Almost everywhere throughout the greater church are unsustainable trends-endowments are being depleted, building maintenance deferred, congregations are aging and dwindling, and budgets are too far out-of-whack. And although there is much literature on what to do to grow congregations, little has been said about how to get those things done.
In highly accessible, anecdotal prose, church management expert Gerald Keucher focuses in very practical terms on how to bring the right spirit, approach, and tactics to the work of bringing a congregation back from the edge of the abyss.
Gerald W. Keucher is an Episcopal priest, retired chief operating officer of the Diocese of New York, and author of Remember the Future: Financial Leadership and Asset Management for Congregations. He lives in Staten Island, New York.
“Father Jerry Keucher has written a book of meaningful, encouraging, and above all practical advice for church leaders who are serious about turning around a dying parish. In Back from the Dead, Keucher draws on his long experience as both an observer and an orchestrator of such church growth, offering proven principles that will make a difference where faithfully applied.”—The Right Rev. J. Scott Barker, Bishop of Nebraska
“This book could have prevented my worst mistakes, the ones I still cringe over, and the things I did right are all things this book teaches. I wish this book had existed when I began my ministry and I am so grateful it exists now. It blends the deeply spiritual with the eminently practical, all with the warm, witty, and wise tone of someone who’s been there, knows where the land mines are, and where to find the oasis in the desert. You will thank God you have read this book.”—Lucia Lloyd, Rector the Continuing Episcopal Church of St Stephen’s, Heathsville Virginia
