[Review] No Silver Bullets: 5 Small Shifts that Will Transform Your Ministry

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Spent some time this week with No Silver Bullets: Five Small Shifts that will Transform Your Ministry. The newest book from Daniel Daniel Im, director of Church Multiplication for NewChurches.com and LifeWay Christian Resources, No Silver Bullets is a very engaging read.

While No Silver Bullets is not a small group ministry book, it has plenty to offer to all of us. Written to explore “5 micro-shifts that will produce macro-changes in your church (p. 6),” there is plenty here to inspire pushing pause to consider how this applies to what we do.

For example, the first micro-shift that Im examines is the shift from destination to direction (thinking about discipleship from a systems perspective). Once I grasped the significance, it was easy to begin imagining how the shift is begging to be made in many churches. Other shifts include:

From Output to Input
From Sage to Guide
From Form to Function
From Maturity to Missionary

Each of the 5 shifts have similar potency and application. There were multiple aha moments and the sense that this would be a great discussion for my team. Best part? Every shift is diagrammed, charted, and graphed. The discussions you’ll have later will be more productive and more memorable because of the visual elements added.

No Silver Bullets is the kind of read that will inspire a more careful read. Although there are stories that pull the reader in, there are many ideas and interesting ways of explaining the shifts that prompt a pause to reread a paragraph. The included diagrams and charts are helpful. as are the questions for reflection, but real insight is the reward for the pause to consider how the ideas apply.

If you’re looking for a book that will challenge your thinking and open your eyes to new ways of thinking about some very important ideas and practices…No Silver Bullets ought to be on your list. If you do the hard work of application, No Silver Bullets will transform more than your thinking. These shifts will transform your ministry.

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