Monday, June 21, 2010

"Total Church: A Radical Reshaping Around Gospel and Community"

This book is one of the top five books I have ever read about the church. That is no overstatement.

In Total Church: A Radical Reshaping Around Gospel and Community, Tim Chester and Steve Timmis discuss in detail the importance of the gospel to community and community to the gospel. Looking to the scriptures, they focus on the interplay between the truth of the gospel and real Christian community as it relates to church life and mission.

The authors point out that many churches that are faithful to the truth of the gospel are at the same time lacking in true community. They also show that many other churches that have real community have failed to take a strong position on the biblical gospel. Chester and Timmis show that gospel and community need not be an either-or issue. Both gospel and community not only can, but need to go together.

Regardless of your current church status, this book will be beneficial to you. I highly recommend it.

To read a more detailed review from Arthur Sido, click here.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

After reading this post, I read the book Total Church. You stated that this is one of the top 5 books on the church. Can you tell me what the other four are?

Eric said...

Zack,

Here are four others that meant a lot to me:

"House Church" by Steve Atkerson

"When the Church was a Family" by Joseph Hellerman

"Reimagining Church" by Frank Viola

"Pagan Christianity" by Frank Viola

If I were you, I would first get "When the Church was a Family." It is excellent.