The Externally Focused Quest: Becoming the Best Church for the Community - Hardcover

by Eric Swanson (Author), Rick Rusaw (Author)

A practical approach for leaders to guide their congregations to become more externally focused

The Externally Focused Quest: Becoming the Best Church for the Community is designed for church leaders who want to transform their churches to become less internally focused and more oriented to the world around them. The book includes the clear guidelines on the ten changes congregations must adopt to become truly outwardly focused. This book is not about getting all churches to have an annual day of community service as a tactic but changing the core of who they are and how they see themselves as a part of their community.

• Outlines the ten changes needed for church leaders to transform their churches
• Presents a highly practical approach that shows leaders how to become more externally focused without having to give up programs that serve members
• A new volume in the popular Leadership Network Series

This book reveals what it takes to make the major shift from an internal to external focus and how that affects church leadership.

Front Jacket

Most churches, blatantly or subtly, have an unspoken objective--"How can we be the 'best church in our community?'"--and they staff, budget, and plan accordingly. How a church answers that question determines its entire approach to its members, staff, prayers, finances, time, technology, and facilities. Becoming an externally focused church is not about becoming the best church in the community. The externally focused church asks, "How can we be the best church for our community?" That one little preposition changes everything. And that is the big question this new book from the authors of The Externally Focused Church seeks to answer.

In The Externally Focused Quest, Eric Swanson and Rick Rusaw show church leaders how to transform their churches from being internally focused to being more oriented to the community around them. They use nine big missional concepts that need to be addressed in the quest to become the best church for the community: focus, purpose, scope, missions, partnering, evangelism, systems, creativity, and outcomes. Understanding and applying the truths of each concept will provide many of the tools leaders need to take their churches on the externally focused quest. Written by the cofounders of the Externally Focused Network, this book presents a highly practical approach that gives step-by-step guidance for churches to become truly externally focused without giving up the programs that serve their members.

Author Biography

ERIC SWANSON is a missional leadership specialist with Leadership Network, leading initiatives with externally focused churches that are missionally engaging their communities, cities, and the world. With Rick Rusaw he is the cofounder of the Externally Focused Network.

RICK RUSAW is the senior pastor at LifeBridge Christian Church and an innovative leader, speaker, author, and trainer. With Eric he is the cofounder of the Externally Focused Network.

Eric Swanson and Rick Rusaw are coauthors of The Externally Focused Church and The Externally Focused Life. They frequently speak and train at seminars and conferences on missional/externally focused churches.

ABOUT LEADERSHIP NETWORK

The mission of Leadership Network identifies and connects innovative church leaders, providing them with resources in the form of new ideas, people, and tools. Contact Leadership Network at www.leadnet.org.