Power Surge: Six Marks of Discipleship for a Changing Church

Michael W. Foss

Jul 2000 · Fortress Press

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A powerful plan to transform church members into impassioned disciples.Drawing on his experience at Prince of Peace, Foss makes the case for transforming congregations from a membership model to a discipleship model of church affiliation. The book begins with a careful analysis of recent patterns in church membership/demographics which argue for this paradigm shift. Subsequent chapters detail the unique leadership and organizational needs of a discipleship model; explore the building and maintaining of fundamental trust-in God and in His people-as the cornerstone of the model; and provide practical helps for assessing the present and strategies for moving into the future. Addressed to rostered and non-rostered professional and non-professional church leaders interested in transforming their churches into centers for discipleship and mission, Power Surge makes the case for a dynamic, functional model of church affiliation that moves away from a membership model centered on prerogatives of membership to a discipleship model centered on the notion of Christian vocation/calling. It proposes a grace-centered, rather than legalistic, model of discipleship and builds a bridge through transferable principles between congregational mission mindedness and the individual Christian's life of faith. This book utilizes assessment tools and practical helps so that congregations can make the transition between membership and discipleship paradigms, as it draws on the experience of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church as a case study illustrating the principles of a discipleship model of church affiliation.

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Michael W. Foss is senior pastor of St. Mark Lutheran Church in West Des Moines, Iowa. He is a graduate of Wartburg Theological Seminary. Foss has authored several books for Fortress Press including Power Surge (2000), A Servant’s Manual (2002), Real Faith for Real Life (2004), and The Disciple’s Joy (2007).