Reader Recommendation: When Church Stops Working: A Future for your Congregation beyond More Money, Programs, and Innovation, by Andrew Root and Blair D. Bertrand

Recommended by: Proclamation Project’s Preacher Book Club

When Church Stops Working was a Preacher Book Club selection in February 2025.

From the publisher:

What if the solution for the decline of today’s church isn’t more money, people, programs, innovation, or busyness?

What if the answer is to stop and wait on God?

In When Church Stops Working, ministry leaders Andrew Root and Blair Bertrand show how actively watching and listening for God can bring life out of death for churches in crisis today. Using clear steps and practices, they invite church leaders to stop the endless cycle of doing more and rather to simply “be” in God’s presence. They tell the story of two congregations who did this–and found new life in the process.

When Church Stops Working distills the core themes of Root’s critically acclaimed Ministry in a Secular Age series in a more accessible form. Leaders and churchgoers who are burned out and hopeless will experience affirmation, encouragement, and empowerment as Root and Bertrand turn to the book of Acts as well as examples from contemporary congregational life to show what “active” waiting looks like and the saving grace it can hold.