• Archive of "Book Reviews" Category

    African Friends and Money Matters: 1-5

    ToddMay 8, 2008

    As I stated recently, I am reading the book African Friends and Money Matters in preparation for my trip to Zambia. This book is broken up into 90 general observations about the differences between African and Western cultures. The author appropriately states that these are general observations and, like in any culture, there are exceptions to them. I am basically going to try and read about 5 of these observations every day or so until I leave. We’ll see how my plan goes.

    I’ve found these observations really, really fascinating.

    Here are the first five:

    • The financial need that occurs first as the first claim on the available resources.
    • Resources are to be used, not hoarded.
    • Money is to be spent before friends or relatives ask to “borrow” it.
    • If something is not being actively used, it is considered to be “available.”
    • Africans are very sensitive and alert to the needs of others and are quite ready to share their resources.

    All of these are very different from Western society where everything is individualized instead of communal and we hold independence more important than interdepedence.

    I think its important to understand that the author is not saying these are necessarily right or wrong, but that they just “are.”  There are positives and negatives to each of them.

    Here is an example, “Africans perfer to take risks in allowing themselves to be decieved, rather than risk failing to help someone who is in need.”

    I’ll be honest, as read this so far, I am really drawn to the African way of life that I read about here.  I love the focus on community and sharing.  Of course, I am also not so drawn to it because I like my “stuff.”

    My trip to Zambia is from June 15-27. Read more here.

    As of today I need to raise another $3000 for this trip. If you would like to help with that you can use paypal:


    Posted in Africa, Book Reviews, Culture, General, Leadership, Zambia 2008 |
    1 Comment »

    Does Your Church Really Need Jesus?

    ToddMarch 25, 2008

    Organic Church by Neil ColeI’ve been reading Organic Church by Neil Cole. I’ll admit that when I saw the cover I wasn’t too excited to read the book. The coffee cup just kinda turned me off for some reason. Then, at our Ecclesia Gathering Alan Hirsch kept raving about the book so I figured I would give it the old college try.

    I’ve been really impressed so far. I love the way he talks about church and following the leading of the Spirit. It’s clear that the most important thing for him is seeing the Kingdom of God be more present in our towns, work places, cities and communities than it is to “grow a church.” While obviously these two things are not necessarily opposites sometimes it is all to easy for pastors / church planters / leadership teams to confuse the growth of the numbers of butts in the seats with the kingdom of God. Ego gets in the way, need for salary gets in the way and all kinds of other things get in the way. How we structure our churches organizationally play into this temptation quite a bit. I think the approach Cole is presenting here helps combat that temptation a bit. While I’m not ready to give up on an “organically organizational” approach to church, he makes some great points.

    Perhaps one of the most convicting themes he seems to keep bringing up is when we is talking about the role of Jesus Christ ad the Holy Spirit in the leading of the church. He asks a very provocative question,

    “Our churches should allow Jesus to be the leader on our team and set expectations accordingly. Someone might say, ‘Well of course we recognize jesus is on board; it is assumed.’ But the real test is if you conduct ministyr business expecting Jesus to carry the load - to carry the team. Or do you practice church as though Jesus doesn’t need to do anything, and everything is done for Him instead of by Him?”

    Later he writes about this again,

    “We must trust God to do His part. We must be willing to place ourselves in a position where, if He does not show up, we will be seen as complete fools. Most churches have not been willing to take that risk.”

    Wow, Neil. Point well taken. Thanks for the smack in the face. I needed it.

    So, does your church really need Jesus or could you get by just fine without him even showing up?

    Posted in Book Reviews, General, Leadership, The Church |
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    Death by Meeting: Why meetings suck (the life out of you)

    ToddMarch 12, 2008

    Death by Meeting by Patrick Lencioni
    If you are part of any kind of organization or team, there is a good chance that you don’t look forward to the meetings that come with being a part of this team. This may especially be true if you are part of some kind of board or leadership team. Meetings seem to be the necessary evil that comes with any type of leadership. Most of us hate them and we usually want to get them out of the way so that we can get onto the real parts of leadership.

    This has been often true for us at The Well. I lead alongside an amazing group of people. This group is highly gifted and I’m honored to be able to lead with them. But, for the last few months our meetings have been dragging. We’ve been fairly unproductive (well intentioned, but still a tad unproductive) and I know that we’ve all left recent meetings a little bit frustrated about this.

    For a while, I was having a hard time putting my finger on the problem. That was until I read a book by one of my new favorite authors, Patrick Lencioni. The book is called, Death by Meeting and it was so good that I actually started and finished it book in one day. Lencioni did such a great job of accurately naming some of the challenges that have been working against us.

    Here are some highlights:

    Most teams try and do too much in one meeting.
    At The Well, we’ve tried to pack discussion about four main topics (logistics /details, people / shepherding, evaluation, long range planning) into one two hour meeting. We have diverse gifts and passions on our team and each person, since we have only so much time to cover the topics, ends up vying for time on their gift which they (rightfully) deem most important. The fact is, we need to talk about all these things and we need to find a way forward that allows us to address all these important ministry topics in a way that allows us to deal with them well as a team. For us, this might mean we need to stop trying to save the whole world and fix all the worlds problems in a short two hour meeting. Right now we’re looking at organizing our meetings so that each of these topics can be covered well throughout the year.

    A confusion of context and expectation
    Lencioni uses the concept of television shows as an example for this problem. When you sit down to watch a 1/2 hour sitcom you expect it to be about 20 minutes and have a starting and ending. It will generally be an emotionally light show and you know what to except. When you sit down for a movie, you expect to sit there for two hours and you are ready to engage a much more intense and deep storyline (unless you are watching a Will Farrell movie of course!). The point is, when you sit down to watch a movie, or sitcom or whatever, you have expectations on what is going to happen. When we sit down for meetings, we have to learn to keep context in mind. If the group is coming together and each person is expecting to talk about one thing and the group ends up talking about something completely different, almost everyone will leave frustrated. For example, if one person on the team loves talking about the nuts and bolts of ministry and expects to get into the details of what it takes to lead the church day to day and instead the whole entire meeting is spent around big vision ideas he/she will leave very frustrated, wondering why we never talk about the stuff that “matters.” The issue here is expectations. Teams need to find an effective way to manage the expectations. They need to give each of the four topics ample and scheduled time so that each team member can trust that the conversation will come back around to the thing that they hold most dear.

