Church Transfusion: Changing Your Church Organically--From the Inside Out - Hardcover

Featured Guest Review: Q&A with Neil Cole, author of Church Transfusion: Changing Your Church Organically--From the Inside Out

Q. Why is the organic church movement still so important?

A. Christianity is still fraught with pollutants. If we do not purify the people of God from the institutions of men that keep them encased in artificial mechanisms, then we will never be able to see transformation of neighborhoods and nations with the power of the Gospel.

Q. What would you say is at the heart of the organic church movement?

A. We have always declared that the heart of the organic church movement, indeed all of church, is what we call the DNA of the body of Christ. For us the DNA stands for Divine Truth, Nurturing Relationships and Apostolic Mission. So at the very raw center of our movement is love and how we relate to God, one another and the world around us.

Q. What’s the most crucial ingredient for a traditional congregation that wants to make the move toward being more organic?

A. The way you lead in a man-made, top-down organization and the way you catalyze the outward spread of influence in a movement are not only different but are actually polar opposites. Everything the leader has learned to date about how to succeed in the institution must be questioned and replaced with a new sense of identity and practice. We have devoted several chapters to this topic.

Q. What three pieces of advice would you give to pastors and congregations that are drawn to an organic church model?

1) Don’t try to change a church corporately with a program. Implementation of real change must come from the heart of the disciples not the staff offices or a pulpit.
2) Allow a new pilot project on the side to thrive and let that group of people have contagious influence over the rest of the church. Protect it from the people who will see it as a threat.
3) Start with planting the Good News of Christ’s DNA in a few disciples that will make more. Let the health of a few drive the change rather than a top-down approach that never really infiltrates the hearts of the disciples.

Q. If church leaders only did one thing to receive the transfusion you talk about in your book, what would that be?

A. Death: to yourself as a leader, and for the church. Yikes, does that sound too harsh? Well, if it does, that is only an indication of how far removed we actually are from the Gospel. We are supposed to be a people for whom death has no sting, the fact that it is so feared and threatening is a symptom of a very serious problem. Jesus clearly said that if we cling to our lives we will lose them and if we lose them for the Gospel’s sake we will gain them. We believe this applies to us as individuals and as ecclesia.

"This looks like a book about how to change the church, but don't be fooled. It's actually about how to change the world! If churches would stick out their arm and submit to this kind of transfusion they would learn again to love Jesus, to do life together, and to demonstrate God's holy righteousness and love to a broken world. This book is life-giving!"
―Michael Frost, author, Road to Missional and The Shaping of Things to Come

"In Church Transfusion, organic church activists Neil and Phil turn their attention to helping cure the many ills and dysfunctions of the established church. They not only bring their remarkable organic sensibilities and perspectives to the task, but they provide us with a vital theology, a Jesus-based spirituality, and a working methodology of renewal in the process."
―Alan Hirsch, coauthor, The Permanent Revolution, and author, The Forgotten Ways (www.alanhirsch.org)

"The Church faces challenges in the West like never before. People are looking for models and patterns that promise much, but what they find delivers little. The key is not a model, but a mindset, a DNA, core principles, that when applied change everything. Cole and Helfer provide all of that in this book. I loved it. You will have to think if you read this."
―Bob Roberts, Jr, senior pastor, NorthWood Church; author, Real-Time Connections, Glocalization, Transformation, and The Multiplying Church

"Many churches today are struggling or even dying. These churches aren't in need of transition, they need a transfusion―and this book will show you how. I am grateful for Neil and Phil's passion to see the local church make a comeback."
―Ed Stetzer, president, LifeWay Research; author, Comeback Churches, and coauthor, Viral Churches

"In a time when the church is under attack from forces inside and out, Neil masterfully combines absolute biblical truisms with bold, doable practices that any church can make a reality. Church Transfusion is both foundational and far-edge thinking."
―Hugh Halter, author, The Tangible Kingdom and Sacrilege