Book Review: From Embers to a Flame

I finished reading From Embers to a Flame recently and thought I would jot down some thoughts about it. I have been aware of the book and conferences for some time, but it was not until the book was recommended to me a few months ago that I picked it up.

The book which grew out of the author’s, Harry Reeder’s, experience at his first church begins with some disturbing and well documented statistics:

• 95% of churches in North America average fewer than 100 in attendance.
• Over 80% of the churches in North America are either at a plateau or are in a state of decline.

To combat these trends, a number of programs have been developed over the years, like the Church Growth program, but, Reeder argues, these have been largely unsuccessful. This is because such programs invariably focus on the size of the church and not its health. Reeder says that what a church needs to focus on is not programs or their results, but on revitalization.

Using Christ’s words in Revelation 2:1-5, Reeder proposes a broad outline for church revitalization. It involves three steps and a number of subordinate “strategies”:

• Remembering
• Repenting
• Recovering

Remembering

According to Reeder, remembering involves a church reconnecting with its past. Churches should not live in the past but should, “learn from the past in order to live in the present so that the church can change the future.” (p. 30)

Many churches spend too much time nostalgically dwelling on “the good old days” and lose sight of the present. Reeder argues that we ought always to anchor ourselves in the history of the church, both Visible and Universal, but not dwell in them. Remembering strengthens identity and the sense of being part of something larger. Dwelling in the past kills a church’s vitality. A healthy church is anchored in the past, living in the present, and looking towards the future.

Repenting

Remembering isn’t always a positive experience. Sometimes considering the past means facing past sins. If a church is to experience revitalization, it has to face those sins and deal with them, whether they are sins of the individuals or sins of the community.

Repentance occurs, Reeder says, in a church that encourages corporate confession of sin and emphasizes personal responsibility in an atmosphere of grace.

Church members are not the only ones that need to repent. At times the leadership does too, whether it is for personal wrongs or sins committed while leading. Leaders must model as well as teach repentance. Sometimes church leaders must acknowledge the sins of previous leaders, too. It is only as a church turns from its sins and seeks to make restitution for them that it can truly expect to experience the fruits of repentance: revitalization and blessing.

Recovering

Having considered the triumphs and failures of the past and dealt with them both properly, a church must then seek to recover the important things of ministry.

• Ministry must become gospel-driven and Christ-centered, rather than program oriented. For many churches this means placing a premium on solid Bible preaching and teaching.
• Churches must emphasize spiritual disciplines and exercise church discipline, when necessary.
• Churches must recover the practice of intentional, intercessory prayer.
• Ministries should be oriented around a common vision: what does God want a church to do where it is and how can it do those things well?
• Churches should constantly be training new leaders.
• Churches, especially larger ones, should make effective use of small group ministries, to create a sense of community and an atmosphere in which discipleship can occur.
• Churches should renew their commitment to missions, across the street and around the world.

Evaluation

I was pleasantly surprised with From Embers to a Flame. I admit I went into it with low expectations, thinking that it would simply be another church growth book that emphasizes programs and dubious methodologies. Reeder, however, is solidly Reformed and emphasizes the means of grace: public worship, the preaching of the word, prayer, and discipline. More importantly, he backs up everything he says with Scripture.

The book itself is structured in a way that makes studying it in groups simpler, a plus if the entire leadership structure wants to work through revitalization issues together. Most importantly when reading it, one gets the idea that Reeder believes what he writes and truly desires church revitalization and not just royalties!

While there are brief sections that are somewhat revivalistic and Reeder slips once into a business model-church growth sort of mode, I nevertheless found Embers to be a very helpful book. I trust you will too, Gentle Reader.