    These are just two examples of things from this book that I found incredibly insightful. This is one of those books that you read and its like, “oh, duh. Why didn’t I think of that.” It’s not really rocket science. It’s just understanding team dynamics and people.

    I hope this post was helpful, I’m still processing all this stuff and I’m not sure my thoughts are totally clear…

    Posted in Book Reviews, General, Leadership |
    4 Comments »

    Books of 2007: A few I missed in the list

    ToddJanuary 1, 2008

    I recently blogged through a series on all the books I read in 2007. Over the last few days I have found a number that I didn’t put in the list. So, I’m adding them below.

    First, if you missed the other sections here is what I posted on so far:

    Now, here are some that I missed:

    General Theology:

    Proper Confidence by Lesslie Newbigin
    I wrote a longer blog post on this one because it was so good. As I was struggling through a time where I was wrestling with faith, doubt and reason, this was a big, big help. I can’t recommend it enough.

    The Lord and His Prayer by NT Wright
    A fantastic little book by NT Wright on the Lord’s Prayer. Sometimes I think that Wright reads the Kingdom into things that it doesn’t need to be read into, and I htink he does this a few times in this book. But the book is a great reflection on the Lord’s prayer. If you haven’t done much study on it, I’d suggest this book in a heartbeat.

    Living the Resurrection by Eugene Peterson
    Fantastic book. I always enjoy Eugene Peterson and this was no exception. I lent out this book and I am having a hard time remembering specifics but I read it in a day.

    The Sky is Falling by Alan Roxburgh
    Alan Roxburgh tackles an issue that has become close to my heart. The issue is this: Young emergent minded leaders need the older leaders get that the world is changing and can’t help but address this “discontinuous change”. He calls the older guys “liminals” and the younger guys emergents.

    The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne
    Shane Claiborne is and uncool kind of cool. And so is his book. Here is a story of a guy who dared to take the Bible as literally as possible when it talks about caring for the poor. While I don’t think that everyone is called to live among the poor in the inner city (most of you know my passion for transforming the suburbs) I think that more of us are than have followed that call and I want to live as radically here in the burbs as he does there. Basically, if you feel really comfortable with your Christian life, read this book. It’ll wreck ya a bit, in a good way.

    Barth for Armchair Theologians by John Franke
    I took class on Karl Barth in Seminary and was assigned this book. My professor wrote it. Kinda self-serving isn’t it?! Even if it was, it was an excellent primer on the life and theology of Karl Barth. People really knock Barth without ever reading him. There is good reason for this, Barth is incredibly hard to read. If you want to knock Barth, at least read this book first. It’s really fantastic. (I think I actually read this in 2006 but it was at the end of 06 so I am counting it for this year).

    How to Read Karl Barth by George Hunsinger
    Yeah, so this book needs a companion guide to it called “How to Read the book How to Read Karl Barth.” Its that tough. But, it is worth it. This book shares the four main “motifs” of Barth’s writing: “actualism,” “particularism,” “objectivism,” personalism, realism, rationalism. Of course, that list of “isms” is no help to you since I haven’t defined them for you. If your interest is peaked, get the book and put on some extra bold coffee. (I think I actually read this in 2006 but it was at the end of 06 so I am counting it for this year).

    Design Books:

    A note about these design books:
    In the last three years I have noticed that there are parallel worlds in the design industry and in the church. In the church world we have a number of reform movements (emergent, missional, etc) where those involved in these movements have seen some flaws in how church is done and are looking to reform it. In the design world, there is a movement called the Web Standards Movement that is seeking to reform and fix all the horrendous practices the industry has picked up along the way. Its bizarre on just how similar these two worlds are. I think I’ll write a blog post about this later.

    Thinking with Type by Ellen Lupton
    This is a book that talks about the history and serves as a guide to typography for designers, writers and editors. I am learning that web design is more typography than I first realized. We’re not talking about just picking fonts, its much more than that. If you are a designer and don’t have any formal education on typography, I’d recommend this book.

    Bulletproof Web Design by Dan Cederholm
    A friend of mine gave me this book a while ago and I finally got around to reading it this year. It’s really helpful. Really, its about making websites that work in all different browsers and in all kinds of situations, using web standards. Its nice when someone who writes a book about something is also really stinking good at it. Dan is a top notch designer who I would love to be like someday. His site is awesome.

    HTML Mastery
    Kinds self-explanitory. Its a book on advanced HTML. Very, very, very good. Highly recommended.

    CSS Mastery
    Also fairly self-explanatory. A book on advanced CSS (cascading style sheets).

    Posted in Book Reviews, Books of 07, General, Missional |
    2 Comments »

    Books of 2007: Pastoral Leadership

    ToddDecember 22, 2007

    I was looking at my bookshelf the other day and realized that this year was a fairly good reading year for me. So, I started trying to remember what I read and how I liked what I read. So, I’ve decided to share that here. I was going to post my thoughts all at once, but when i was done writing I had six pages of text! That’s way too much to read so I am going to post them one section at a time.

    Book Reviews to come in the next few days:

    Countdown to Sunday: A daily guide to those that dare to preach by Chris Eardman
    Wow. This book rocked my world in such a good way. The subtitle says it all, “a daily guide for those who dare to preach.” I realized after speaking at the funeral I did recently that I have taken preaching way too lightly this year. In that funeral, I was so aware of the gravity of the situation. Gary (my co-pastor) and I talked later that night about how every time we preach should be that big of a deal. I really believe that Eardman thinks that preaching can change the world and that we should approach the moment with that much intensity. Between the funeral and his book, my preaching better never be the same. The other part of this book that was helpful was that he gave me a great framework for preaching as a bi-vocational minister who doesn’t have the luxery of putting in 25 hours of study and prep.

