A lot of time and effort goes into designing a building for a church, but how often is comparable effort spent in designing the structure of the church itself (that is, the people, not the building)? Linda Bergquist and Allan Karr consider the church design process in their book Church Turned Inside Out: A Guide for Designers, Refiners and Re-aligners. The book draws from the fields of design, ecology, philosophy, organisational theory and many others in its discussion of church design.
Chapter 9 describes the characteristics of attractional, relational and legacy churches. It does not say that one model is right and another is wrong, although it does highlight the strengths and weaknesses of each. All sorts of churches are needed, and it is better to be deliberate about the style of church you are adopting, rather than falling into it by default. Chapter 10 discusses the organising principles, distinctives and challenges for numerous different models of church.
I found the book to be fairly heavy going, and the chapters of most interest to me were near the end. This was far from the most engaging book I have read in the past year. Nevertheless it was worth reading because it contains helpful information which is not available elsewhere. The book raises interesting questions which need to be addressed by church planters and should also be considered from time to time by leaders of established churches.