Still two months out and I already pre-ordered my copy.
I'm convinced that churches don't have to "die". Not if that means putting a for sale sign out in front of the building, anyway. But then it depends on your vision of "life".
If the life of your church is something you create, or something you "had back in the golden years", then yeah, maybe your church needs to die. The hard truth is that if the "life" of your church doesn't stem from Jesus, then you're not a biblical church anyway.
But if your vision of what "life" is in your church has to do with the life that's given by the Holy Spirit because of Jesus, then the truth is your church was never even dying to begin with. Maybe in need of a refocus, but still very much alive. You just have to recapture what that life means and looks like. Probably it means you have to return to your first love and identify your idols.
That refocus is going to require repentance, a willingness to move forward, some intense leadership hurdles, and a whole lot of the Holy Spirit. But it can happen.
I hate seeing for-sale signs on church lawns, and the unfortunate reality is that barring some changes, that's the future for most of the churches I know. I'm hoping this book helps stem that tide.