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Good to Grow: Building a Missional Church in the 21st Century-One Church's Story
How one south London church grew to over 1,000 in 15 years and the lessons learned along the way. Leading a church brings lots of challenges but when the church is growing, the challenges grow too. Leadership strategies and decisions can make or break the healthy ministry wisdom and grace are in big demand!
224 pages, Paperback
First published July 3, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 11, 2021
I appreciated his focus in mission, that being outward looking is the essential function of the church. Furthermore, his reflections on how the community of Christ reflects gods glory to the world around you was insightful and refreshing.
However, most of the other forms of theology in this book was way off the mark. Scripture was lacking entirely, and when it was mentioned it was wrongly applied. A huge amount of naval gazing.
It's hard to critique a book like this, given that the author is 'succesful,' but I worry about the pattern of ministry obsessed with numbers and size and what that says about the gospel.
I don't know how to reconcile a desire to see the church grow and to fulfill Matthew 28, with a very worldly feeling focus on percentage year on year growth and the vision to hit '1000' members. If a church isn't growing is it failing?
I don't know the answer to that question.
However, most of the other forms of theology in this book was way off the mark. Scripture was lacking entirely, and when it was mentioned it was wrongly applied. A huge amount of naval gazing.
It's hard to critique a book like this, given that the author is 'succesful,' but I worry about the pattern of ministry obsessed with numbers and size and what that says about the gospel.
I don't know how to reconcile a desire to see the church grow and to fulfill Matthew 28, with a very worldly feeling focus on percentage year on year growth and the vision to hit '1000' members. If a church isn't growing is it failing?
I don't know the answer to that question.
September 30, 2019
Really enjoyed this book. Not too long and not too short - chapters were perfect. Steve has lived it out and now talking about it. A really good book going through different stages of church life and new obstacles he overcame. It was really well written. The only thing I would critique is it had way too many names for me of people I don’t know, even though I am from the same network of churches and am a friend of the family. It was clear he maybe wanted to honour those people who were with him on the journey but it could of maybe been a wider read and served more people if being less so specific.
Fantastic insight and some good one liners
I still use ‘staff for growth’ in the middle of conversations.
Fantastic insight and some good one liners
I still use ‘staff for growth’ in the middle of conversations.
May 26, 2016
In the interests of full disclosure I should say that I count some of the staff and members of Kings as friends and am part of the same family of churches as the author of this book, Steve Tibbert. It's always a slightly tricky thing when you review a book by someone you know. Being a sycophant isn't my thing but then I've not always got the balance right when making public comments about people who, after all, are on the same team. That makes it sound like I'm about to pan this book, which I'm really not at all.
Good to Grow is the story of Kings Church in south-east London since Steve's became the leader in the early 90's. It's a story of a church that has grown from some 200 to well over a thousand regular attenders, now meeting across multiple sites and pushing ahead at some rate of knots. As such it's a story to be applauded. There simply aren't enough stories like this in the UK of churches growing consistently over the years and breaking through significant barriers in terms of numbers and diversity.
It also contains the leadership lessons that Steve has learnt along the way and Steve is a very focused leader and there is lots of good stuff here particularly on building a diverse church, building a great marriage and the challenge of regularly retooling your leadership team to be ready for the next season of growth.
The chapters are short and the tone is conversational so you race through the pages quickly and nowhere does it get bogged down in detail. I read it in about three hours and it's time well spent.
At times the book is a bit uneven and patchy and this is mostly when the story and the leadership lessons get mixed up and the chapter loses focus,. This was more evident at the beginning of the book as the story of the early years of Steve's tenure was recalled. The book became much sharper and found its stride from the middle onwards.
However, any quibbles I have are minor and it certainly doesn't spoil the book. The big take home lesson for me was the importance of building a great team which undoubtedly Steve has done. So for an encouraging story of church growth, for honest assessment of how to build a diverse multi-racial team and for other useful leadership lessons Good to Grow is a worthwhile book for a leader to read.
Good to Grow is the story of Kings Church in south-east London since Steve's became the leader in the early 90's. It's a story of a church that has grown from some 200 to well over a thousand regular attenders, now meeting across multiple sites and pushing ahead at some rate of knots. As such it's a story to be applauded. There simply aren't enough stories like this in the UK of churches growing consistently over the years and breaking through significant barriers in terms of numbers and diversity.
It also contains the leadership lessons that Steve has learnt along the way and Steve is a very focused leader and there is lots of good stuff here particularly on building a diverse church, building a great marriage and the challenge of regularly retooling your leadership team to be ready for the next season of growth.
The chapters are short and the tone is conversational so you race through the pages quickly and nowhere does it get bogged down in detail. I read it in about three hours and it's time well spent.
At times the book is a bit uneven and patchy and this is mostly when the story and the leadership lessons get mixed up and the chapter loses focus,. This was more evident at the beginning of the book as the story of the early years of Steve's tenure was recalled. The book became much sharper and found its stride from the middle onwards.
However, any quibbles I have are minor and it certainly doesn't spoil the book. The big take home lesson for me was the importance of building a great team which undoubtedly Steve has done. So for an encouraging story of church growth, for honest assessment of how to build a diverse multi-racial team and for other useful leadership lessons Good to Grow is a worthwhile book for a leader to read.
May 8, 2013
Sometimes you read a book at the right time, which makes the book helpful and relatable. This book was that for me.
October 12, 2013
Looking to grow your church, then tad this book, loads of tips
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews