Archives For Church Matters

In Review: One.Life

RATING:

“Followers of Jesus follow Jesus.”  I don’t think the ground just slid out from underneath you; nevertheless, this is one of Scot McKnight’s base premises in his new book One.Life: Jesus Calls We Follow, “a manifesto of the Christian faith.”

One.Life, a book intended “for people who really do think a Christian is someone who follows Jesus and for those who want to focus once again on what Jesus meant when he said, ‘Come follow me,’” largely came out of McKnight’s Jesus of Nazareth class at North Park University (197).  The book, beginning with a vision to spend your One.Life on “Jesus’ Kingdom dream,” systematically encompasses characteristics of the Christian life.  McKnight utilizes the first eight chapters to build a working definition of what it means to be a Christian.  Ultimately, he defines a Christian as,

One who follows Jesus by devoting his or her One.Life to the kingdom of God, fired by Jesus’ own imagination, to a life of loving God and loving others, and to a society shaped by justice, especially for those who have been marginalized, to peace, and to a life devoted to acquiring wisdom in the context of a local church.  This life can only be discover by being empowered by God’s Spirit (106).

In One.Life, McKnight helped clarify two great things for me.  First, “there’s a difference between focusing on being right and focusing on being a follower of Jesus” (47).  McKnight used the parable of the good Samaritan as an example.  The Levite and the priest passed by the mangled man because it would be ceremonially unclean to engage him.  They were “right,” but not right enough.  The Samaritan was ultimately right because he extended love.  McKnight summarizes this point well: “Being right for Jesus meant a kind of Bible reading and a kind of theology and a kind of behavior that led to loving God and loving others” (48).  Second, McKnight points to the communal characteristic of following Jesus.  “When I hear Christians describe the Christian life,” writes McKnight, “as little more than soul development and personal intimacy with God…I have to wonder if Christians even read their Bibles” (60).  Though he’s writing sharply, McKnight’s point is that we too often miss the forest for the trees.  We treat intimacy with God as an end in itself and consequently miss Jesus’ Kingdom vision.

While McKnight challenged my thinking in these areas, he lost me in others.  For starters, this “manifesto” is more like an arbitrary assortment of McKnight’s convictions of what following Jesus means.  I had the hardest time weaving any sort of thematic thread through his book which covered topics ranging from Jesus parables, to sex, to eternity, to wisdom.  McKnight’s writing was also troubling.  In many cases, McKnight takes hot topics in the faith and writes his own “You have heard it said…but I say” discourses (pp. 65 includes a classic example).  McKnight also writes with lofty lingo that is hard to follow.  The “Jesus’-Kingdom-Dream” rhetoric was hard to follow as it was rarely defined and repeatedly mentioned.

Furthermore, it baffled me that McKnight pieced together a working definition of what it means to follow Jesus but never mentioned that a Christian is a witness who verbally proclaims the Gospel.  Much was said about the actions of a witness and only one example at the end of the book was given about sharing the Gospel with others.

The last troubling facet of One.Life was one of McKnight’s premises.  McKnight establishes his premise via a question: why did Jesus come to earth?  I love the question.  When I read it, it got me thinking.  However, McKnight narrowly answers the question by citing Luke 4:16-21 (Jesus reciting Isaiah 61).  Initially, I thought McKnight might expound on other Scriptures, but he stuck only to one.  He neglected other Scriptures that didn’t fit with his “Justice.Life” theme.  While I understand McKnight was trying to debunk the blindly stated, “He came to die for my sin,” he neglected important Scriptures such as John 10:10 (“I came that they may have life and have it abundantly”) and 1 John 3:8b (“The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.”)  Or what about John 9:39, John 18:37, or 1 Tim 1:15?  It seems unfair to say that Jesus only came to earth to fulfill a justice mission.

I am thankful for Scot McKnight.  I regularly read his blog.  However, this book was troubling to me.  I am still rattled as to how Bill Hybels could’ve read this book and concluded, “After reading One.Life, I made a silent covenant with God to read everything Scot writes from this day forward.”

