Book Review: Church in the Making by Ben Arment--terrific and not just on church planting

Monday, May 24, 2010

I’ve been handling publicity for a new book about church planting that I think should be of interest not only to those seeking to and thinking about planting a church, but also to anyone hoping to start something new to advance Christian mission.

Church in the Making by Ben Arment doesn’t mince any words, and it has the tone of a soldier who has fought the good fight and won, but at a high personal cost, with the sense that the battles could have been easier with better intelligence, and mourning the soldier-friends who he has seen fall around him.

I’ve never tried to start a church, but I knew even before reading this book that it is extremely difficult, with a high rate of failure. Arment demonstrates a passion for saving future church planters from heartache and failure; but in the process he writes some things that will undoubtedly rub church planting traditionalists the wrong way.

For instance, Arment writes:

“We have placed a dangerous label on church planting that puts tremendous pressure on planters to persevere through any and all difficulties. We call it faithfulness. But in many cases it should really be called stupidity.”

If you have plans to plant a new church, open a new campus, or help someone who is, you need to get and read Church in the Making. It is well written and an easy read. It’s worth your time.

But it is also valuable to people like me who are involved in starting and advancing Christian organizations, missions, and causes. I’ve seen a lot of the same mistakes that Ben describes in ministry start-ups of all kinds; and I’ve made a number of the mistakes myself. I wish I would have had Church in the Making to read several years ago.

I’ve marked nine different principles in the book that I’ve seen ignored by too many ministry leaders (myself included).

1. Plant in Fertile Soil

Arment: “Every community has an established degree of spiritual receptivity. When you plant a church on fertile soil, it springs to life out of the community’s readiness. When you plant a church on infertile soil, it chokes and gasps to survive. In this case, you have to stop planting and start cultivating.” (page 3)

2. Experience Produces Humility

Arment: “You can always tell a new, inexperienced church planter because he’s the only one who thinks he knows what he’s doing. The veterans show a humility that can only come from experience. It takes a year or two to knock the self-reliance out of the new guys.” (page 10)

3. A Dream and Hard Work are Not Enough

Arment: “Church planters are notorious for thinking that a great dream plus hard work equals a thriving church. But church planters fail all the time with this formula and have not idea why.” (page 46)

4. Build a Network First

Arment: “I’m convinced that when God calls a planter to start a church, he calls him either to start a social network first (which can take years) or simply to leverage the one he’s been building around him.” (page 81)

5. You Can’t Do It Alone

Arment: “When God creates a church in the making, he doesn’t just call one person to start it. He calls a whole network of people who have been growing pregnant with vision.” (page 137)

6. Properly Channeled Frustration is Good

Arment: “God uses frustration to shape a vision. This is what he did to Nehemiah. And this is what he did to me. If God doesn’t build up a tremendous amount of frustration within us, we’ll never have the passion to pursue his calling.” (page 158)

7. Don’t Let Cash be King

Arment: “The only thing worse than not pursuing your God-given vision is compromising your God-given vision for the sake of cash flow. Don’t let money do this to you.” (page 162)

8. Put a Good Staff to Work

Arment: “Senior pastors are notorious for under-estimating the potential of their staff, mostly because they overestimate their own potential. Creating systems in your church is a far better way to leave a legacy than building up yourself.” (page 191)

9. Many Tomorrows Do Not Include You

Arment: “The fruit of the gospel comes from building a church that can exist without you and beyond you. (page 193)

Grab this book. If you are in ministry work, whether or not you are a church planter, it’s likely there’s something in it that will shake your ministry world.

--Jim Jewell

Church in the Making: Valuable for ministry leaders, not just church planters

Thursday, May 20, 2010

I’ve been handling publicity for a new book about church planting that I think should be of interest not only to those seeking to and thinking about planting a church, but also to anyone hoping to start something new to advance Christian mission.

Church in the Making by Ben Arment doesn’t mince any words, and it has the tone of a soldier who has fought the good fight and won, but at a high personal cost, with the sense that the battles could have been easier with better intelligence, and mourning the soldier-friends who he has seen fall around him.

I’ve never tried to start a church, but I knew even before reading this book that it is extremely difficult, with a high rate of failure. Arment demonstrates a passion for saving future church planters from heartache and failure; but in the process he writes some things that will undoubtedly rub church planting traditionalists the wrong way.

For instance, Arment writes:

“We have placed a dangerous label on church planting that puts tremendous pressure on planters to persevere through any and all difficulties. We call it faithfulness. But in many cases it should really be called stupidity.”

If you have plans to plant a new church, open a new campus, or help someone who is, you need to get and read Church in the Making. It is well written and an easy read. It’s worth your time.

But it is also valuable to people like me who are involved in starting and advancing Christian organizations, missions, and causes. I’ve seen a lot of the same mistakes that Ben describes in ministry start-ups of all kinds; and I’ve made a number of the mistakes myself. I wish I would have had Church in the Making to read several years ago.

I’ve marked nine different principles in the book that I’ve seen ignored by too many ministry leaders (myself included).

