Change Agents: 25 Hard-Learned Lessons in the Art of Getting Things Done

Change agents are pioneers, entrepreneurs, innovators. They can be difficult, annoying, and demanding. But their calling is demanding too: to take a vision and wrench it into reality. When Steve Chalke was asked to be the senior minister of a dying inner-city church, he knew what he wanted: to make it into a Christian equivalent of a first-century synagogue. A place where the community gathered, not just to pray and hear sermons, but to be educated, entertained, and find help. Making it all happen was the harder part. In Change Agents, the author shares twenty-five lessons he learned during this work. He had to teach himself to respond, not react; say no more than yes, give up being everyone's friend, and accept that any success was only a short respite between two crises. Employing wry humor, personal examples, and a large helping of practical advice, Steve Chalke reminds us our enterprise, not our caution, with the Word of God is what's rewarded. Christ waits and watches for us to take risks and create change in the church, the community, and the world at large.