RECOMMENDATION:

While Scot brings up legitimate points about varying issues, One.Life is disorganized and misses the intended audience.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Zondervan by request in order to review its material. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

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In Review: Spiritual Warfare and Missions

RATING:

Two of the nations respected missiologists have teamed together combining pastoral insight with missional fervency in their book Spiritual Warfare and Missions: The Battle for God’s Glory Among the Nations.   Ed Stetzer, director of LifeWay Research and current church planter in Hendersonville, TN, and Jerry Rankin, president of the International Mission Board (IMB) and missionary to Asia for twenty-three years unashamedly heed the church to not lose sight of reaching the nations for God’s glory, while keeping an eye open to how Satan operates.  “Christians,” they note, “have been given the full responsibility for the proclamation of the forgiveness of sin for everybody in the world” (219).  But too often, our churches operate like resorts.  We don’t see the seriousness of the task and the significance of God’s mission to reach all.  Rather than resorts, our churches must be like airports.  We cannot afford to play it safe.  “To play it safe,” they write, “is the most risky decision we could make.  To risk is the safest decision we can make with God.  No matter the short-term implications, we must obey God with reckless abandon” (245).

Spiritual Warfare and Missions was such a blessing to read.  Chapter 6 on persecution will be ingrained in my mind forever.  The stories of those suffering globally for the advancement of the Gospel is both encouraging and challenging.  Each chapter of the book concludes with “Going Deeper” questions.  Contrary to most post-chapter questions I’ve seen, these were thorough and thought-provoking.  I starred a number of them to look at more in-depth.  While several of the chapters were startling, as I found myself underling ferociously, others were repetitive.  Several of the chapters had word-for-word points repeated.  I guess that’s the tricky part of dual authorship.

Overall, this book has made me much more aware of the world around me.  You cannot read Spiritual Warfare and Missions and remain apathetic about God’s glory and His desire to reach the unreached.  Stetzer and Rankin’s heart to see the church own mission was powerful, compelling, and unmistakable (see pp. 300-305).

RECOMMENDATION:

You won’t be able to read this book and remain apathetic about reaching all peoples with the Gospel.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from LifeWay by request in order to review its material. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

In Books, Church Matters, Leadership, Missions, Pastoral
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In Review: Church Planter

RATING:

What do Tim Keller, Ed Stetzer, Albert Mohler, Mark Driscoll, Matt Chandler, Larry Osborne, Dave Ferguson, and Mark Batterson have in common?  They (and many others!) wrote reviews for Darrin Patrick, Vice President of the Acts 29 Church Planting Network, in his first book, Church Planter: The Man, The Message, and The Mission.  Whether or not I thought church planting would be in my future (which I do), the book had to be read on the basis of the wealth of reviews from respected voices!

While Church Planter is not an exhaustive resource, it serves as a fantastic guide for future and current church planters as well as those in pastoral ministry.  The book, at 238 pages strong, is a systematic introduction of sorts to church planting methodology, and more than that, the man behind the methods.  With regards to the church planting man, Patrick covers an array of topics such as what kind of man it takes to plant a church, how one should understand the call to ministry, what the primary responsibilities for a church planter are, the place and priority for giftings, and more.

Patrick’s heart for the Gospel must not be under-celebrated.  It’s so exciting to see a man speak of Jesus with joy, gratitude, reverence, and relevance without softening the message or bowing to polemics.  Patrick’s intentions are clear, “Salvation is the first and most important qualification for Christian ministry.  Without it, nothing else is possible…” (26).

I thoroughly enjoyed Patrick’s book for a number of reasons.  The strong emphasis on the man behind church planting (over 40% of the book) was refreshing, challenging, and eye-opening.  Furthermore, I loved Darrin’s approach and voice.  Darrin is a no-nonsense guy.  He’s been and is still clearly in the trenches of daily ministry.  I don’t know if I could stand to read another church planting book by a guy who hides away in the recesses of his office.  Where others would put forward theoretical CPM (church planting movement) strategies that may work, Patrick speaks openly, yet confidently about what has worked well and what really matters most.

Content-wise, I wish the value of empowering lay people was mentioned.  The book gave appropriate emphasis for the pastorate, and some for delegating as a “relief” strategy, but little vision for empowering people as a massive part of ministry.  These days, one of the larger problems church planters face is the issue of becoming the “Pastor Rock Star” (see Stetzer’s article).  The pulpit is not the place for an exegetical dunking show, as Steven Furtick says.  Now, I know the book could not be exhaustive, but I do wish something could’ve been mentioned about the nature of empowering people.  Also, while I enjoyed the story behind Mission: St. Louis, the entire chapter (Chapter 16) was inconsistent with the content of the rest of the book.  Lastly, the nearly three page discourse on Patrick’s vasectomy was also a bit unnecessary and distracting.

Overall, get it if you think you’ll be in church leadership one day.  Patrick has much you can glean from.

RECOMMENDATION:

If you’ve thought you might plant a church one day, this book will serve you well.  It’s not the be-all end-all church planting book, but it’s undoubtedly a great resource!

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In Books, Church Matters, Leadership, Pastoral
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