Overview

"Jesus is real. He is with you. He is for you. He is your pastor. And he wants to be the pastor of your church. These statements might seem obvious, but what if we all took them seriously? Aaron Gerrard did just that in his journey to plant a church in Ancaster, Ontario, Canada. In the new book, Quit Pastoring Your Church. The story of a small church making Jesus their pastor, Gerrard shares candidly about his journey to start a new kind of church by allowing Jesus to be the guide and it radically impacted the story of this new congregation. Part memoir, part church planting guide, part leadership model handbook, join Aaron Gerrard for the journey he went on in an attempt to quit pastoring his church. Introduction: A couple of times a year I get to work with men and women who are considering starting a new church. We call it a Design Shop. It is a project of the New Leaf Network, a collaborative group of Christian leaders from a broad spectrum of denominations. These people are working to help the Canadian Church discover new potential, with new conversations, new leaders, and new initiatives. Some attendees participate with merely an emerging idea and a sense of new purpose, some have started a project, and some are far enough along into an initiative that they are starting to question their sanity. Regardless of where a person fits, these are my favourite people to hang out with. They are dreamers, risk-takers, and innovators. In the face of our current culture and many of the obstacles therein, these people are willing to try. Something. Anything. It may be something that lasts a while. It may be something that ends quickly. But they are going to push forward. And I love it. Before starting my work as a church planter I attended the Design Shop. It was so helpful and inspiring that I took it again as a refresher course a few years into my church's new life. Soon after that, I was asked to come on board as one of the instructors. I agreed, but on one condition: I wanted to develop a new session about the centrality of Jesus. Thankfully, whenever you phrase something like that, you make it extremely difficult for someone to reply with a ""no."" My idea was accepted and now, among other things, I conclude the Design Shop by teaching a session I entitled, ""Jesus as Pastor."" My problem with teaching this session at the Design Shop was that I only have 45 minutes to unpack it. Which is why I find myself here, writing a book. This book is what I wish I could say in my 45 minute session."

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Reviews

"Read Quit Pastoring Your Church and explore the ""crazy calling"" of planting a church in Christ's Kingdom. Let it grip you with the vision of the impossible task made possible when ""Jesus is pastor."" Allow Aaron Gerrard to disrupt your best agendas, paint you a new picture, and reset expectations so that Jesus can become the very real living center of life and ministry in this thing we call church. - DAVID FITCH professor at Northern Seminary author of Faithful Presence Quit Pastoring Your Church offers a tantalizing vision for ministry done in the Spirit of Jesus. This book is bracingly honest, spiritually informed, and theologically engaged as it untangles our (not so) subtle control over our own pastoral work and guides toward Jesus, our Pastor. Gerrard offers hope for ministering persons of all stripes to discover the life-giving reality of pastoral ministry practiced in intimate communion with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. - JIM HORSTHUIS Academic Director Pathways School of Ministry Quit Pastoring Your Church is an honest look at the life of a pastor. It's an inspiring story of one person who wades his way through pain and suffering and personal crisis and encounters Jesus in the midst of it. As I read it, I was challenged by Aaron's commitment to live by his principles, and encouraged by the work that God has been doing in his life and in his church. Aaron confronts some of the standard practices of evangelical churches, particularly, decision making, focusing on numerical growth, and minimizing the importance of sacramental practices, and invites us to rethink what our practices reveal about what we value and believe. He winsomely invites us to engage in the courageous journey of following Jesus as Lead Pastor. - MARDI DOLFO-SMITH Discipleship Pastor North Shore Alliance Church We could all claim that we recognize that Jesus is the head of the church. But would anyone know that to be true if the average local church was the only corroborating evidence for our claims? Aaron Gerard has done something important with this book. He has made practical something that many of us only conceive of theoretically. You're about to read the story of how a church has made Jesus their pastor. I consider this book to be essential reading for anyone considering a call to pastoral ministry or for the myriad of pastors and churches that face the ongoing temptation to let just about everything and everyone but Jesus lead. - JARED SIEBERT Director of Church Planting Free Methodist Church in Canada"

Read Quit Pastoring Your Church and explore the crazy calling of planting a church in Christ's Kingdom. Let it grip you with the vision of the impossible task made possible when Jesus is pastor. Allow Aaron Gerrard to disrupt your best agendas, paint you a new picture, and reset expectations so that Jesus can become the very real living center of life and ministry in this thing we call church. - DAVID FITCH professor at Northern Seminary author of Faithful Presence Quit Pastoring Your Church offers a tantalizing vision for ministry done in the Spirit of Jesus. This book is bracingly honest, spiritually informed, and theologically engaged as it untangles our (not so) subtle control over our own pastoral work and guides toward Jesus, our Pastor. Gerrard offers hope for ministering persons of all stripes to discover the life-giving reality of pastoral ministry practiced in intimate communion with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. - JIM HORSTHUIS Academic Director Pathways School of Ministry Quit Pastoring Your Church is an honest look at the life of a pastor. It's an inspiring story of one person who wades his way through pain and suffering and personal crisis and encounters Jesus in the midst of it. As I read it, I was challenged by Aaron's commitment to live by his principles, and encouraged by the work that God has been doing in his life and in his church. Aaron confronts some of the standard practices of evangelical churches, particularly, decision making, focusing on numerical growth, and minimizing the importance of sacramental practices, and invites us to rethink what our practices reveal about what we value and believe. He winsomely invites us to engage in the courageous journey of following Jesus as Lead Pastor. - MARDI DOLFO-SMITH Discipleship Pastor North Shore Alliance Church We could all claim that we recognize that Jesus is the head of the church. But would anyone know that to be true if the average local church was the only corroborating evidence for our claims? Aaron Gerard has done something important with this book. He has made practical something that many of us only conceive of theoretically. You're about to read the story of how a church has made Jesus their pastor. I consider this book to be essential reading for anyone considering a call to pastoral ministry or for the myriad of pastors and churches that face the ongoing temptation to let just about everything and everyone but Jesus lead. - JARED SIEBERT Director of Church Planting Free Methodist Church in Canada

Author Information

Aaron Gerrard, his wife, and three kids call Ancaster, Ontario, home. Aaron is the pastor of Ancaster Village Church, a church which he, his family, and a few other crazy dreamers planted eight years ago. He shares the story of that church planting journey in his new book from New Leaf Press, Quit Pastoring Your Church. the story of a small church making Jesus their pastor.

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