How does Church Turned Inside Out differ from other books on the topic of church planting and methodology?
We end where others begin. Methods, paradigms, strategies or organizational structure are not appropriate places of origin. It’s about God, His story, His plans and His vision. God is the focal point around which everything else is organized, so everything about a church is some kind of reflection of Him. We design with that in mind.

Have there been any surprising reactions to the book?
The biggest surprise for others seems to be that we don’t take sides. Many books that address the organizational aspect of church are written from particular perspectives like "organic" church, "seeker" church, "purpose driven" church, and so forth. For us, a movement of God in the world takes the whole church, acknowledging its oneness under Christ. We try to help people navigate to where they sense God is leading them, not where we think they should go. In doing so, we intentionally bless them.

Who is the book for and why should they read it?
The book is for anyone considering designing a church or a community, and wanting to incorporate Kingdom principles into their lives holistically.

It is interesting to us that so far some of the people who have seemed to best understand what we have to say are not church professionals. They are everyday people who simply love God. It’s also for ordinary (and therefore, in our minds, extraordinary) church leaders who have met roadblocks along the way and need fresh, accessible ways to think through their ministries. Finally, we wrote this for church planters who actually have the luxury of starting something from scratch.

What led you to write this book?
Both of us have been involved in church planting for many years. We’ve had the privilege of listening to the dreams of hundreds of young seminarians and church planters, and have walked with them as they lived out those dreams.

We’ve also experienced their pain when others stopped believing in them or when they stopped believing in themselves, or when they believed in themselves and their methodologies so much that they lost sight of God in the process. In a sense we wrote this book with and for these friends.
God is the focal point around which everything else is organized, so everything about a church is some kind of reflection of Him

What do you hope readers take away from your book?
Confidence and contentment in the reality that God has uniquely created them, called them, and placed them in their contexts. Plus some tools for thinking through and implementing the beautiful church community they truly imagine.
We hope that readers are exposed to new ideas which will be seeds planted into their creativity, and we hope that the future designs of faith communities are in part inspired by the passions which might be birthed by dwelling on the concepts that are introduced in this design book.

How can leaders get started thinking with an inside-out mentality?
Instead of thinking about the design of church by what you have experienced or seen as attractive, discover who you are in Christ and how the first Designer designed you. Allow scriptural principles, the community and the culture to inspire you to new designs, or new interpretations of ones that have been proven over time.

Our hope is that our readers would design everything about life and ministry with Christ as the meaningful focal point. Only then can there ever be real alignment between themselves, their teams, their culture, their situations, and their dreams, values and beliefs. The insides and the outside, the parts and the whole need to match up and become integrated into God’s story.



About the authors

What is your background?
I have been starting churches of all kinds among many cultures for almost 30 years. Almost immediately after becoming a Christian I was involved in church planting in one way or another. I am also a "cultural creative". I seek beauty in its many forms. My husband of 20 years is an artist in every fiber of his being, and has helped my creative side to find expression in even mundane things.

What can we look for next? I would like to participate in writing projects that advance the missional potential of women in the church. Women aren’t even beginning to reach the capacities of their giftedness. I am interested not only because I am a woman, but because I see the strategic importance of doubling the kingdom workforce.

What is your background?
I trained and served as a pastor for 10 years. Following that I became a church planter, and then for the last ten years, I have been a seminary professor teaching others to be missionaries and community developers.

What can we look for next?
I am planning to expand the ideas of community and communitas. In our book we spent a couple of chapters on this topic, but I am hoping to expand the ideas into a book explaining a more comprehensive and holistic lifestyle.

Church Turned Inside Out: A Guide for Designers, Refiners and Re-aligners
An interview with authors Linda Bergquist and Allan Karr
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