    Communicating for a Change by Andy Stanley
    I’ve had this book recommended to me by about 5 pastor friends. It was a really, really helpful book on preaching. Its not going to knock your socks off with revolutionary content, but its solid. Really solid. Some great suggestions that help teach the preacher how to communicate in a way that effects true change in those who are listening. He helpfully points out that this does not negate the work of the Holy Spirit. But rather, makes the case that we should do our best to communicate in a clear an effective way. This was a great complement to the book above by Eardman.

    Working the Angles by Eugene Peterson
    This is another top 10. In fact, I read this book every year. I’ve said before that it usually makes me physically ill because it is so convicting and challenging. I keep coming back to it because it is such a great reminder about what the pastorate is about. If you are a pastor and you have not read this book, I’d strongly suggest it.

    Off-Road Disciplines by Earl Creps
    I got this book for review and found it a good read. I blogged about it here this year so I won’t re-write what I said there.

    Posted in Book Reviews, Books of 07, General, The Church |
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    Books of 2007: Church Leadership

    ToddDecember 17, 2007

    I was looking at my bookshelf the other day and realized that this year was a fairly good reading year for me. So, I started trying to remember what I read and how I liked what I read. So, I’ve decided to share that here. I was going to post my thoughts all at once, but when i was done writing I had six pages of text! That’s way too much to read so I am going to post them one section at a time.

    Book Reviews to come in the next few days:

    Organic Community by Joe Myers
    This, along with Joe’s first book (The Search to Belong), has been one of the most helpful books I have read when it comes to leadership. I personally believe that if we let the stuff that Joe writes about sink it, it will dramatically change the way we approach community and leadership. His chapter on power was worth the price of the book. I think the problem people find in this book (and his second book) is that he seems to be dealing with small issues. But, I’ve come to realize that its these small issues that make a huge difference to how people see and respond to our leadership as pastors.

    Giving and Stewardship in an Effective Church by Kennon Callahan
    If I could recommend 10 books to a church planter this would be in the top 5. I know the title makes it sound old school and out of date. But that is so far from the truth! I personally believe that one of the biggest issues in the “emerging church” or “missional church” is our horrible way of dealing with money and offering. We’ve made it an embarrassment to what we do instead of an incredible opportunity to generously give to what we care about. In this book, the best thing that Ken does is share how people respond to language when it is used in the invitation to give. Seriously, get this book. I believe that if you buy into what he is saying it will change not only your church budget but it will give you a language to invite your people to be generous well beyond your budget. (Note: Ken has a different writing style. It takes getting used to. If you want to really learn about these issues join me in Atlanta in February at his conference.).

    Intuitive Leadership by Tim Keel
    Tim is one of those guys who, within the first 10 minutes of meeting him I knew was the real deal. In getting to know some poeple who are well-known in our small world of church ministry, I am sometimes so dissappoitned as i realize these people are really more interetsed in being known than they are pastoring people. Tim is one of those guys who I could tell just loves his church and loves his people. I loved this book because his story and my story are not too far off (though, they do depart in some major ways). I am not sure if this book gave me any big new insight, but man was it encouraging and I’d recommend it to anyone (I’d especially recommend it to anyone who is trying to figure out what in the heck postmodernism is and what it means for the church).

    Effective Church Leadership by Kennon Callahan
    Ken Callahan is a 70 year old who gets what it means to be missional and I don’t think he even knows it. He doesn’t really know too much about emergent. He doesn’t have to. He just gets it. This book addresses the tensions that many of us are feeling, “how do we structure and cultivate a missional environment?” He gives some good (not perfect, but good) advice and thoughts on just that in this book.

    Twelve Keys to an Effective Church by Kennon Callahan
    Lest anyone think that I think Ken can do no wrong let me say this. This book is fairly outdated. The title says it all does it not?! But, let me also say this, chapter 1 is worth the price of the book and the other chapters are worth it to if taken with a grain of salt.

    Posted in Book Reviews, Books of 07, General, Leadership, The Church |
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    Books of 2007: General Theology

    ToddDecember 14, 2007

    I was looking at my bookshelf the other day and realized that this year was a fairly good reading year for me. So, I started trying to remember what I read and how I liked what I read. So, I’ve decided to share that here. I was going to post my thoughts all at once, but when i was done writing I had six pages of text! That’s way too much to read so I am going to post them one section at a time.

    Book Reviews to come in the next few days:

    This second section is what I read in the area of General Theology:

    A Walk Through the Bible by Lesslie Newbigin
    Wow. This little book is a pure gem! If you are looking for a quick summary of the narrative of scripture you have found your resource. This is not only great for those of us who grew up in the church to read through and reframe our lives, but it is great for someone who doesn’t know the story at all. I bought about 10 copies of this book and gave them away to people in the church. In fact, I need to do that again… be right back…

    Church Dogmatics 4.3.2 by Karl Barth
    Okay, so I didn’t read this whole entire volume. But, I started to and have read a decent chunk of it. I’ll tell you what, this section of the dogmatics is pure gold when it comes to understanding the church and its role in the world. I actually referenced it a few times in my paper on the missional church in suburbia. If you are feeling brave, pick up this volume from amazon. In my opinion, its well worth the time, money and effort.

    Embracing Grace by Scot McKnight
    Top 10 book. Ever. The thing that I love about Scot is that even though its clear that he is brilliant, he writes books that are both very readable to the non-academic and very helpful to the average person sitting in the pew. We’ve been using this book in my small group this year and I can honestly say that his discussion of the gospel of embracing grace has cultivated a lot of life change in our small little group. I feel like the best thing this book did was to give me language to explain how I have understood the gospel for so long. In fact, I think I am going to go and buy it as a gift for someone who reads this blog. Be right back….

