My top 5 books on the missional church

Compiled by Ewald Unruh, director of Multiplying Church Ministries

The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating the Missional Church Alan Hirsch

Searching for a contemporary “New Testament church” manifestation, Hirsch discovers the emergence of a new “superpower” – the church in China. The church thrives because it’s completely oriented around mission. Hirsch encourages North Americans to begin by focusing on Jesus, whose missional attitude will determine our own expression of church.

Shaped By God’s Heart: The Passion and Practices of Missional Churches Milfred Minatrea

This practical resource draws out the best practices of some 200 churches that are passionately seeking to know God’s purpose in mission.

Organic Church: Growing Faith Where Life Happens Neil Cole

Cole challenges us to plant the seeds of the kingdom of God as Jesus did, by going and living among the people of our time. We should then allow the church to form and be alive, spreading in the most likely and unlikely places. New models of church are demystified by showing practical aspects of implementing the organic church.

The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations Ori Brafman & Rod A. Beckstrom

The hidden power behind high impact organizations: “If you cut off a spider’s head, it dies; but if you cut off a starfish’s leg, it grows a new one, and that leg can grow into an entirely new starfish.” Spiders have a rigid hierarchy and top-down leadership, but revolutionary starfish rely on the power of peer relationships.

Breaking the Missional Code: Your Church Can Become a Missionary in Your Community Ed Stetzer & David Putman

The authors argue that churches are to act in their local communities as missionaries would in a foreign land. They must find the right way to break through cultural barriers that keep people from understanding the gospel, without betraying the spiritual and theological barriers. Each community has a different missional “code” to be discovered.