A Few Things Done Extremely Well

The Healthy Churches' Handbook: A Process for Revitalizing Your Church by Robert Warren
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I borrowed this paperback from a Methodist Church. I visit churches besides my own a lot. I guess you could say that I'm still looking for my perfect fit. The group that can compete with my solitary Sunday morning garden and with the Papal and other Masses I watch on television.

There is a lot to like about so many of the churches I have attended in Tallahassee. Or not. Lately, I've been feeling edgy.

When I got a chance to borrow this book, I took it. I know what my own problem is. I like a very traditional worship service (leaning towards Catholic) with a liberal philosophy (definitely Episcopal ) with Baptist and Methodist hymns (from my childhood)- simple churches which don't have so much on their agendas that you can't possibly partake and still have a life with your family and yourself.

The Handbook, of course, was written for the use of the church and not for my use unless I was heavily into the administration of a specific group which I am not. It's an Episcopal missive by Canon Robert Warren, used by the churches of Scotland and England to assess the health of their churches. And to mend them.

I found a quote from The Healthy Churches' Handbook in my own Episcopal church bulletin this month. It was the list of the "7 Marks of a Healthy Parish," including the number 7 - the very thing that has produced this edginess in me personally. I like it so much that I'm thinking about making it my personal motto as well.

Number 7 says that the healthy church "does a few things and does them well." Approaching an older age, I need to make this my missive. I want to do fewer things now and do them better. Same with a healthy church. The energy should be used on what works. Then to make those things work very well indeed.

Pisgah Methodist Church, Tallahassee Florida. A few things done very well. 

View all my reviews