    A Community Called Atonement by Scot McKnight
    Scot continues to write about important and deep issues in ways that are not incomprehensible. I am actually only about 1/2 way through this book at the moment but have found it really, really helpful as I think thought the different views of the atonement that have been proclaimed and argued throughout church history.

    The Great Omission by Dallas Willard
    Dallas Willard is pretty much a go-to kind of author. I had to read this book for a class I took early in the year and found to really to be helpful as we think about the lack of real discipleship that happens in the local church in America.

    The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard
    I read this in 2001 (I think) and it was completely transforming to my understanding of salvation, faith and well, pretty much everything. I had to re(skim) it again for a class and it was better the second time. If you haven’t read it, you really should. If you have already read it. Pick it up for a few hours and take it in again. Its that good.

    Posted in Book Reviews, Books of 07, General, The Church, Theology |
    1 Comment »

    Books of 2007: Missional Theology

    ToddDecember 13, 2007

    I was looking at my bookshelf the other day and realized that this year was a fairly good reading year for me. So, I started trying to remember what I read and how I liked what I read. So, I’ve decided to share that here. I was going to post my thoughts all at once, but when i was done writing I had six pages of text! That’s way too much to read so I am going to post them one section at a time.

    Book Reviews to come in the next few days:

    This first section is what I read in the area of Missional Theology.

    The Open Secret by Lesslie Newbigin
    Simply put this is a top ten book of all time. If you are looking for a good (yet deep) and well thought out introduction to Missional Theology this is a decent place to start. I posted a paper I wrote on this book here. Newbigin is the one who all the missional guys were reading first. He was a missionary in India for 40 years and when he came back from the mission field was struck by how Europe was now a mission field unto itself. This dude’s thinking is amazing. I’ve made a goal to read everything he has written in my lifetime. I’m pretty sure I’ll never do it, but its nice to think about.

    The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch
    I loved Hirsch and Frost in The Shaping of Things to Come. This was no let down. The two most helpful and meaningful sections were on “Jesus Is Lord” and his explanation and discussion of apostolic leadership (as i feel like he explained me fairly well there).

    Exiles by Mike Frost
    Again, this was a great addition and follow up to Shaping of Things to Come. I have thought a lot recently about how our church needs to see it self in more of a mentality as an exile. I read this early this year so its not quite as fresh but I’m sure I’ll be referencing this again before too long.

    The Great Giveaway by David Fitch
    David is a smart dude. That’s all I’ve got to say. I ran into him when I was in Chicago visiting my family this summer and I was happy to say that I like him even, and this book, even more now. Its funny, I pictured him as a young, 35 year old, but in all reality he’s old! (Ok, so 40 something isn’t old but he was nothing like i pictured! Don’t worry, I told him that to his face!). Regardless of all that, this book is well worth the time and he really speaks a good prophetic voice that the american church needs to at least listen to and consider.

    The Like Jesus but Not the Church by Dan Kimball
    I don’t know Dan at all but I have heard great things about him. If nothing else I really, really appreciate his continual call to not let us forget about the importance of evangelism! That said, this book didn’t do too much for me personally. But, it was very insightful and I have recommended (and gifted) it to a few pastor friends who are trying to catch up with how our culture views Christianity and the church.

    Okay, that’s it for now. More reviews to follow in the next few days.

    Posted in Book Reviews, Books of 07, General, Missional, The Church, The Well |
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    The Gospel and The Cycle of Grace in Embracing Grace

    ToddSeptember 18, 2007

    I am leading a Bible study on Wednesday nights at our church on the book by Scot McKnight called, “Embracing Grace.” In it, he defines “the gospel” as,

    “The gospel is the work of God to restore humans to union with God and communion with others, in the context of a community for the good of others and the world.”

    I love this definition because its a very holistic definition (though i am sure not perfect). It deals with personal salvation of human beings and the restoration of their relationship with God, it deals with the work of God in restoring man to each other, it deals with the importance of community (or the Church) in this and finally it deals with that fact that the gospel has implications not only on the individual but on the entire created order. Also, the gospel does not only effect our response to God, but effects how we live in light of who God is and what he cares about.

    Scot goes on to share the “flow of grace:”

    God embraces you and me and
    God embraces others and
    God embraces the whole created order.

    Then:

    You and I embrace God back and
    We embrace others and
    We embrace the entire created order.

    That my friends, is a high calling…

    Posted in Book Reviews, General, Great Quotes, The Church |
    3 Comments »

    “Official” Review of Organic Community by Joe Myers

    ToddAugust 30, 2007

    Organic Community by Joe Myers I have posted my first official amazon.com book review today. I reviewed the book “Organic Community” by my good friend Joe Myers.

    Here is what I said,

    “Joe’s first book changed the way I look at community and how people belong in my community.

    Joe’s second book continued to help me do that by giving some very helpful, effective and “common sense” approaches to leadership of this kind of community.

    I have found that many pastors who read Joe’s books find themselves uncomfortable with the ideas he presents. But, I have found that many “lay people” (for lack of better word) read his stuff and say, “yeah, duh. isn’t that the way its supposed to be” or “man, I wish I could find a church that gave me the freedom to live like this.”

    The ideas and thoughts he writes about often made me say “duh, why have i never realized that.” And you truly let them sink in and try take them seriously you realize they can radically change the way you look at not only Church but life in general.

    A theme that I have found resonates through each book is that we leaders need to have more trust in the people in our communities. And just because they don’t fit in our models of what a correct participant in our communities looks like, doesn’t mean they are not living faithfully and compassionately as followers of Jesus…

    I’d recommend this book to anyone… in fact, I already have to a bunch of people and pastors.”

