Total Church (edit title)

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  “I found this a brilliantly written book. The authors present a compelling vision of church as a community shaped by the gospel as a proclaimed word and go on to give lively practical examples of how this vision might play out in all of life as a church. And by all, the authors were certainly not exaggerating when they used the word 'total'.
  
  There are many books which claim to have the low-down on how church ought to be done, but what sets this book apart is that it calls rightful attention to the importance of the gospel and community. While many Christians today try to play up one over the other, they argue for a convincing balance. Better still, they remind readers that church refers to the people of God and not to a meeting place, and reveal that church life is not limited to a Saturday or Sunday but rather encompasses ALL of life.
  
  I don't fully agree with some of the ways they have sought to balance the two (or three - they split the gospel into the idea of it as a word, and a word that has to be proclaimed) principles. For example, they seem to advocate the idea of a house church, and while I do not fault their interpretation of the Bible on this matter, I do not think that the apostles fully established a precise way of 'doing church'. One of the marvelous things is that they gave us some very good principles that we would do well to heed, and left us to work out how best to be a community of God's people among the world.
  
  Nevertheless, I am graciously thankful to God for all the good things they have accomplished as a church, and there are many good, biblical lessons we can learn from the book. This is a book that ought to be read and discussed by all who love the church.”

  Joel L wrote this review Thursday, March 26 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No