When Church Stops Working: A Future for Your Congregation Beyond More Money, Programs, Innovation by Andrew Root and Blair Bertrand

Author(s):  Reviewed by Jeff Mingee

Journal Title:  Journal of Religious Leadership

Volume & Issue:  Vol. 24, No. 2

DOI:  

Year:  2025

Page Range:  148-150

Abstract

For those familiar with Andrew Root’s work through his “Ministry in a Secular Age” series, this book is an attempt to “provide a book that pastors can read with their board, session, or council” (xii). He partners with Blair Bertrand, a friend and colleague who teaches at Zomba Theological University in Malawi, Central Africa. For those not as familiar, this book translates concepts from Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age (an almost 900-page history of Western thought!) into practices accessible to those who are “working in sales, IT, education, e-commerce, or not working at all–pretty much any job but pastor or professor” (xii).