I suppose, as a mega-church pastor, you can only be asked for the secrets to your success for so long before you finally break down and write a book about it! In The Irresistible Church, Cordeiro follows in the footsteps of other large-scale church leaders in writing down the elements that helped his ministry grow. To his credit, this isn’t a book about specific strategies or marketing. Instead, he writes about topics like teaching church attenders to feed themselves spiritually, growing from your mistakes, and the need to be humble.

I was underwhelmed by the book. It’s a mildly inspirational/motivational read for pastors who are too busy to do any serious study. The twelve traits are quite random and reflect the priorities of Western evangelical church culture. When scripture is used, it’s often just inserted out of context to prop up his point, like a good proof-text should. Take, for example, Psalm 46:10 (ESV):

Be still, and know that I am God
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!

Did you know that was written to encourage believers to get to know God for themselves, not just via church sermons?

The length was also an issue. When you try to pack 12 traits into 142 pages, you’re left with about ten pages per trait after the introductory stuff’s out of the way. Pack in lots of illustrative stories and a healthy dose of bullet-points, and you’re not left with much content in the way of actual teaching.

Here’s a question. Does your personal library have a lot of John Maxwell and Rick Warren titles in it? If so, you’ll probably enjoy this book. If you trend more towards Richard Foster and Eugene Peterson, you may want to look elsewhere for inspiration.

Disclaimer: A review copy of this book was provided at no cost through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewer’s program.

Cordeiro, Wayne. The Irresistible Church: The Twelve Traits of a Church Heaven Applauds. Bethany House, 2011.