Church Unique - review

Church Unique by Will Mancini is about helping a church find their particular vision (a Vision Pathway). Mancini proposes a three part process in this Vision Pathway: Discover your Kingdom Concept, Develop your Vision Frame, and Deliver your Vision Daily.

Pros:
This book was recommended for some of the features that it would offer, specifically, the Missional Motives and Missional Map portions of the Vision Frame. Filled with examples, Mancini gives some good direction on how to move forward in the murky world on vision casting. He also gives a solid critique of those who simply copy models looking for a silver bullet and identifies the sin of growth idolatry. Mancini is quite thorough and detailed throughout. Complete with a chapter on the history of the 'church growth' movement, Church Unique is well written with great charts and pertinent illustrations.

Cons:
Mancini seems to downplay the importance of doctrine in your Vision Pathway (see pp 123 & 132 for examples). At times Mancini comes across in a very black & white sort of way when it seems unwarranted or unsupported (see p 219 on hiring staff and p 201 on how soon a church can achieve the 'collaboration' stage). And this is thick reading.

While Mancini is very helpful in parts (especially for the reason I purchased it), the rest will have to simmer for a while for me to be able to make a decent verdict. With that being said, there is enough well done material to make this a worthy volume to have as a resource on church vision.

Searching for God Knows What - review

Searching for God Knows What by Donald Miller is half Christian apologetic, half critique on the church. But it is all entertaining. And a bit of stream of consciousness. One of the primary points of the book is to emphasize the relationship we are to have with the Lord, not seeing following Christ as formulaic or 3 easy steps to a better you. This book was loaned to me by a friend.

A couple of the highlights

Regarding Jesus (pp 119-149): he believed all people were equal; he was ugly; he liked to be with people; he had no fear of intimacy; he was patient; he was kind; he was God; he is I AM.

Regarding beauty (pp 209-211): we will scarcely find an ugly person on a CD in a regular store, and never on a Christian CD.

Miller is quite penetrating, writes in nearly everything from the perspective of a story, and he does it while not being whiny. He really has a heart for the person who is jaded with religiosity and who wants to know the living God.

Passion for the Heart of God - review

Passion for the Heart of God by John Willis Zumwalt "is a jump start to renewed passion for Jesus and a roadmap for seeing Him walk out His life through us!" While the Amazon blurb might overstate the scope of this book, Zumwalt certainly challenges one towards seeing the Gospel spread throughout the world. This book was loaned to me by a friend.

Over and over, looking at passage after passage, you are confronted with the fact that our purpose is to glorify the Lord and to spread His gospel. This means to all people. All. This book is designed to stir our heart towards mission. Zumwalt does this so frequently that the chapters only build on one another somewhat; it would be better to say that you get hit repeatedly with same message. There are a few parts that I would either take issue with or I simply don't understand what Zumwalt is saying exactly. But, all in all, this is an excellent motivator to be about missions.

A sample:

When James Calvert went out as a missionary to the cannibals of the Fiji Islands, the ship captain tried to turn him back, saying, “You will lose your life and the lives of those with you if you go among such savages.” To that, Calvert replied, “We died before we came here.” (p 160)

Heaven - review

Heaven by Randy Alcorn is a rather exhaustive look at the subject of what Heaven will be like. The book breaks down into three sections: a theology of Heaven, questions and answers about Heaven, and living in light of Heaven.

One of the basic themes that Alcorn addresses is the notion of Christoplatonism - the thought that the physical is bad and will not be a part of the afterlife. Alternatively, Alcorn shows that Heaven will be a physical place with physical items inhabited by physical beings. Another theme woven throughout the book is the idea of redemption, that is, that the physical world today is a shadow of what the New Earth will be like tomorrow.

This was a great book and will provide a valuable reference in the future. Alcorn offers quite a bit to discuss, but more importantly, he gives us a lot to hope for.

The Prodigal God - review

The Prodigal God by Tim Keller is a short book that focuses on Luke 15 and the parable commonly known as the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Keller teases out the implications of how both sons (the younger and the older) see the world and see the Father.

From page 45:

The gospel is distinct from the other two approaches (religion or irreligion): In its view, everyone is wrong, everyone is loved, and everyone is called to recognize this and change. By contrast, elder brothers divide the world in two: "The good people (like us) are in and the bad people, who are the real problem with the world, are out." Younger brothers, even if they don't believe in God at all, do the same thing, saying: "No, the open-minded and tolerant people are in and the bigoted, narrow-minded people, who are the real problem with the world, are out."

But Jesus says: "The humble are in and the proud are out" (see Luke 18:14). The people who confess they aren't particularly good or open-minded are moving toward God, because the prerequisite for receiving the grace of God is to know you need it. The people who think they are just fine, thatnk you, are moving away from God. "The Lord ... cares for the humble, but he keeps his distance from the proud" (Psalm 138:6).

When a newspaper posed the question, "What's Wrong with the World?" the Catholic thinker G. K. Chesterton reputedly wrote a brief letter in response: "Dear Sirs: I am. Sincerely Yours, G. K. Chesterton." That is the attitude of someone who has grasped the message of Jesus.

This is an excellent short book!