Becoming a Blessed Church: Forming a Church of Spiritual Purpose, Presence, and Power (Book)
N. Graham Standish, Author.  Herndon, VA: Alban Institute, 2004.

Graham Standish believes that a blessed church is one where people experience God, rather than simply experience church. Yes, the congregation will talk about God and serve God, but its overarching desire will be to know and experience God.

The author begins by explaining how his training in theology and psychology did not prepare him to experience God. When he began exploring spirituality, it "was like being given water to drink, allowing me finally to digest and process all the theology I had learned." It led him to bring congregations into such experience as well as to assist leaders in other congregations.

Whether on the theological right or left, growing congregations are grounded in relationship with the divine and allow God’s blessings to flow through them. Standish describes the biggest obstacle to such congregational health as "rational functionalism"—thinking that keeps a congregation rooted in restrictive and logic-bound theology. In contrast, the blessed church has a vibrant sense of faith, hope, and love; embraces the sacred; sees itself as the body of Christ; is filled with God’s purpose, presence, and power; and is unafraid to serve God in its own unique way.

This book will help pastors, governing bodies, and lay leaders to envision creating the blessed church. Questions at the end of each chapter will assist readers in reflecting on their congregations and in leading meetings aimed at revisioning or renewing their congregations. Included are 14 appendices that will enable leaders to implement the changes they envision.

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See also these resources:

The Practicing Congregation: Imagining a New Old Church (Book)
Diana Butler Bass, Author.  Herndon, VA: Alban Institute, 2004.
Looking at individual congregations as examples, The Practicing Congregation describes a growing trend in which mainline congregations are transforming into places of vital, intentional practices of faith.