Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Best Books About Church - Part 4



This is my fourth post in a series on best books about church. The links for the others are below.

Extreme Church Makeover: A Biblical Plan to Help Your Church Achieve Unity and Freedom in Christ by Neil T. Anderson is an excellent book about how to achieve church unity. Anderson describes a biblical plan involving corporate repentance that will lead to freedom and unity in Christ. Anderson’s thoughts on spiritual warfare and overcoming historic baggage in a church, ring true to me as a clinical social worker and as a church member.

Anderson says “If the [church] leadership lacks an adequate theology of resolution, they either lower their standards and expectations or live in denial and continue to muddle along with business as usual. We have learned that Individual freedom must come to the leadership before organizational freedom can be accomplished. The church Body cannot rise above its leadership.” (pg12)

This dynamic book can help transform and unite church leadership and the church as a whole.

The Emotionally Healthy Church: A Strategy for Discipleship that Actually Changes Lives by Peter Scazzero describes the ingredients for a church to be authentic and healthy. The book is in four sections - Discipleship’s Missing Link, Biblical Basis for a New Paradigm of Discipleship, Seven Principles of an Emotionally Healthy Church and Where Do We Go from Here? Scazzero presents a brilliant and needed strategy for life changing discipleship.

I have seen many churches copying each other, attempting to be like the well known mega-churches. So I especially liked this comment:

“It takes great maturity for a church to identify opportunities and to choose not to take advantage of them. Each church, like each small group, ministry, and individual, has God-given limits. How many services should we have on Sunday? What about a Saturday night service? Others are doing it successfully and growing. If we are two hundred people, why not become four hundred or eight hundred, or ten thousand? I always assumed continued numerical growth for every local church was God’s will. It is not.” Pg 141 

Christian leaders and laymen should read this book.


The Gospel as Center: Renewing Our Faith and Reforming Our Ministry Practices, edited by D.A. Carson & Timothy Keller, features chapters by influential Christian leaders from a variety of denominations. Their purpose is to clarify, unify and strengthen the gospel message in the church today. Their hope is that this will stem the tide of cultural in roads into our faith and practice. It's an excellent resource book for concerned Christians.



“On this Rock I will build my church.” Matt.16:18
  
Blessings, Dottie 

See previous links to Best Books About Church:






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