Review: God’s Not Done with Your Church: Finding Hope and New Life through Replanting
Mark Hallock
(Acoma Press, 2017)
For thousands of churches throughout North America, it’s easy to look around at their recent ministry fruit and wonder if their best days are in the rearview mirror. In his book, God’s Not Done with Your Church, Hallock provides hope. His book begins by laying out two different options for struggling churches—replanting and revitalization. After describing both options, he digs deep into what it means to replant your church.
Hallock tackles all areas of church replanting in the book, but maybe the most unique tool he includes is in chapter 5. The chapter provides key discussion questions for three different groups of people in the struggling church: older members, newer members, and church leaders. The answers to these questions will help to illuminate the decision to replant or not.
Hallock’s book is also intensely practical. He takes readers through a step-by-step approach to each topic. It’s an ideal book for struggling churches to review before deciding their next direction.
Most of all, Hallock’s book is all about hope. Toward the end of the book, he reminds readers that God can do miracles in a church’s life.
“God’s not done with your church!” Hallock writes. “That is the primary message of this book, and I pray it brings encouragement and hope to you and to others in your congregation. We serve an awesome and mighty God who does his greatest work when things seem most bleak, when things feel hopeless. This is true in our individual lives, and it is true in our churches. His strength is perfect when our strength is gone!”