Kicking Habits: Welcome Relief for Addicted Churches

A.J. Pell is the rector of Holy Trinity Cathedral, Diocese of New
Westminster in British Columbia.

Kicking Habits opens with a tale of two churches. St.
Friendly-on-the-Hill, the declining church, is concerned with belonging,
so it seeks to draw new people into its family and to keep them there by
providing information about the faith and jobs within the congregation.
New Hope-in-the-Heart, the thriving church, seeks to change its
congregation into the people God is calling them to be by offering
challenging worship and small mission and support groups. The last third
of the book tells readers how a St. Friendly can transform itself into a
New Hope. In Bandy’s view, only those churches that follow New
Hope’s painful but necessary discarding of outdated patterns in favor
of new systems that encourage personal change will survive and thrive.

The transition from declining system to thriving system seems
inappropriately bureaucratic in a book that purports to be moving
churches away from a committee and management orientation. Nevertheless,
Kicking Habits is a must read for church leaders and members. First, it
provides a very good description and analysis of spirituality in the
postmodern world. Second, its tale of two churches clearly demonstrates
why some churches and not others are leaving their mark on their
communities.