The phrase Turnaround Church, a term coined and made well-known by George Barna, refers to churches that were in steep decline that have implemented specific strategies to reverse the trend and experience growth and health again. Be assured that declining will continue to increase in number, unless pastors, church consultants, denominational leaders, lay-leaders, and congregations take proactive steps to curb the trend. According to a recent study by the Evangelical Covenant Church (covchurch.org), about half of the supposed 40% of Americans who tell pollsters like Gallup that they attend church actually do. That means on any given Sunday only about 20% of Americans attend church. That is a huge decline considering that as recently as the 80s 40% actually did attend church. It appears that roughly 85% of America's churches are in decline or have reached a numerical plateau. There seems to be a trend that a good number of large churches (attendance of 1000 plus) and small churches (attendance 200 and below) are growing, while the medium-sized churches (between 200 and 1000) are suffering extensive decline. Sure, there are many churches in all categories that are growing, but by and large, the typical church in America is shrinking, and it is shrinking fast. God Can Turn Your Church Around is essentially an edited version of my PhD thesis. I have left out dozens of charts, graphs, and figures, as these tend to be interesting to a very small segment of the church, and I have revised some of the content to be more useful to the church practitioner. I have decided to maintain the prolific outline form of the manuscript. In an age of bloggers and tweeters, I am observing that people tend to like bullet-points and organized thoughts. So if the book has a "school project" feel to it, that is because it is in essence a revised PhD thesis. I firmly believe that God desires to see declining Bible-preaching churches revived. He invites you to join Him in the process. Table of contents Preface Introduction Chapter One: The Prelude to a Turnaround Chapter Two: The Price of a Turnaround Chapter Three: The Philosophy of the Turnaround Chapter Four: The Power of the Turnaround Chapter Five: The People of a Turnaround Chapter Six: The Pastor of the Turnaround Chapter Seven: The Permission for a Turnaround Chapter Eight: The Precepts and Principles of TurnaroundChapter Nine: The Preparation for the Turnaround Chapter Ten: The Process of Turnaround Chapter Eleven: The Plan for the Turnaround Chapter Twelve: The Problems of a Turnaround Chapter Thirteen: The Prioritization of the Turnaround Chapter Fourteen: The Peacemaking of the Turnaround Chapter Fifteen: The Protocol of a Turnaround Chapter Sixteen: The Participation in a Turnaround Chapter Seventeen: Preaching and the Turnaround Chapter Eighteen: The Praise and Worship of a Turnaround Chapter Nineteen: The Product of a Turnaround Chapter Twenty: The Postlude to the Turnaround Notes Bibliography About the Author