Self-help ✦ Penny’s Take
The Life-Giving Church
Ted Haggard · 1998
52/100
👎 Skip It
The ecclesiological principles in this book — equipping lay members, building through small groups, distributing ministry rather than concentrating it — are sound evangelical church-growth ideas, and some ministry leaders still find them useful today. But the author's 2006 scandal and subsequent misconduct allegations are not a small footnote: they go directly to the credibility of a pastoral model rooted in personal spiritual integrity. There are better pastoral leadership guides from authors whose lives have not contradicted their message.
✦ Penny’s Take — this is The Review Group’s own editorial assessment. Penny’s analytical review line researched this book from real sources and scored it across the lenses shown below. It’s an honest first-party read — not a page-by-page personal one. The gold ✓ Penny Tested mark is reserved for books Penny reads cover to cover herself.
⚠ Parent note — our reviewers flagged: Author Ted Haggard resigned from ministry in 2006 following scandal involving drug use and sexual misconduct · Subsequent additional misconduct allegations · Credibility as pastoral role model significantly undermined. We still scored it 52; these are context for your family, not an automatic skip.
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Show the math
Verdict receipt0–100
safety78
substance62
craft60
originality55
accuracy58
hype50
age-fit80
human-eye42
Penny’s verdict52
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