Book Details:
- Authors: Tim Chester and Steve Timmis
- Category: Church Life
- Publisher: Crossway (2008)
- Binding: Paperback
- Page count: 224
- ISBN#: 1433502089
Recommendation:
- Review Date: 10/06/10 by Bob Hayton
- Rating: Highly Recommended
Review:
The term “missional” is over-used and much abused today. Some bristle at the descriptor for it’s cutting-edge, postmodern feel. But the basic gist of the idea makes a lot of sense. It all boils down to going vs. sending. Simply put: attracting people to a church with it’s programs is not the NT model for “doing church”. Rather than sending people to our church, we should be going to where the people are and reaching them. We should gather as believers to be built up, edified, and most of all to worship Christ together. We then leave the assembly to take Christ to the lost all around us. If that’s what “missional” means, I’m all for it!
How do we do this effectively, however? How can I get my own self to open my mouth boldly and also to compassionately interact with the people God has placed in my life? These are questions which demand answers.
I think we need to get creative, and make sure our church activities don’t sap us of any time and strength left to think missionally regarding our own neighborhoods and communities. We need to envision ourselves as missionaries to the places we live.
God ultimately has to guide us and empower our ministry, but there are strategies which may enhance our effectiveness in God’s mission. One of the tools and methods that I most believe could work, has also been ignored by the wider church. In fact I still haven’t come to a place where I have liberty to attempt this (or is it just plain ol’ courage I lack?).
I’m talking about using small groups as home church-meetings, in a sense. We can invite people to come to these smaller meetings where we are more open and real and less “church-ly”. We can let the lost see how Christianity is lived out in our homes and how it radically shapes our outlook. I look in vain to the New Testament for a one-man-gets-up-to-speak-while-the-thousand-congregants-sit-down-to-listen-quietly model of church teaching and preaching. I see believers interacting with one another, teachers interrupting each other as God gives them a word, and prophets judging the prophets in a vibrant, lively way.
I’m a little leery of changing things up too drastically, however. We have hundreds of years of tradition, not to mention the fact that preaching can be very effective in people’s lives. So what about some kind of mix between an emphasis on home groups (where evangelism and discipleship can happen, and where gifted teachers can exercise their gifts) and corporate gatherings of the entire church for preaching and extended worship?
This kind of model is described in detail, in a book I gobbled up, called Total Church: A Radical Reshaping around Gospel and Community by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis. In the book they talk about living with gospel intentionality. They show how an emphasis on community is encouraged in Scripture. They see evangelism as a three-fold cord: building relationships, sharing the gospel, and introducing people to community (by means of the home groups). All the while, they encourage the Gospel and the Word to stay central. But they also encourage community involvement, and meeting social needs in the name of Christ.
The benefits of the emphasis on home groups is that church planting becomes easier. Training and discipleship can happen while people are ministering in home settings, and seeing ministry modeled up close and personal. Furthermore, the togetherness that this model fosters, aids in purity and spiritual growth, as we really can’t become holy by ourselves, nor were we expected to (think Heb. 3:12-14).
Total Church does have some radical ideas, but I appreciated how they connected everything to the gospel. It’s a book I’ll be picking up again, as I continue sorting out how best we should do church for God’s glory, our growth, and the eternal benefit of the lost around us. I confidently recommend this book to anyone interested in how to spur on evangelism, or mission, in their own church context.
Author Info:
Tim Chester and Steve Timmis are cofounders of the Crowded House, a church-planting initiative in Sheffield, UK, and codirectors of the Porterbrook Network, which trains and mentors church planters. Chester has 15 years’ experience in church planting, and Timmis previously directed Radstock Ministries, a mission agency facilitating the involvement of the local church in world mission. This is their third book together.
Disclaimer:
This book was provided by Crossway Books for review. The reviewer was under no obligation to offer a favorable review.
Additional Resources:
- Book Excerpt: Available here
- Other Book Reviews: Available here
- Author’s Website: Tim Chester’s Blog
- Purchase Links: Westminster Bookstore, Monergism Books, Amazon.com or direct from Crossway
- PDF Copy: Download a PDF copy of this review
