A review of AND: The Gathered and Scattered Church

Cover photo of AND: The Gathered and Scattered Church, 

from Amazon.com

AND: The Gathered and Scattered Church is a great follow up to Tangible Kingdom.

In their book AND: TheGathered and Scattered Church, Hugh Halter and Matt Smay address the balance that every church must strike between gathering together and scattering outward into the world in mission. While the church is supposed to meet together in corporate fellowship, congregants are also supposed to be scattered. The church is supposed to be missional and leave the corporate gathering and fellowship for going out in mission.

Simply put, the church is supposed to both gather and scatter. The church has left the building. The church is more than a building that we go to. We are the church, and as the church, we must not only gather together, but we must also go out into the world in mission.

AND: The Gathered and Scattered Church is an excellent book to balance out mission and fellowship, the gathering and the scattering.

Bibliography

Halter, Hugh and Smay, Matt. AND: The Gathered and ScatteredChurch. Zondervan, 2010.

A Review of Church 3.0

Cover photo of Church 3.0, by Neil Cole, from Amazon.com

Church 3.0 is a natural follow up to Organic Church and Organic Leadership, by Neil Cole. Church 3.0 focuses on releasing healthy church movements and gives us some practical applications and insights to help us actually function within the Organic Church Movement. We must move away from the old way to a new mindset of how to function as the global church, and the church missional, without the hang-ups of church buildings and programs. 

Neil Cole emphasizes that we must get out of our comfortable and insular infrastructure and reach out in mission in the world. Programs and centralized locations with the expectation that people will come to a church building simply will not work in this present and shifting culture. Cole emphasizes this when he says, “We are going to have to get out of our buildings and meet people where they live.”

What is most helpful in Cole’s book is the expansion of his thoughts and ideas from Organic Church and Organic Leadership. Both of these books have been very helpful in rethinking how we do church, ministry and mission in the world. Cole elaborates on practical ways to simplify church from the program driven “mega church” models, and the programmatic church models, to smaller, simpler, organic church models that are streamlined and more effective in reaching the world for Christ and in meeting real needs with practical, helpful and real ministry.

Neil Cole spends significant time, and rightfully so, unpacking the value of smaller groups of people in missional community. Larger groups are cumbersome and bottleneck ministry in complexity and bureaucracy. Smaller and decentralized groups of people are simpler and more functional in accomplishing God’s mission and will in the world to usher in His Kingdom here on earth.

As groups grow and numbers increase, intimacy and depth of growth diminish. Cole states that discipleship happens and is more effective in smaller groups. He states that we “have exchanged the role of a shepherd to the role of a rancher.” In other words, we have moved from an intimate and nurturing discipleship, that of a shepherd, to a large-scale mass production model of discipleship, which looks more like a “rancher style” leadership than a “shepherding style” of leadership.  This larger scale does not work effectively and does not produce disciples with the same effectiveness as a smaller and more intimate scale.

Cole’s book Church 3.0 also addresses the issue of leadership authority in missional communities. With the decentralization of the church comes a decentralization of leadership as well. Jesus is the ultimate head and leader of the church, while other leadership roles and responsibilities work together without any one person in charge. This issue of authority in missional communities, or “Organic Church,” is probably one of the most complex issues to navigate. While Cole attempts to address this issue, one may leave his work less than satisfied as it relates to this issue of authority and leadership in missional communities.

Church 3.0 is an enjoyable, insightful and helpful book to read when looking to understand “Organic Church.” This is a must read for anyone starting out in church planting or beginning missional communities.

Bibliography

Cole, Neil. Church 3.0. Jossey-Bass, 2010.

http://www.amazon.com/Church-3-0-Upgrades-Jossey-Bass-Leadership-ebook/dp/B00362XKYC/ref=tmm_kin_title_0

A Review of Get Off Your Donkey

Cover Photo of Get Off Your Donkey from Amazon.com

“He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him.” –Luke 10:34

“The moral of the [Good Samaritan] story is that you have to get off your donkey to help somebody.” —Reggie McNeal

There is an old saying, which you may have heard, it goes something like this, “You should do what you can, not what you cannot.” The point is simple, there are some things that we can do to make a difference and these are the endeavors that we should focus our time and attention on, instead of placing our focus and energies on what we cannot do. There are actions we can take in the contexts of our lives to make a real difference in the world to help others and to love our neighbors.