    Of course, you can also visit his amazing looking website at www.languageofbelonging.com (yes, I built it!). While you are there be sure to head to the contact page and send him a note and tell him to blog more!

    Oh, and go buy the book here…

    Posted in Book Reviews, General, Missional |
    1 Comment »

    They Like the Church But Not Jesus?

    ToddAugust 23, 2007

    Recently I read the book “The Like Jesus But Not the Church” by Dan Kimball. I enjoyed it and it gave some great thoughts and insight on the large number of people who are into Jesus but (for whatever reason) don’t trust the Church.

    This got me to thinking…Is the opposite true?

    Is it possible that there is a large number of people inside the Church who like the Church but not Jesus? Now, before you write me off as nuts, hear me out. Take The Well for example (to be fair I’ll pick on my church). We do have a great thing going. For example:

    • We have a great community that really cares for each other (my family has felt the truth of this recently)
    • We have a great weekly worship gathering with some amazing musicians (we have more good musicians than we know what to do with)
    • I’ve been told the preaching isn’t terrible (who knows!)
    • We host cool concerts and art shows (they really help us to get to know those outside our community)
    • We have a really amazing looking space (take a look at some pictures)
    • We serve great coffee (Shameless plug for One Village Coffee)
    • We try to do our best to be socially conscious and care for the poor (Christians better be doing this, but even those who don’t know Jesus know this is a good thing)

    Now, all this stuff is fine. In fact, I think all this stuff is good. But, if all that we were as a church was this, how easy would it be for someone to like the Church but not be so into Jesus?

    You get what I am saying?

    For those of us who have “cool churches” are we doing and saying enough to make sure people hear, learn and know about the radical, life-altering, provocative, revolutionary and mind blowing message of Jesus? Or, are we just happy that they like to show up on Sunday mornings. After all, that’s better than nothing… Even if your church isn’t perceived as “cool,” how about you?

    If you think about it long enough, I think this is a cutting question. Not only for those of us who are pastors asking this of our churches…

    But, I have to ask this of myself. Am I so in love with my community that it overshadows my love for Jesus? Of course, the answer is not to love your community less… the answer allow your community to help you learn to love Jesus more…

    So what do you think?

    (Now, as a side note, at The Well we never once started out saying “let’s be a cool church.” In fact, sometimes I hate that we are perceived that way because all we want to do is be a community that worships, loves and serves the living Messiah in a way that proclaims his hope to the world. Cool or not, who really cares!? I always say, you could take our building and art shows and music and everything and I still believe that we would still be the same at the core of who we are…)

    Posted in Book Reviews, General, Missional, The Church |
    6 Comments »

    Quick Book Review of “Proper Confidence” by Lesslie Newbigin

    ToddAugust 21, 2007

    Proper Confidence by Lesslie NewbiginI just finished reading the book “Proper Confidence by Lesslie Newbigin. As the title suggests, this book deals with the concept of how we can have proper confidence in the Christian story. The thing I appreciate about Newbigin is the fact that his writings have 36 years of missionary experience in India to back them. He isn’t some highbrow academic (though he is an academic) who has no experience writing for reality. In fact, his book, while immensely deep, is highly practical. This is perhaps because for him, as he lays out in this book, there can be no separation between faith and practice and theory and action. These are false dichotomies.

    Anyway, here are the few things that stuck out to me as helpful in this 105 page book:

    1. He tells the history of “knowing” from the early church to the post-modern period. This is perhaps the hardest part of the book to follow but it was very rewarding as he outlined the history of how we “know things.” He starts with the early Greeks and works through to the post-modern period (The Greeks to Descartes to Mcintyre and everyone in between). If you have never read anything about this before its really and eye opening few chapters (On side note, I read a book by Trevor Hart called “Faith Thinking“ that did the same thing. At that time, this was one of the most transformative things I ever read).

    2. He explains how all knowledge requires faith of some sort. I am not going to try and explain how he does this, you’ll have to read the book for that. But, this understanding of knowledge really makes room for honest doubt in the Christian faith. What I mean is that if all knowledge requires faith, than it’s okay and healthy to have doubt. But, faith is not the master to doubt. In fact, he writes how Descartes pursuit of certainty (which led to absolute skepticism) was a problem.

    “A the most obvious level it has created a prejudice in favor of doubt over faith. The phrases “blind faith” and “honest doubt” have become the most common of currency. Both faith and doubt can be honest or blind, but one does not hear of “blind doubt” or of “honest faith.” Yet the fashion of thought which gives priority to doubt over faith in the whole adventure of knowing is absurd. Both faith and doubt are necessary elements of this adventure. One does not learn anything except by believing something, and - conversely - if one doubts everything one learns nothing. One the other hand, believing everything uncritically is a the road to disaster. The faculty of doubt is essential. But as i have argued, rational doubt always rests on faith an not visa-versa.” (24)

    3. He explains how despite popular opinion. even science requires faith assumptions for the scientist to come to a “truth claim.”

    “The truth of course, is that both approaches - the confessional and the scientific - presuppose (as all rational inquiry must presuppose) a long tradition of thought and practice that determines which beliefs are plausible and which are not.” (46)

    4. He emphasizes the importance and necessity of the Story (Narrative) of the Scriptures.

    “At the center of the life of each community was the continual reading of the Bible, both in study and in the worship of the community. The biblical story came to be the one story that shaped the understanding of who we are, where we come from, and where we are going, it was the story that was their mental framework, the story that defined human life and its meaning and destiny.” (13)

    Unfortunately the idea the the Scriptures tell the story of God’s interaction with and salvation of the world has been lost in the modern world with the pursuit of concrete, certain statements of truth that we can write down forever. They bible is not just an instruction book or a set of propositional truths or even a collection of stories that tell truth. The bible the story of God bringing salvation to his world. If we don’t get this, we miss the point of the scriptures,

