Review: Exponential

Exponential: How You and Your Friends Can Start a Missional Church Movement

by Dave & Jon Ferguson

I rarely rate a book “5-star,” and I may actually need to downgrade my enthusiasm about this book to four stars, but it’s been so immensely helpful, encouraging, and practical for our church’s staff team at this point that I gave it the highest mark.

This is not a book about “church growth.” Rest assured. I too grow weary about books that tell you how to grow your church in 90 days with nothing but poems and parking.

Exponential is a field manual. It’s the tome of Dave and Jon Ferguson who are brothers and pastors of Community Christian Church in Chicago. The book tells their story, but it does so from the perspective of spiritual expectation.

We don’t grow the church; God grows His church as His leaders are faithful to equip His people. So Exponential demonstrates how CCC has organized their ministry in expectation of God’s desire to reach people.

Things you’ll find in the book:

• An imperative to develop systems in your church

• A strategy for developing leaders who develop leaders

• A bedrock solid conviction that when godly, submitted leaders pursue the glory of God, He will grow first the leaders and then the church.

Right now, we are doling out Exponential books like candy to our key leaders and volunteers. Everyone needs to grow in expectations, but particularly church leaders. The Fergusons reveal how God has led them to develop leaders and organize for growth. Our leaders have already found much to be encouraged by as we lean forward in faith to offer His salvation to all peoples.

The God we serve has promised to be a God of impossibilities. Let’s serve Him with loving obedience and expect to participate in His great work. If we serve Him, the results are “exponential.”