Praise For
The Rebirth of the Church
Bill Tuck has done it again! With wisdom and warmth, Bill offers a combination love letter and work order for reviving the Church. In a book filled with personal anecdotes and practical application, Bill offers encouragement, comfort and challenge for churches trying to find their way in a radically changing world. He writes with a passion for the church that is truly contagious. With hope and humor, he calls us to the true mission of the church: not survival of an institution but the salvation of the world. It is a delight to read, and also deserves careful study to absorb all that Bill offers from his diverse experiences in ministry.
David Moffett-Moore,
United Church of Christ minister
Author of Wind and Whirlwind: Being a Pastor in a Storm of Change
It is so refreshing to read a book from a minister who confesses in the preface that he has not given up on the church. In what I consider to be one of his best books, Bill Tuck offers a careful analysis of the many challenges facing the modern church and then offers a multitude of specific challenges of his own for its rebirth. From a lifetime of study, reflection, and ministry, Tuck addresses an amazing number of issues that trouble pastors and congregations alike. With the clarity, wisdom, and practicality that mark all his writing, he then offers concrete and specific perspectives and approaches to address these matters. Of the many books I have on my shelves about what is wrong with the church and how to fix it, this is by far the most comprehensive, the most biblical, the most theological, and the most doable. His conclusion, “My Dream for the Church”, is not only an excellent summary of his book, but I also found it to be my dream as well. I believe you may also find it to be yours.
Ronald Higdon
Pastor Emeritus Broadway Baptist Church, Louisville, KY.
Author of In Changing Times, Why Doesn’t God Do Something?
Pastors and parishioners alike will feel their hearts warmed by this extremely readable book from the pen of a favorite Christian author. Every chapter is replete with interesting thoughts about the church and entertaining stories and quotations that illustrate the thoughts. Don’t miss this delightful read!
John Killinger
Former professor at Vanderbilt Divinity School
Pastor and author of many books, including The Tender Shepherd and The Fundamentals of Preaching
The struggles of the church in this time have been documented exhaustively, and extensive efforts have been made to assign blame or at least seek understanding, but not enough time has been invested in developing creative strategies to strengthen the church for the future. William Powell Tuck’s new book The Rebirth of the Church addresses this need in profound and pragmatic ways.
Like all of Dr. Tuck’s writing, The Rebirth of the Church reflects decades of pastoral ministry and biblical scholarship. These are the reflections of a faithful servant who loves the church as it is and can be, as well as the insights of a scholar who knows scripture and history. And unlike some attempts to stir numerical growth at all costs, Dr. Tuck argues for a renewed focus on authentic faith. Unlike those who target the forms of how we do church, Dr. Tuck focuses on the substance of the church, things like our love for Christ and each other, our calling to go beyond the walls of the church and share the Good News in all its fullness.
This is not to say that The Rebirth of the Church takes a naive approach to renewal and assumes that no changes in form are necessary. On the contrary, Dr. Tuck argues passionately for openness to change, only change that is grounded in spiritual purposes and genuine need.
In the end, this is a book of hope, authentic hope. It does not gloss over or minimize the realities of our time, but it does envision a hopeful future for the church based primarily on the goodness of God, and it offers a wide range of suggestions for how we can participate in this hopeful future. At one point, Dr. Tuck references Carlyle Marney’s observation, “People say that the Church is always dying, but it never does.” All who embrace this claim will find The Rebirth of the Church hopeful and helpful.
Chris Chapman
Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church, Raleigh, N. C.
“For everything there is a time and a season… a time to be born and a time to die” says Ecclesiastes. I would add there is also a time to be “reborn.” The church of Jesus Christ, especially, needs a rebirth. This is notably true in the Northern Hemisphere where the church, in many places, looks like it is on its deathbed. In his latest book, The Rebirth of the Church, life-long pastor and scholar Bill Tuck thoughtfully and boldly challenges the church to rethink her mission in this skeptical age in which anything formally established, like the church, is viewed with suspicion. In these 14 essays, which were themes he preached on over the course of his pastoral career as a local church pastor, Tuck has crafted a much-needed narrative that is packed with insight from biblical, theological, and ethical perspectives that is uniquely refreshing in a time and season that is constantly shifting. He translates his insights into practical tools that provide a framework for clergy and lay renewal, reignited passion for sharing the gospel in unassuming and creative ways, and life again. For the church to live, she must be reborn, and Tuck reminds us that this is the time and season for her rebirth.
Jimmy Gentry
Senior Pastor, Garden Lakes Baptist Church, Rome, GA
William Powell Tuck, a native of Virginia, has served as a pastor in Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina and Louisiana, and as a seminary professor, adjunct college professor and an intentional interim pastor. He is the author of 38 books including The Journey to the Undiscovered Country: What’s Beyond Death, Modern Shapers of Baptist Thought in America, The Church Under the Cross, and The Forgotten Beatitude: Worshiping Through Stewardship. He was given an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from the University of Richmond and in 1997 he received the “Pastor of the Year” award from the Academy of Parish Clergy. In 2016, he received the Wayne Oates Award from the Oates Institute in Louisville, Kentucky. He and his wife, Emily Campbell, are the parents of 2 children and 5 grandchildren and live in Midlothian Virginia.
Other Books by William Powell Tuck
Facing Grief and Death
The Struggle for Meaning (editor)
Knowing God: Religious Knowledge in the Theology of John Baillie
Our Baptist Tradition
Ministry: An Ecumenical Challenge (editor)
Getting Past the Pain
A Glorious Vision
The Bible as Our Guide for Spiritual Growth (editor)
Authentic Evangelism
The Lord’s Prayer Today
The Way for All Seasons
Through the Eyes of a Child
Christmas Is for the Young…Whatever Their Age
Love as a Way of Living
The Compelling Faces of Jesus