    “We cannot understand Jesus except in the context of the bible as a whole. To detach Jesus from this story is to create a mythical figure. In his teaching and in his action he speaks and acts as the one who brings the story of God’s dealing with Israel to its point of Crisis and decision. the person who allows the biblical story to be the all-surrounding ambiance of daily life and who continually seeks to place all experiences in this context finds that daily life is a continuous conversation with the one whose character is revealed in the biblical story as a whole.” (88)

    5. All knowing starts with assumptions and the belief in the Christian God begins with the assumption that the church’s affirmation that the story [the bible] tells is the true interpretation of all human and cosmic history and to understand history otherwise, is to misunderstand it, therefore misunderstanding hte situation here and now.”(77)

    Wow, okay, so that’s a “quick” summary of this book. Honestly, I feel like I left out some of the most major parts and arguments. But, of course this blog post a) isn’t written by Lesslie Newbigin and b) its not 105 pages long. So, I apologize if I didn’t get the crux of the book down here…

    I really, really enjoyed it as it gave a great and solid basis and argument for faith as a legitimate form of knowledge in our day. For me, what it has done is help a great explanation for why believing in the God and story of the bible is not for the small minded or stupid.

    Go ahead and buy the book. Its not for the faint of heart and even though it is only 105 pages, its quite a hard read.

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    Resource: A (Quick) Walk Through the Bible

    ToddAugust 10, 2007

    Before we left for Guatemala I ordered a few Lesslie Newbigin books. One of them is a small little book called “A Walk Through the Biblenewbigin.”

    The great things about this book:

    • Its only 85 easy to read pages. Seriously, where else can you get a quick summary of the Bible from an experienced and highly respected missionary theologian who has not only done his research but spent more than his fair share of time “in the field.” You can probably read it in one sitting fairly easily.
    • It teaches how the biblical narrative is in the context of world history. This is perhaps the most helpful part of the book. He quotes a Hindu friend of his,

      “I can’t understand why you missionaries present the Bible to us in India as a book of religion. It is not a book of religion – and anyway we have plenty of books of religion in India. We don’t need any more! I find your Bible a unique interpretation of universal history, the history of the whole of creation and the history of the human race. And therefore, a unique interpretation of the human person as a responsible actor in history. That is unique. There is nothing else in the whole religious literature in the world to put alongside it.” (Emphesis mine)

    • He helps us understand the major sections of the biblical narrative. Since we only have 85 pages, he doesn’t go into great details, but he gives a great birds eye view of the narrative of scripture and how it all fits together.
    • You can give it to anyone to read. Since its so short and isn’t all wrapped up with theological mumbo jumbo, pretty much anyone could read it. It’s not reserved for high brow academics and theologians. I’d give it to almost anyone who was interested in what the Bible was about.

    So, there it is. Go and get this bookNewbigin. It’s fantastic. I think its going to be a book study at The Well soon and I am also thinking of ordering a bunch of them to give out to new people visiting the Church or investigating Jesus and Christianity.

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    Measuring Missionally

    ToddJune 20, 2007

    images.jpg I received a copy of Earl Creps’ book “Off Road Disciplines” a while back and am working my way slowly through it (not because it is such a hard read, but because i am just slow). Even though i have read most of the the missional leadership books out there, I have found it a very helpful, practical book. I think the chapter i have enjoyed the most is his chapter on Assessment: The Discipline of Missional Efficiency. He writes,

    “Harvard’s Robert Behn observes that ‘what gets measured gets done’ … the metrics employed by an organization have a way of focusing its attention and resources on the goals those measurements are tied to, regardless of whether the g oals have merit or not. So when we measure, we need to take extra care that we are evaluating things that need and deserve it, not just the things that are easier to count.”

    This begs the questions: what are we measuring? and, are we even measuring anything at all. There is a great need for the church to begin measuring qualitatively instead of quantitatively. While measuring things like attendance and giving and # of people in small groups are not totally bad, they do not tell you how effective your church is at “the top line” (which, Creps describes as, “the extent to which we are individually and corporately conformed to his image.” I could give plenty of examples of people who come to church every Sunday, tithe over 10% and are part of a small gropu that are NOT being conformed to his image. (Of course, i know others who do those things who are. And, that is the point, these thing do not really decisivly tell us anything one way or another). These things are good to know, and we should know them, but we need to learn to assess the strengths of our churches by things like stories, lives changed and other intangibles.

    Basically, when the only numbers we report and care about are attendance and giving we’re setting ourselves up for problems… At The Well, I’ve been thinking through would it looks like to assess our community with a more qualitative eye more than a quantitative one….

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    The Open Secret by Lesslie Newbigin Book Summary - Part VII (Final Post)

    ToddJanuary 4, 2007

    The Open Secret by Lesslie Newbigin Book SummarySeries: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII

    The final chapter of this book discusses what it looks like to dialogue with people of other religions. How does this look? How do we approach these people? One view that he deconstructs is that we call those who are serious, committed adherents to another faith “anonymous Christians.” He rejects this view as valid for a couple reasons.

    First, he notes that it fails to take the person’s other faith seriously (172). Second, “it assumes that our position as Christians entitles us to know and declare what is God’s final judgment.” (173) In reading this, my first thought was, “well, don’t we?” But, he writes, “I find it astonishing that a theologian should think he has the authority to inform us in advance who is going to be ’saved’ on the last day” (173).

    This concept is difficult to work through because it seems to take the Lordship of Christ lightly. On the other hand Newbigin has a very valid point when we writes, “This is not a small matter. It determines the way in which we approach the man of another faith. It is almost impossible for me to enter into simple, honest, open, and friendly communication with another person as long as I have at the back of my mind the feeling that I am one of the saved and he is one of the lost” (173).

