of “greatness” exerts a crushing pressure on the local church and creates a consuming anxiety in its leaders. In their pursuit of this warped vision of greatness, church leaders end up embracing a leadership narrative that runs counter to the sacrificial call of the gospel story.
When church leaders focus on faithfulness to God and the gospel, however, it’s always a kingdom-win—regardless of the visible results of their ministry. John the Baptist modeled this kind of leadership. As John’s disciples crossed the Jordan River to follow after Jesus, John freely released them to a greater calling than following him. Speaking of Jesus, John said: “He must increase, but I must decrease.” Joyfully satisfied to have been faithful to his calling, John knew that the size and scope of his ministry would be determined by the will of the Father, not his own will. Following the example of John the Baptist and with a careful look at the teaching of Scripture, Tim Suttle dares church leaders to risk failure by chasing the vision God has given them—no matter how small it might seem—instead of pursuing the broad path of pragmatism that leads to fame and numerical success.
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- Dares church leaders to risk failure by chasing the vision God has given
- Plows the scorched soil of the American church so it can take roots again and live
- Calls out the American obsession with bigness and greatness toward a vision of church life rooted in faithfulness
Don't Try to Be Great
- Success
- Great is the Enemy of Good
- The Failure of the Megachurch
Three Essential Transitions
- From Models to an Ecclesiology
- From Strategies to Stories
- From Techniques to Virtues
Growing in Virtue
- Vulnerability - The Cardinal Virtue of Christian Leadership
- Cooperation and the Mythic Failure of Competition
- The Power of Brokenness
- The Necessity of Patience
- The Struggle for Fidelity
- A Practical but Not Pragmatic Conclusion
Top Highlights
“Here’s the heart of my ethos and the foundation of everything I will say in this book: there’s leadership, and then there’s Christian leadership. Christian leadership is categorically different from any other mode of leadership.” (Page 24)
“The church’s job is not to grow. The church’s job is not to thrive or even to survive. The church’s job is to be the church—to bear witness to the lordship of Jesus Christ in the way we organize our common lives—which will always involve a lot of dying on behalf of each other, the world, and the gospel.” (Page 30)
“This is a false assumption. The church’s job is not to grow. The church’s job is not to thrive. The church’s job is not even to survive. The church’s job is to be faithful. Our growth, even our survival, is predicated on the will and power of God. The church’s job is to be the church.” (Page 27)
“The church’s job is to organize our common life together in a way that images God to all creation, bearing witness to the new reality that Jesus is Lord and that his everlasting life has broken into creation and is putting the world to rights.” (Page 81)
“The church’s job, then, is neither to save the culture nor to save souls. The church’s job is simply to be the church—to be a colony of heaven in a culture of hell.” (Pages 28–29)
"The megachurch is an attempt to free vulnerability through size” is just one of the astute judgments that informs this book. Church growth strategies are the death gurgle of a church that has lost its way. Suttle helps us see how God in our time is making us leaner and meaner. I hope this book will be widely read."
— Stanley Hauerwas, Gilbert T. Rowe Emeritus Professor of Divinity and Law, Duke University
"It takes courage to write a book like this. It also takes courage to read a book like this. Tim Suttle calls for a major shift in how we think about church growth. This conversation is challenging and empowering; unsettling and comforting; convicting and, ultimately, inspiring. That tension embodies the gospel itself, as does this refreshing perspective on congregational leadership. If you’re ready to explore ministry that is rooted in faithfulness and fruitfulness rather than culturally derived models of “success,” this is the book you’ve been waiting for. Shrink is full of life-giving good news for those who want to abandon the hamster wheel of western church culture and lead in the way of Jesus."
— Rev. Erin Wathen, “Irreverin,” Senior Pastor, Saint Andrew Chris tian Church, Kansas City
"In the tradition of the biblical prophets, Tim Suttle boldly but gently calls us out of our American obsession with bigness and greatness toward a vision of church life rooted in faithfulness. Shrink is one of the wisest and most significant evangelical books that I’ve read in the last decade; it is essential reading for every pastor and church leader!"
— C. Christopher Smith, co-author Slow Church and founding editor of The Englewood Review of Books