The Very brief review: This book is theologically good and very practical - a great book for our age especially if you attend a smaller church - In Short, if you want your church life to improve - READ THIS BOOK!!!
Slightly Longer Review:
This book does not take that easy option of throwing stones at society from the sideline, but confidently strides into this challenging area without selling out to popular pressure (like much of the emergent church) but instead argues strongly for two main ideas;
Firstly, for unashamedly holding on to the central importance of the biblical truth of Christ and his gospel, in the life of the Christian church.
But Secondly, challenging the church (each local Christian Community) to move past our stereotypically stagnant and formal, Sunday only Christian relationships, to wade into the deeper water of genuine Christian community, warts and all, inconveniences and triumphs as they come.
At its heart it is a call for Christian people to identify and engage themselves (in their thinking, action and relationships) as members of Christ's church for the sake of Christ's mission.
In our age, the emergence of Post-modernism helps us to critique ourselves, and how we have accepted and assimilated uncritically, the western individualism of our age, and it challenges us to see anew our need for authentic Christian community. Not only that we need it, but also our our world needs Christian people living out the truth of the gospel in authentic christian relationships, in order that Christ's mission would continue to win people to their saviour, not just by the weight of the truth of the gospel, but by the power of the gospel that is the truth about Christ wrapped in the witness of genuine Christian community - the gospel in practice.
Post-modernism threatens to sink the claims of truth into an abyss of relativism, but the power of the testimony of the truth of the Gospel seen in authentic Christian community is the authentic witness that will enable the claims of Christ to sound clearly into an age of information overload, skepticism and uncertainty.
Genuine Christians living genuine Christian lives together into a lost world.
As a result, the author's also challenge Christians to have the courage of their theological convictions and stop looking at 'big churches' like they have something that you don't!
Small churches should be who they are, a more committed Gospel and relationally focussed them, which is a timely reminder to us all, that we should stop wasting time looking over the fence and instead concentrate on being who Christ has made us to be, and doing what Christ has given us to do - in our Community, the Church as Christ's people into the world.
There are points where I think they over state their case for their form of church (in particular one explanation of the gospel is a little too New Perspective and [unintentionally!] in the process takes away from the confidence of MY salvation), but the vast majority of this book is excellent and very practical and usable for any congregation who wants to take Christ's call upon their individual and communal life seriously.
Read it, you'll be better for it!
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