“Many of us live in a culture that tends to avoid talking about death. Having conversations about our own life cycle seems negative, dreary, and sad. However, death can be incredibly inspiring when we see it through the lens of making room for something new to flourish. In Dying to Restart, Greg Wiens and Dan Turner smash cultural norms and open up the challenging conversation of purposefully walking a church through the death process in order for it to become something entirely new. Since the end result of restarting a church is seeing it come back to life and multiply, this isn’t a negative, dreary, and sad conversation—it is hope-filled and life-giving!
Wiens and Turner are both experienced church restart leaders. Throughout the book, they share multiple stories and examples of churches that have gone through the death process in order to give life to a new disciple-making multiplying church. The testimonies of these churches are incredibly inspirational. Even more, Wiens and Turner provide practical wisdom and “how to” tips for navigating the restart process, which is extremely helpful.
Dying to Restart is an exceptionally valuable tool for legacy-minded church leaders sensing God calling them to walk their church through the death process in order for others to find new life (kind of like what Jesus did for us). Moreover, this book would be unbelievably useful for judicatory and denominational leaders needing to spark the restart conversation within their tribe. Movement-minded leaders of all types will find Dying to Restart a refreshingly optimistic and practical read.”