Divine Renovation: Bringing Your Parish from Maintenance to Mission

This is a great book to read after Forming Intentional Disciples by Sherry Weddel. Fr. Mallon's perspective as a parish priest provides a rich insight into how God is going to revive the Catholic Church!

I post very few reviews, but I feel compelled to recommend this book. Fr. Mallon is passionate about being a priest and it shows in this book. He first describes the problem and then provides a number of suggestions for transforming your parish. Wonderful book.

God bless Father James for the courage and boldness for stating the truth of what everyone in the Catholic church sees, but pretends doesn't exist. We need to stop doing things the same, old, ineffective ways in order to see change. The answer is in the basics and the foundation of our faith, which is the Kerygma. We have been running the ChristLife Catholic Evangelization series here in NY since 2010 which does this beautifully!! I love this book and already bought 6 copies to give away. I highly recommend this book if you care about your parish. Get one copy for yourself and one for your pastor.

I'm a Protestant Christian--so appreciating the heart, insight, desire to learn from the entire body of Christ, and both theological and practical wisdom--that my dear evangelical Catholic brother Father James Mallon displays. This is a book that all church leaders can learn from. In my work for Alpha I'm recommending it to every parish looking at or considering doing Alpha. The CHURCH (every community of faith that calls on the name of Christ) needs divine renovation and reviving--this book is a HUGE step in the right direction.

Every Catholic parish needs to have their pastor and council read this to give purpose and destiny to their work. Transformation must be the mission of every Christian. Siting in church is not enough - we need to be going out but from a firm foundation in our personal Faith life.

Not bad...

very good book about parish ministry!gave me a lot too think about

The book is a very systematic approach to parish renewal. It contains many suggestions about what worked for Fr. Mallon and why they worked in his own efforts to build a parish community. This is about forming human community, not about buildings. Consolidating parishes may reduce the number of under- and un-used church buildings, but there needs to be something more done to build the new community. First, Fr. Mallon focuses on the importance of the core message of the New Evangelization: Jesus is the reason for all that we do as Catholics and commitment to Christ becomes the central aspect of our following him as disciples. All else flows from this. A parish centered on Jesus and his call to discipleship is likely (granted, with much effort, successes and disappointments, over time) to become a thriving parish that draws people and grows. This book is well worth reading and studying to reflect on elements of a systematic approach that may provide a framework for your own efforts at (re)building your parish.

A raw and honest look at the state of the Catholic Church and practical steps that can be applied to transform parishes from maintenance to mission. Ideas embodied in the book also apply to all Christian churches, as identical problems exist across denominations. Bringing the focus back to the Kerygma is the fundamental basis for reviving dying parishes.

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