Great book to read in a leadership group and fully answer the questions at the end of each chapter.

'Breaking the Missional Code' was a heavy, painful book to read through, but only because of its challenging content, not necessarily its style. The definition of, need for, and expression of missional churches are clearly presented. I am confident I will return to this book periodically as a refresher on keeping the main things the main things.The following quote isn't a summary of the book in the slightest, but I did find it extremely encouraging:"God is at work in the lives of those outside t...

Overall some really good insight. Would be keen to see an updated edition of this (for some perspective, the book came out when I was in year nine) to see if the authors think anything that happened in the last 14 years would impact any of the details of what they say (ie. some of the scandal around Bill Hybels etc., or even the way society has continued to change rapidly). I thought the book could have been maybe 30% shorter as some of it did get a little repetitive. The odd chapter here and th...

This is a very good introductory book on practical missional theology. It was published in 2006, and therefore is slightly dated in some of the contemporary issues at addresses. I think the audience in view is primarily American evangelicalism, and maybe less so New England in the north west. Given some of the practitioners/pastors it sites in the book who were very popular in 2006, one wonders if a follow up essay, or appendix, on “breaking the mission leader” would be helpful. I dogeared sever...

I do not recommend this book. It is dominated by typical seeker philosophies. Throughout the book success is equated with numerical expansion, and it is assumed that very few Evangelical churches are compromising the Gospel. Churches like Saddleback (or any other large or growing churches) are set forth as exemplary.

This book was a pioneer in discussing application of international mission approaches to local church settings. Highly recommend for reading and thoughtful reflection on the concerns and concepts presented.

Stetzer and Putman touch on core challenges and offer helpful steps for moving forward. But overall, the book is not well-written and could have been shorter without sacrificing any useful content.

This book was assigned reading for a continuing education on Pastoral Leadership Development to help United Methodist pastors (who are appointed to serve existing churches) become better leaders. The authors of this book have a different audience in mind: church-planters. Despite the subtitle, it is not really about churches becoming missionaries in their communities. It is about planting new churches among populations not reached by existing churches. So there was problem #1 and it was a big on...

Like so much with Ed Stetzer's name on it, it is little more than a rehashing of the same research and info in most other books in the genre. The tedium and overall fact that he kept talking about "breaking the code" was oppressive at times. Also he needs a new proofreader, for an astute reader will be frustrated at the absence of words in clauses, the failure to use adverbs consistently within sentences, and in general the fact the book could have been done in about 70 pages instead of 240+ if

Across North America, many pastors are excited to see churches growing as they achieve their mission to connect the message of the gospel with the community at large. Still others are equally frustrated, following the exact same model for outreach but with lesser results. Indeed, just because a "missional breakthrough" occurs in one place doesn’t mean it will happen the same way elsewhere. One size does not fit all, but there are cultural codes that must be broken for all churches to grow and re...

I agree with what the authors are saying - present the gospel message in a manner the people you want to reach will accept. You might not present it the same way to an 80 year old grandmother as you would a 20 year old Hispanic man. However, I argued with him throughout the book and felt frustrated. I left with as many questions as I had at the beginning and while church plants are great - I have no confidence it will work in our denomination, the way we do church, in rural communities. We do no...

This is an excellent book for those who are desiring to break out of the "program driven" models / paradigms of understanding what we "do" as the church. A favorite quote - "There is a lack of theological depth in much of the contemporary church planting and church growth movements because these are movements of technique, paradigms, and methodologies with)out genuine biblical and missiological convictions." (p.184) Taking the gospel in the 21st Century to the whole world, they remind us, begins...

Pretty good read. The book asks the question: if you were a missionary and went to a foreign culture, if you would be effective, you would have to learn to minister in that culture if you would be effective. Some things you would find that worked in your culture might not work there. The book asks you to consider that all ministry must be missional, learning to minister in the culture a church has.

Most of the content of this book are ideas that I have heard or read before, but the final few chapters we helpful. I chose this book because I am in a church planting environment, the principles can benefit or revitalize any church, but it is most practically applied to new or young churches. The most important lesson is that we have to design our churches to match our cultures, not our preferences. If we really want to reach our communities, we have to love them.

I'm not super impressed with the book. It was way longer than it needed to be so it took away some of the focus. There are some definite high points that will help leaders see how and where the church can step out into the community. It is written in a very modern point by point category by category kind of way...which is helpful for some who have very little "missional" passion or experience.

Stetzer is usually worth reading and he is very encouraging to aspiring church planters and missional pioneers.This book, plus "Planting Missional Churches" are Stetzer's two foundational books. The biggest take away from this book is the notion that missional leaders are required to 'break the code' in their community so that they might reach the unreached.

I took the leadership of the church I serve through this book last weekend. It was a helpful tool in helping us to refocus our efforts to reach out to our community. There are some very helpful observations, especially the discussion of moving from a program emphasis to understanding that there are processes that are transferrable when programs are not necessarily.

Excellent book! Part theory, part practical, this book gave words to much of what I've been trying to articulate for years about becoming a student of the culture we live in so we can gain a hearing for the gospel.

Key point: why do USA churches do "evangelism" while missionaries do "missions"? It's the same. Just like cross-cultural missionaries, churches should be "learning the language and studying the culture" of their neighborhood in order to effectively reach them for Christ.

Certainly a book not in-line with my personal theological slant, but there were few great insights available. Many of these insights need to be re-contextualized to be effectively implemented w/in a progressive paradigm.