Category: Bücher

Gedanken zu oder aus Bücher, die wir lesen / Thoughts about or from books we are reading.

Reimagining church

I’ve just finished reading Frank Viola’s book “Reimagining church“. I find it a good introduction to the reasoning and desires behind the organic church movement. His thoughts about the Lord’s supper opened my eyes to some aspects which I cannot remember having heard before. To quote him (Chapter 3, p. 78):

It is a reproclamation of the Lord’s sacrificial death for us in the past. It’s a redeclaration of his ever-abiding nearness with us in the present. And it’s a repronouncement of our hope of glory – His coming in the future.

He continues:

The Lord’s supper is a living testimony to the three chief virtues: faith, hope, and love. Through the supper, we reground ourselves in that glorious salvation which is ours by faith. We reexpress our love for the brethren as we reflect on the one body. And we rejoice in the hope of our Lord’s soon return.

I find both aspects touching and significant.
His thoughts on church unity and the reasons for the great disunity often seen in the local church are also well worth reading.

The second half of the book deals with leadership, structure, and existing renewal movements. On first reading, I found some of his critiques somewhat harsh and arrogant; after  a break of several weeks, I was able to approach the passages differently, and found his comments justified and tone more factual.

He doesn’t say anything about the organic church which you won’t find in other books, but provides a lot of food for thought and helpful criteria for judging our own ideas and actions. The appendix dealing with common objections and misunderstandings of Biblical texts is valuable reading.

Prophetic Intelligence for Apostolic Architecture

I’ve just finished proof-reading Wolfgang Simson’s coming book “Prophetic Intelligence for Apostolic Architecture”. True to form, Wolfgang is critical of many things happening in today’s churches, but also provides perspective, challenges us to think, listen to God, and act.
Wolfgang is still working on it, so I won’t jump the gun by reviewing it in detail or publishing quotes… OK, just one quote:

We don’t need a ninth prophetic and a tenth apostolic floor in a building that has a teacher’s foundation and eight consecutive evangelistic floors.

(And no, he doesn’t write that as a criticism of teachers and evangelists.)

I think it’s his best book yet (particularly since I proof-read it ;-)), and look forward to seeing others’ reactions. It has the potential to stir things up, as did Houses that change the world.

Revolution, Chapter 7

Barna’s examines why the congregational church is declining, suggesting that it is a consequence of the specialisation of the church: churches for different generations, different worship styles, outreach to specific parts of the population and so on. (Aren’t these the very things promoted by much church growth literature? It seems rather ironic that Barna is suggesting that these are factors in the decline of congregational church.) He continues by examining newer, focused ‘micro’ models of church.

Back to Barna, after some weeks of travelling!
This chapter is a cursory examination of newer expressions of church, how they affect people’s faith, and why people choose them.
“The congregational model of church … has been the dominant force in people’s spiritual life for hundreds of years. So why is it so rapidly losing ground at this moment in history?”
Barna’s first answer is that it is a consequence of the specialisation of the church: churches for different generations, different worship styles, outreach to specific parts of the population and so on. (Aren’t these the very things promoted by much church growth literature? It seems rather ironic that Barna is suggesting that these are factors in the decline of congregational church.) Continue reading “Revolution, Chapter 7”

Revolution, chapter 6

Barna writes about his observations of where and how God is working in people’s lives, identifying mini-movements as the prime source of transformation, including house churches in his list. In my opinion, most house churches do not share one of the five characteristics he attributes to these mini-movements.

Chapter 6 of Revolution is titled “God is active today”. Barna writes about his observations of where and how God is working in people’s lives. He starts out with the comment “There is nothing more affirming than knowing that God is active in the lives of those who seek His touch, and nothing more exciting than seeing the passion and enthusiasm of those people for the God who has revealed Himself in such personal and restorative ways.”. He searched for examples of such activity in local churches, but he was “stunned – and deeply disappointed – at how rare such instances were.”
He found more evidence of such examples in what he calls mini-movements, which include “simple church fellowships (house churches), biblical worldview groups, various marketplace ministries, several spiritual disciplines networks, the Christian creative arts guilds, and others.”
He describes why these mini-movements go mostly unnoticed, and in doing so starts to touch on the questioning and struggles which I missed in the earlier chapters. He then lists five aspects which make them effective in producing transformed lives: Continue reading “Revolution, chapter 6”

Revolution, chapter 5

Barna describes societal trends which have an impact on how people approach faith and spirituality. In such a short space, his treatment of each trend is naturally rather superficial. He writes very succinctly, though, giving much food for thought.
“The more you can anticipate some of the transitions resulting from these trends, the greater will be your ability to help shape the world in ways that are likely to honor God and advance your spiritual maturity. This will impact your own life and the lives of others with whom you interact.” Let us take that to heart.