    When it comes down to it, I believe this actually takes the Lordship of Jesus Christ more seriously. While we might not claim to know the destiny of this persons soul, we “meet the person simply as a witness, as one who has been laid hold of by Another and placed in a position where I can only point to Jesus as the one who can make sense of the whole human situation that my partner and I share as fellow human begins. This is the basis of our meeting.” (174) Here we see why in the beginning of this book Newbigin states that he is “wagering his life on the faith that Jesus is the ultimate authority.” (15)

    This has been a challenging book for me. I have found it quite difficult to try and summarize such a well articulated thought pattern (which shows by the length of this review!). This book has not so much given me brand new information as much as it has given me a deeper theology to explain my understanding of mission. It has also really challenged me to think carefully about how we individualize and privatize our faith rather than giving it its proper place in world history. To me, this is a revolutionary way to look at the church’s involvement in the culture. It demands that we take issues of social justice seriously, especially for those of us who are pastoring in wealthy (by world’s standards) suburban contexts.

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    The Open Secret by Lesslie Newbigin Book Summary - Part III

    ToddDecember 4, 2006

    The Open Secret by Lesslie Newbigin Book SummarySeries: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII

    In the next chapter Newbigin continues to lay out his argument for as to why it is important to answer the question of authority with the name of Jesus (it is by Jesus� authority that we do mission). And, if we ask this question, we must be prepared to answer the question, �Who is Jesus� with a Trinitarian response. He argues that in churches today when we use the name �God� we do not automatically think of the trinity, rather we think of a divine monad. �The church continues to repeat the Trinitarian formula but � unless I am greatly mistaken � the ordinary Christian in the Western world who hears or reads the work �God� does not immediately and inevitably think of the Triune Being � Father, Son and Spirit.� (27). This is important to his argument because he begins to look at Christian mission from three perspectives: �proclaiming the kingdom of the Father, as sharing in the life of the Son, and as bearing witness of the Spirit.�

    Proclaiming the Kingdom of the Father: Mission as faith in action. This next section obviously focuses on the role of the Father in mission. He quickly makes a distinction that I find very important for our conversation about missional theology. He states, �The bible is unique among the sacred books of the world�s religions in that it is in structure a history of the cosmos. It claims to show us the shape, the structure, the origin, and the goal not merely of human history, but of cosmic history.� (31) As we begin to see salvation in terms of the entire universe as opposed to just the individual (which of course, includes the individual!) we begin to see how the Father is working all of world history towards a specific trajectory and �the reign of God is his reign over all things.� Again he writes, �The Bible, then, is covered with God�s purpose of blessing for all the nations. It is concerned with the completion of God�s purpose in the creation of the world and of man within the world. It is not � to put it crudely � concerned with offering a way of escape for the redeemed soul out of history, but with the action of God to bring history to its true end.� (34)

    At this point, Newbigin begins a short discussion of the doctrine of election, which he will continue later in the book in chapter 7. Normally, you would not expect to see a discussion about election in a book on mission. But, he makes the case for this being an invaluable doctrine for mission. He points to the fact that few are chosen, �not for the sake of themselves, but for the sake of all� (34). It is all too easy, and we have seen the nation of Israel struggle with this time and time again.

    Newbigin summarizes the idea of mission as faith in action as follows: �It is acting out by proclamation and by endurance, through all the events of history, of the faith that the kingdom of God had drawn near. It is the acting out of the central prayer that Jesus taught his disciples to use: �Father hallowed by thy name, thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.� (39)

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    The Open Secret by Lesslie Newbigin Book Summary - Part II

    ToddNovember 30, 2006

    The Open Secret by Lesslie Newbigin Book SummarySeries: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII

    The most important issue for the Western Church as been that they have “totally failed to recognize that the most urgent contemporary mission field is to be found in their own traditional heartlands, and that the most aggressive paganism with which they have to engage is the ideology that now controls the developed world.” This is how Newbigin begins and this is the foundation to the argument of the rest of the book.

    Newbigin next addresses the issue of authority. He notes that the popular missionary stance by Western Culture was that of “white man’s superiority” and “confidence that it was only a matter of time before the whole world would receive its blessings, and the unconscious identification of the gospel with the good elements in that culture.” (12) Today, the question that comes to the missionary is “what right do you have to preach to us?” To which Newbigin suggests giving back another question, “Who is Jesus?” It is this question he states that “it is the work of the Christian witness through all the centuries and all the cultures until the day comes when all nations confess him Lord.” (15) The answer to the first question finds its roots in a few assumptions. First, we have the answer that comes from a personal commitment to Jesus himself that “cannot be demonstrated on the grounds established from the point of view of another commitment.” Newbigin here seems to take position that is at some level “foundational” (I know, I know, we’re supposed to be beyond foundationalism!) to the witness of a Christian and cannot really be argued against. He goes as far to state it this way, “I am wagering my life on the faith that Jesus is the ultimate authority.” (15) This approach seems to be a very faith-based, non-rational approach that I find very honest and refreshing. The second confession that he is making is that “Jesus is the supreme authority.” (16) In doing this, he effectively shows that the claim “Jesus is Lord” goes way beyond a personal understanding of salvation and actually extends into the public life of a Christian and his/her body of believers.
    He writes,

    The community that confesses that Jesus is Lord has been, from the very beginning, a movement launched into the public life of mankind. The Greco-Roman world in which the New Testament was written was full of societies offering to those who wished to join a way of personal salvation through religious teaching and practice. There were several commonly used Greek words for such societies. At no time did the church use any of these names for itself. It was not, and could not be, a society offering personal salvation for those who cared to avail themselves of it teaching and practice. It was from the beginning a movement claiming the allegiance of all peoples, and it used for itself with almost totally consistency the name ecclesia - the assembly of all citizens called to deal with the public affairs of the city the church could have escaped persecution by the Roman Empire if it had been content to be treated as a cultus privatus - one of the many forms of personal religion. But it was not. Its affirmation that Jesus is Lord implied a public, universal claim that was bound to eventually clash with the cultus publicus of the empire The Christian mission is thus to act out in the whole of life of the whole world the confession that Jesus is Lord of all. (16-17)

    This lengthy quote was very helpful for me, as I have continued to process the theological rationale to why it is hurtful mission to over emphasize the individual nature of salvation. Of course, it is important that we do not under emphasize this side of salvation (as we have already seen from the earlier quote).

