When I decided almost five years ago to study about theology and church management, I expected something in line with Shawchuck and Heuser’s book, Managing the Congregation. I was hoping for practical answers, figures and lists with various answers to all kinds of complicated situations. I thought I would study various ways of labeling and structuring congregations, I even anticipated learning various ways of quality control measurements. After four years of studies in the States I finally get the opportunity to read about all this, and what a disappointment. The authors are surely doing their best, but their answers are no answers. The book does not try to deal in any serious way with the question what the church is, or why, and even the subtitle presents an understanding of the church that is ambiguous to say the least.
The book is written in 1996, so it is post-Berlin Wall but pre-9/11, and it is relevant to keep in mind. Another thing worth mentioning is that it is 387 pages with indexes and not only has 18 chapter, but those eighteen chapters are organized into 202 sub-chapters or sections. One could actually claim that this is a bureaucratic book about the danger and death that is unavoidable consequence of bureaucracy.