Do Something Else: The Road Ahead for the Mainline Church

Do Something Else is meant to encourage faith communities and their leaders to reconsider church as usual reengage Spirit-led entrepreneurialism and reimagine new models of ministry bubbling up in their midst. Many churches and leaders are already setting the pace. They are establishing new gatherings in old buildings and using new building to do old things. They are emphasizing diversity welcome and friendship. If these stories are hidden from view they shouldnt be. These pages will uncover how new expressions get started how they are led how they struggle and how they are sustained. Do Something Else will encourage candidates for ministry who see limited options ministers who wonder about staying in ministry clergy call-seekers trying to find hope in a desolate career landscape and churches attempting to manage staffs with limited resources. It will also offer permission to small churches resigned to be without a pastor larger churches looking to do a new thing in an unorthodox way and middle governing bodies who need promising examples of working models in order to take the risk on new opportunities. This is the most hopeful book I have read for a decade. While secularists celebrate the rise of the Nones and conservatives insist anyone liberal theologically is doomed Nate Phillips has tracked down some fabulous models of innovative church from tweeting to the new ministry. It is a riveting read each narrative made manageable and intriguing. With this book Phillips establishes himself as the voice of those who are hopeful about church adapting itself into new ways of serving the kingdom. --Ian S. Markham Dean President Professor of Theology and Ethics Virginia Theological Seminary Phillips is a devastating storyteller. Do Something Else is resplendent with stories of hope unearthed from the dry bones of mainline churches--which as it turns out are less dry than we think. Written with grace humility and profound respect for people who struggle with changes in their churches Phillips is a devastating storyteller introducing us to pastors who are exploring new ways to be the church without losing their theological britches. But the story that wouldnt let me go was Phillips own interwoven almost incidentally among the others. With disarming honesty Phillips lets us glimpse the holy nitty-gritty of pastoring ordinary people who somehow become radiant in his telling. This is a gem of a book--I could do nothing else but keep reading. --Kenda Creasy Dean Mary D. Synnott Professor of Youth Church and Culture Princeton Theological Seminary; Coordinating Pastor Kingston United Methodist Church; author Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers Is Telling the American Church The miracle of creation takes place when we notice what is happening while dreaming of what we can become. Nate Phillips masterfully balances these two visions in Do Something Else as he gathers divergent voices weaves together stories observes best practices and imagines what something else might be. --Carol Howard Merritt Senior Consultant for the Center for Progressive Renewal; author; columnist for the Christian Century Community organizing teaches that you cant build what you cant imagine. With depth hope and delightful storytelling Phillips has pulled together a collection of leaders and ministries that help us expand our imaginations about how to be the body of Christ in the world. --Jessica Tate Director NEXT Church Nate Phillips serves as co-pastor at Red Clay Creek Presbyterian Church in Wilmington Delaware. He is the creator of FIRST (Freeing the Imagination of the Recently Seminary Trained) a mechanism for new types of evangelism and church starts in the PC(USA).