Chapter 5 of Revolution is titled “Spiritual transitions in the making”. Barna describes societal trends which have an impact on how people approach faith and spirituality. In such a short space, his treatment of each trend is naturally rather superficial. He writes very succinctly, though, giving much food for thought. Here’s a summary of the trends he has identified: Continue reading “Revolution, chapter 5”

Revolution, part 2

In chapter 4 of ‘Revolution’, George Barna takes a look at how the church fares in fulfilling the seven passions which he has identified in Revolutionaries. According to his research, it is generally doing badly.
The chapter ends with the statement “The Revolution is about recognizing that we are not called to go to church. We are called to be the Church.” (In his terminology, ‘church’ means the local church, ‘Church’ the global body of Christ).

This was a good presentation of the general state of the traditional church, managing to both recognise its achievements in the past and clearly present a rationale for desiring change.

In chapter 4 of ‘Revolution’, George Barna takes a look at how the church fares in fulfilling the seven passions which he has identified in Revolutionaries. According to his research, it is generally doing badly.
“If the local church is God’s answer to our spiritual needs, then why are most churched Christians so spiritually immature and desperate?”
“One of the greatest frustrations of my life has been the disconnection between what our research consistently shows about churched Christians and what the Bible calls us to be.”

Having said that, he recognises that the local church has made a valuable contribution throughout its history; to dispute that would be tantamount to claiming that God does not have the power to work even through imperfect channels: Continue reading “Revolution, part 2”

An Army of Ordinary People, part 1

The cover of An Army of Ordinary PeopleI’ve also started on Felicity Dale’s ‘An Army of Ordinary People’. I’ve only read the first two chapters, but it looks like being a great book already. It opens with Hank’s story. Hank is a man who used to say very little, but who dared to try starting a very simple church with some people he knew. Those people told others about their experiences, and Hank’s family got wind of it too, and Hank just kept on starting churches!
The second story is Tony and Felicity’s. It is a little more complicated than Hank’s, but again tells of people struggling with God and what he is doing, and really stumbling into something old but new.
These first two chapters were very encouraging – not because they provide methods, or try to say “It’s easy, go ahead”, but because the stories are about the sort of people we all know. If they can do it, so can we! (With a little help from God 😉 , but that’s what the others needed too.)

‘Revolution’ part 1

I’ve started reading George Barna’s upcoming book ‘Revolution’, which I picked up at the house church conference last weekend. It’s a light read, but I’ve only had time to get through to chapter 4; so far, it has been mostly introduction to the topic. I think he is painting a rather rosy picture of what is going on, at least at an individual level; he hasn’t mentioned the uncertainty, the questioning, or the weakness, and little of the struggles involved. I consider myself to be one of the Revolutionaries he is talking about, and certainly experience these things. As a statistician, Barna is viewing the picture from a global level, which may well look different.
Some quotes from the book: Continue reading “‘Revolution’ part 1”

Who is your covering?: all the rest

Who is your covering? book coverFrank Viola’s book concludes with a look at the nature of apostolic authority. He makes the point that we often look at Paul (particularly) as being a very authoritarian leader. Examining his writing, however, we find appeals, arguments presented, and references to fellow workers such as Timothy and Titus as ‘sons’, writing that Titus, for example “has gone to you of his own accord” (2. Cor. 8:17).
This ties in with Paul’s statement about apostles in 1. Cor. 4:9, “For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the arena.” That does not sound like someone professing great authority in his position.

In summary, Who is your covering? gives a good insight into the meaning of many of the New Testament’s statements about authority. Even though I did not agree with everything he said, the book was thought-provoking. It is well worth reading.

Who is your covering?: denominations and orthodoxy

Book coverMuch of Frank Viola’s book is concerned with taking particular teachings related to the question ‘Who is your covering?’ and presenting an argument against those teachings. In his section on denominational covering, he makes the point that “When a denominational headquarters is infected by false teaching, every church connected with it falls into that same falsehood and the heresy becomes widespread”, contrasting this with what he claims is the intended “autonomous nature of every church“. I’m not convinced that his argument is entirely correct; individual pastors do not automatically accept new teaching or policies from the denominational headquarters, and supposedly autonomous house churches are linked by relationship, which is also a potential method for heresy to spread. However, I do believe that a looser relational link is more likely to resist heresy than a hierarchical structure.
Continue reading “Who is your covering?: denominations and orthodoxy”