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    The Open Secret by Lesslie Newbigin Book Summary Part I

    ToddNovember 28, 2006

    The Open Secret by Lesslie Newbigin Book SummarySeries: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII

    This is my summary and thoughts on this book. A bit of a disclaimer, this book has quite an intense and well articulated thought pattern. There is no way this review will do this book justice. The more I have processed this (even after writing this) the more I am being challenged by the content. I hope this little review will give you incentive to read the real thing. Also, I don’t claim to have followed this thought pattern perfectly, if you have thoughts on the subject matter, feel free to correct/challenge me where i may have missed something…

    In chapter one of this book Newbigin lays out the foundation for the discussion that will follow. He is quick to point out that the Western church now finds itself in a situation that it has not been faced with before. It used to be that there was “the church” and the “mission church” with the second being the lesser of the two classes and it was usually found in the poor parts of the city. “To put it briefly, the church approved of ‘missions’ but was not itself mission.” (2) However, we are now facing a time when “the church” is now beginning to realize that “with the secularization of Western culture, the churches are in a missionary situation in what was once Christendom” more and more Christians of the old churches have come to realize that a church that is not “the church in mission” is no church at all.” (2) This builds a very important foundation for the rest of this book. From here out, the discussion looks at how the Church can, in fact, be in mission effectively in our post-Christian, secularized world that we are now facing. In the midst of this, the missionary agencies have had to grapple with the balance of doing justice and growing the church. For some, “mission was primarily concerned with the doing of God’s justice in the world and not primarily with increasing the membership of the church.” (8) Finally the “Nairobi Report” stated “Confessing Christ Today is a particularly valuable attempt to state a call to mission that is holistic in taking with full seriousness both the call to personal conversion and the call to action for God’s justice in the world.” (9) There is a deeper problem when we somehow separate justice from conversion.

    Newbigin writes,

    The concern for those who see mission primarily in terms of action for God’s justice is embodied mainly in programs carried on at a supra-congregational level by boards and committees, whether denominational or ecumenical. The concern for those who see mission primarily in terms of personal salvation is expressed mainly at the level of congregational life. The effect of this is that each is robbed of its character by its separation from the other. Christian programs for justice and compassion are severed from their proper roots and so lose their character as signs of the presence of Christ and risk becoming mere crusades fueled by a moralism that can become self-righteous. And the life of a worshiping congregation, severed from its proper expression in compassionate service to the secular community around it, risks becoming a self-centered existence serving only the needs and desires of its members. Thus, both sides of the dichotomy find good reasons for caricaturing each other, and mutual distrust deepens.

    I believe this quote (even with its length!) is a very helpful way to view this apparent disconnect between justice and personal salvation. Its clear from this statement as well as from my personal experience that these two views work against each other and each side becomes so skeptical and suspicious of the other that it becomes impossible for each side to participate in something that is clearly mandated in scripture.

    to be continued…

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    Missional Church - Book Review Part IV

    ToddOctober 29, 2006

    Part I, Part II, Part III…

    A major challenge facing the church today is to “Cultivate Communities of the Holy Spirit.” The spirit is the key “distinctive characteristic of such communities” and it “creates and sustains them.” The authors very clearly point out that “the church owes its origin, its destiny, its structure, its ongoing life, its ministry – in short, its mission – to the divine Spirit of life, truth and holiness.” (145)

    Of course, a church that is characterized by the Holy Spirit will show the fruit in its life together. (147) This concept of life together is also exceptionally important. We should not view our lives as Christians as individualistic affairs. “Christian faith is not an individual matter; everything is to be done with and for one another.” (148) In these communities we “unlearn old patterns and learn new ways of living that reveal God’s transforming and healing power.” (152) To do this, the church must regain its communal practices that are historical, communal, experiential and dynamic. (154-158) Our decision-making must become more communal listening to the Spirit rather than top down organizational decision-making. (172)

    All of these practices point towards a community that is standing out from the world as a sign, witness and foretaste of the kingdom of God. “These practices not only form and guide the internal life of the community but also define the church’s action within the world. Witnessing to God’s creative intent for all humanity, they model and thus proclaim a different way of life to a watching world.” (182)

    Part V later this week…

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    The Missional Church - Book Review Part III

    ToddOctober 23, 2006

    Book Summary on Missional ChurchPart I - Part II

    The key means to aid in the re-understanding of the church in this way demands a “fresh hearing of the gospel.” The gospel is Jesus. (87) Of course, the question is what is it about Jesus and his message that is the gospel? They write, “Jesus’ good news that the reign of God is at hand is clothed with meaning by his continuing presence as the risen, reigning, and glorified Lord. Believing in Jesus also means believing Jesus Christ about the reign of God.” (88) What is this reign of God? It is the idea of shalom that “envisions the full prosperity of a people of god living under the covenant of God’s demanding care and compassionate rule.” (88) This understanding of the reign of God is must be the focal point of the gospel if the church wants to be missional. “It is in these findings that any biblically rooted and contextually relevant sense of the calling of the church in North America must begin.” (96) This is because finds its identity in “representing the reign of God” as well as being an “agent and witness.” (103) The “church is the preview community, the foretaste and harbinger of the coming reign of God.” (108)

    The church must also be apostolic. This essentially means that it is “sent out on behalf of the reign of God.” (110) As the church exists as an apostolic community, it must figure out how to be “in the world but not of the world.” This means challenging powers (113) and it engages with the culture without being controlled by the culture while constantly trying to communicate the gospel in the surrounding culture and “is cultivating and forming the culture of god’s new community, a culture not of this world.” (114-115) The church also needs to see itself as an alternative community in the face of a dominant society (127).

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