Reggie McNeal highlights this idea of making a difference where you are in his book Get Off Your Donkey!: Help Somebody and Help Yourself. In this book McNeal highlights the reality that we are all, ultimately, in the people business, especially if we are in church ministry and leadership.

In his introduction McNeal highlights this issue, “I’m trying to help them [church leaders] get out of the church business and into the people business” (McNeal, p. 14). Like the priest and the Levite in the parable of the Good Samaritan, too often the church “has passed by on the other side of the road when we should be the ones showing the way” (McNeal, p. 15).

Oftentimes we can get trapped in over analysis and in paralysis concerning all of the need and brokenness surrounding us in the world. The needs and the problems around us are great, but we cannot afford to allow these to bring us to inaction, depression or fatigue. McNeal encourages his readers with the following, “We can’t afford to let this negative vibe paralyze us into inactivity while people are bleeding out all around us” (McNeal, p. 23). We must take action and help our neighbors. There is plenty we can do to make a difference in our world.

We must be the church in the world and not just be on our way to a church building with all of our religious activities, neglecting our neighbor who is beaten and bloody on the roadside. McNeal says it this way, “The problem is, religious activity is still getting in the way of our being good neighbors” (p. 38).

As the church, we must move away from religious piety and toward a Biblical model of discipleship. According to the book, “The litmus test of discipleship is ‘follow-ship’! Are we doing what Jesus commanded, or are we just really good at recalling his commands?” (p. 39). We cannot be all talk in our service to the Lord and His church. We must put our faith into practice and get off of our donkeys.

Get Off Your Donkey!: Help Somebody and Help Yourself is an excellent book to light a fire under an often apathetic, complacent and lazy church. Church leaders of every level and church members, and laity at every level, should read this book. The church could use a good kick in the donkey to get us back to our mission in the world.

Bibliography

McNeal, Reggie (2013-02-01). Get Off Your Donkey!: Help Somebody and Help Yourself (p. 13). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

A Review of The Present Future

Cover Photo of The Present Future: 
Six Tough Questions for the Church, from Amazon.com

Reggie McNeal’s book, The Present Future: Six Tough Questions for the Church, addresses the need for the church to move from program driven buildings and bureaucracy back to missional service and disciple making.

In this book, McNeal looks at how the church has been inwardly focused and more like a “club” with a “club mentality”, seeking its own good and interests above the mission of reaching the unsaved and those who are “outside the club.” The local church has become something that is antiquated and far removed from its life giving vitality of mission and service toward dead ritualistic programs and facilities.

It has been said that the church is the only organization that exists for its non-members. McNeal asserts, in so many words, that this is no longer the case concerning the church in North America. We, the church, have become more inwardly focused and have done less and less for those who we should be reaching out to in selfless service, evangelism and discipleship. As the church, we must move away from the “country club” mindset and move back toward our mission—people.

The future of the church lies in the present. The old ways no longer work for a new generation with a differing culture and a diversity of need. Old models of ministry and church are ceasing to function and work as they once did. New methods of relationships and decentralization must be put into action. Disciples must be made and leadership must be developed and sent out.

The church is not something we go to, the church is who we are in the world. We must move from an attractional model of church buildings and programs, with the idea of “if we build it, they will come” and move toward being a people who integrate our faith into our work and into every area of our lives. We must be the church in “the present future.”

In The Present Future: Six Tough Questions for the Church, Reggie McNeal addresses six serious topics, which include the following: The church culture, as we know it, is over; we must move from church growth models to kingdom growth thinking and initiative; a new reformation will begin once the church releases equipped people into the world for mission; spiritual formation and development must be at the heartbeat of the church; church leaders must move from planning to preparation so they will be equipped for every good work; and finally, church leaders need to be trained and equipped, not to do programing, but to do mission, and to be missional, as sent people into the world.

The Present Future is an excellent book for anyone in church and ministry leadership. This book is relevant in addressing real concerns with the current state of the church and is motivational and inspirational in addressing real issues with real solutions of mission and focus.

Bibliography

McNeal, Reggie. The Present Future: Six Tough Questions for the Church. Jossey-Bass, 2003.