Mancini and Hartman lay out the paradigms that have held the church back from relevant, significant spiritual growth, not just growth in the quantity of attenders. This book is helpful for staff, lay leaders (like deacons, elders, ministry leads, group leaders). They acknowledge a lot of what the organized church does is necessary but not sufficient to accomplishing its mission. I like how they suggest alternative metrics for ascertaining whether the church is doing well or not. I like how they focus us back on the important reasons the organized church exists. Because of my church involvement as a volunteer, I tried to focus on what they said about discipleship ("Development" as a disciple) and appreciate what they've learned on how you engage listeners to become learners and then become go-ers. One example of what they wrote shared an analogy one of their client pastors used. He is also a tennis coach and asks his potential clients, "Do you want to improve your weekend game or win a tournament?" The former requires a few tweaks; the latter, a complete revamp of our game. Mancini and Hartman are offering a way to revamp our game.

I've recently determined that any book by Will Mancini deserves any Christian leader's attention because they're 1) routinely addressing the most important issues that aren't being properly addressed to advance Jesus' mission, 2) come from actual practice consulting congregations from an impressive array of every denomination in the US, and 3) are written with a businessman's focus on the essentials, are simple to understand, compassionate, and real. Future Church is no different.

Here, Will tackles the reality that too many of the churches he has consulted have actually heard from God on what they are each uniquely called to do, and gone through the work of articulating it, but the problem is they don't have a culture of doing it. In fact, across the West we have strong headwinds within the church against actually making disciples. Will as the pre-eminent consultant in this space is upfront why this situation is happening. There's a chapter on "Church Pharma," and since you're already familiar with how the pharmaceutical industry mushrooms artificial solutions at the expense of long-term health, you can get a sense of how raw of analogies this book is willing to make. I think it's a miracle that the ultimate "insider/outsider" of this industry (Will, the author) is willing to write this needed book and address the root issues head on, from the first page to the last.

Yet the tone of Future Church is never polemic. Will makes raw analogies but in the context of genuine compassion for the reader, for leaders doing a great job, and those not doing a great job yet. He sincerely wants everyone to win at Jesus' mission, which you can feel between the lines of this book. So, he builds that bridge of love in each chapter before driving that truck of correction on it.

I personally think this book is at the level of the 95 Theses for this reformation we're experiencing now. What I mean by that assertion specifically is that the ideas in this book are that important, that degree out of actual practice in the institutional church, that its ideas are communicated that clearly, and they are ideas whose time has come. Whether people read this book or not, what's described in Future Church is actually going to become the dynamic of the future church. There's no stopping it, and the Covid shutdowns only accelerate the trend.

I am not a seminary graduate like many of the readers of this book, but I consider my whole life to be full time ministry for the One who is first in my heart in all things. I have no position on church staff, as a consultant, or in any kind of online ministry, but I already found myself quoting Future Church a lot in a presentation I gave recently to a team at a large institutional church.

Oddly enough, for someone like myself who serves the church regularly but with no recognized position, there's actually a section of a chapter in Future Church addressed specifically to me. In Chapter 15, in the Step 1 section of Building the Upper Room Community (this terminology will make sense after reading the book), it specifically mentions how a person in my situation can get this ball rolling at my institutional church, without permission or resources, essentially in order to later "gift" the multiplication funnel the church needs when they're ready, which they don't recognize they need yet as they run around looking for church growth solutions in this chaotic cultural environment. Future Church gives me a language and mental model to pursue an assignment God gave my family in our local church context over ten years ago, in order to know how to invest our time and talents in this particular congregation for the next years.

We're living in very exciting times. Come get a map by reading this book.

Future Church is a fantastic and comprehensive guide to figuring out how to do church in these interesting times. From diagnosing the problem (I have not seen many who have clearly articulated it as well as they have), to looking at core principles that are key, to giving a very tangible tool to move forward with - I was very satisfied with this book.

I feel like the book strikes a great balance between depth of insight coupled with actionable understanding. I strongly recommend for those who want to do just want the title points to - figure out what the church in the future should look like.

This book is a breath of fresh air as I was drawn into envisioning the church as I had longed for it to be. Disciplemaking at the heart of it all and the programming and hospitality as a means to that end. I'm so thankful for this work. It's balanced, well-thought-through and ignited a passion within me for the future of the church. I am buying a copy for all of my church staff right now!