Seven Key Principles For Effective Ministry: Nurturing Thriving Churches in a Postmodern Culture

by David A. Harrell

Many people today think the most effective means to reach this postmodern world for Christ is for the church to become more attractive and relevant to the culture. It must reinvent itself, adjust its gospel message, be less dogmatic, more therapeutic, tolerant, and entertaining. It must pander to the culture, take up its social causes, even conform to it but never oppose it. Yet such a position is totally foreign to Scripture and therefore mitigates the power and blessing of God. With clarity and conviction, Dave Harrell guides readers through the priorities of a biblically focused ministry paradigm a paradigm that transcends the vagaries of modern culture that may be applied with confidence by ministers and Christian leaders alike.

186 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2019

About the author

Even though this is David Harrell’s first exploration into writing, his imagination has been active since early childhood. He would often lock himself in his room in order to create the ultimate battle between Star Wars and GI Joe figurines. Harrell now lives in Fort Worth, Texas, with his wife and two boys, where he is a Ninth Grade English Teacher for North Crowley. As a father and as a teacher, he encourages them to never waste their imaginations.

Reviews

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book offers plenty of good insights into ministry. Unfortunately, the author doesn’t always demonstrate his proofs from Scripture. Thus, the book sometimes feels like an opportunity to vent about preferences more than an opportunity to teach principles. For example, the author seems to suggest that wearing jeans at church means a person has lost sight of God's transcendence (p. 136). And again, The author dedicates an entire chapter (5) to arguing for the method of expository preaching using Colossians 1:28. I don’t believe the author proves how the verse leads to his very specific definition of expository preaching, namely “a doctrinal proclamation of the Word of God derived from an exegetical process that is concerned only with the revelation of God, not the wisdom of man.”