Spiritual Disciplines within the Church: Participating Fully in the Body of Christ - review

Spiritual Disciplines within the Church: Participating Fully in the Body of Christ by Donald Whitney outlines the 'whats' and 'whys' of doing things together as the church.

The book identifies 13 disciplines:

Why go to church?
Why seek baptism in the church?
Why join a church?
Why listen to preaching in the church?
Why worship with the church?
Why witness with the church?
Why serve in the church?
Why give to the church?
Why attend the ordinances of the church?
Why fellowship with the church?
Why pray with the church?
Why learn in the church?
Why research the church?

This volume is solid and readable; Whitney gives some good biblical insight into these disciplines. There are, however, some weakness that I would have liked to have seen addressed. On some of the disciplines (like the ordinances), Whitney doesn't go after as many issues as I would have liked (example from the ordinances: what does it mean to examine yourself? isn't given much explanation). Also, the main question that seems to be addressed is one of individualism - why should I do things with the church versus by myself? This is an excellent and contemporary question, but there is more to thinking about disciplines within the church than this question. It seems that the question of individualism frames the disciplines that were chosen.

I recommend and will probably use this book. For those that enjoyed Whitney's book on 'personal' spiritual disciplines however, this book will seem to lack something.