1. Plant in Fertile Soil

Arment: “Every community has an established degree of spiritual receptivity. When you plant a church on fertile soil, it springs to life out of the community’s readiness. When you plant a church on infertile soil, it chokes and gasps to survive. In this case, you have to stop planting and start cultivating.” (page 3)

2. Experience Produces Humility

Arment: “You can always tell a new, inexperienced church planter because he’s the only one who thinks he knows what he’s doing. The veterans show a humility that can only come from experience. It takes a year or two to knock the self-reliance out of the new guys.” (page 10)

3. A Dream and Hard Work are Not Enough
Arment: “Church planters are notorious for thinking that a great dream plus hard work equals a thriving church. But church planters fail all the time with this formula and have not idea why.” (page 46)

4. Build a Network First

Arment: “I’m convinced that when God calls a planter to start a church, he calls him either to start a social network first (which can take years) or simply to leverage the one he’s been building around him.” (page 81)

5. You Can’t Do It Alone

Arment: “When God creates a church in the making, he doesn’t just call one person to start it. He calls a whole network of people who have been growing pregnant with vision.” (page 137)

6. Properly Channeled Frustration is Good

Arment: “God uses frustration to shape a vision. This is what he did to Nehemiah. And this is what he did to me. If God doesn’t build up a tremendous amount of frustration within us, we’ll never have the passion to pursue his calling.” (page 158)

7. Don’t Let Cash be King

Arment: “The only thing worse than not pursuing your God-given vision is compromising your God-given vision for the sake of cash flow. Don’t let money do this to you.” (page 162)

8. Put a Good Staff to Work

Arment: “Senior pastors are notorious for under-estimating the potential of their staff, mostly because they overestimate their own potential. Creating systems in your church is a far better way to leave a legacy than building up yourself.” (page 191)

9. Many Tomorrows Do Not Include You

Arment: “The fruit of the gospel comes from building a church that can exist without you and beyond you. (page 193)

Grab this book. If you are in ministry work, whether or not you are a church planter, it’s likely there’s something in it that will shake your ministry world.

[See these reviews of Church in the Making at ChurchMarketingSucks, In My Head, and from Neil Tullos.]

--Jim Jewell

Ben Arment Pens New Book on Church Planting

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Church in the Making is a helpful new book by one of Christianity’s creative lights, Ben Arment. It's a down-to-earth book born of hard knocks that may change forever how church planters do their work.

Ben Arment is an innovator in the often sterile field of church planting who seems to spawn a new idea every day. After a stint as innovation and experience director at Catalyst, the largest community of next generation church leaders in the world, Arment has now launched three now projects: Dream Year, a year-long personal coaching program; The Whiteboard Sessions, a roll-up-your sleeves one-day conference about ideas in ministry; and STORY, a boutique conference with a focus on creatively telling the greatest story ever told--the gospel.

Arment’s personal blog has grown to more than 1,200 hits a day, with many more reading through feed readers, and is now rated as one of the top church blogs in the country.

Ben planted Reston Community Church in 2001 in a Virginia suburb of Washington, DC. He says he “lived through the experience of being a “parachute drop” church planter, but not without developing a strong passion and message for the struggling church planter.”

Arment has a strong ministry background (his father, grandfather and great-grandfather were all pastors), and a strong marketing and writing background. After working for a time in the business sector, he found his call to ministry “too much to resist,” and he moved to Lynchburg, Virginia, where he earned a Master’s Degree from Liberty Theological Seminary. He became a pastor three years later and served at a mega-church before starting the church in Virginia.

Ben and his wife Ainsley live in Virginia Beach and have three cowboys, Wyatt, Dylan & Cody.

More information on Church in the Making is available.

Down-to-earth Book Born of Hard Knocks May Change Forever How Church Planters Do Their Work

Tuesday, April 06, 2010

CHURCH IN THE MAKING
A new book by one of Christianity’s creative lights, Ben Arment, from B&H Publishing Group

The majority of all new churches fail, which leaves thousands of dazed and discouraged church planters wondering what hit them. Ben Arment felt like he’d talked to half of them, and he identified with and anguished over their plight. Church in the Making is the result of Arment’s search for answers.

After eight years as a church planter and his research of scores of church stories, Arment identifies three conditions that make for a successful church plant even before it gets off the ground. “The truth is that we can’t plant a successful church on our own initiative,” Arment says. “God must bring together the critical factors long before we arrive. Our job is to identify where there’s already a church in the making.”

Arment adds: “Great faith is not enough. Clear vision is not enough. Passion and money aren't enough. There's a mysterious X-factor that eludes most church planters... and I'm convinced this is it.”

The “X factor” in Church in the Making includes:

• We must gauge the spiritual fertility of our community before we can plant a church. If they’re not open to the Gospel, our job is not to plant a church, but to cultivate people’s hearts.

• If God truly builds his church, then our job is not to initiate the work of God, but rather to identify where he’s already bringing a new church together.

• Whenever there’s a church in the making, God provides a group of leaders who can fulfill the mission. Lone planters have a slim chance of succeeding, let alone surviving.

Released by B&H Publishing Group April, Church in the Making has been written primarily for church planters, denominational and church planting leaders, strategy-minded ministers, and established pastors who want to reproduce their own churches.

Ben Arment is an innovator in the often sterile field of church planting who seems to spawn a new idea every day. After a stint as innovation and experience director at Catalyst, the largest community of next generation church leaders in the world, Arment has now launched three new projects: Dream Year, a year-long personal coaching program; The Whiteboard Sessions, a roll-up-your sleeves one-day session about ideas in ministry; and STORY, a boutique conference with a focus on creatively telling the greatest story ever told--the gospel.

Media Notes: Ben Arment is available for interviews beginning in April. To schedule an interview, please email Jim Jewell at jjewell03@msn.com, or call (678) 458-9837. Additional media materials are available.