“To reach new heights in the kingdom, you must extend your hand to the depths and become a friend of the unwanted and unloved,” according to Sunday Adelaja in his extraordinary book, Church Shift: Revolutionizing Your Faith, Church and Life for the 21st Century. He has demonstrated this is his own life, born in a Nigerian village, moving to Russia to study journalism, then planting a church in the Ukraine. Nobody in the Ukraine was willing to listen to him other than the unwanted and unloved, but through reaching out to society’s outcasts his church has grown to exert a significant influence on Ukrainian national life.
As well as telling parts of the author’s own story, the book describes a number of kingdom principles which, if followed, would enable the church in Western countries to overcome its current malaise. “The church fulfils its mandate when it changes society, not when it is confined to its sanctuary and Sunday school classrooms.” “The church is to be the training ground for people who will impact the society around them.” “There is absolutely no use in having a big church without changing culture, speaking to society and curing social ills.”
Whereas other church leaders typically focus their thinking on how to attract the maximum number of people to a church, or how to explain the gospel most clearly, Adelaja gives a refreshingly different perspective by focusing on how to maximise the impact of the church on every aspect of the culture and society in its country. It’s a well-thought-through and challenging but inspiring book, and I highly recommend it.