Category Archives: Book Reviews

Book Review – Self-Esteem (Joanna & Alister McGrath)

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Self-esteem is a topic that preachers cannot ignore. We know that there are many who feel “worthless” and that the gospel must in some way address this. But does it do so by simply telling us we are in fact great so need not feel bad, or by telling us that we are sinners and so are right to feel the way we do? Both approaches have been taken, and neither seems satisfactory as a Christian approach to self-esteem.

Joanna & Alister McGrath are well placed to contribute to this debate owing to their expertise in the fields of psychology and theology respectively. The early chapters function as a primer on the secular understanding of “self-esteem”.

They provide the following working definition of self-esteem:

Self-esteem consists of a global evaluation or judgment about personally acceptability and worthiness to be loved, which carries with it pleasant or unpleasant feelings. It is strongly related to the perceived views of the person by important others in his or her life.

They then explore the different things on which self-esteem is typically based – the roles we fulfill and our performance of them, our “pedigree”, the love of others for us, and our eternal significance. There is an interesting discussion of the different reasons we ascribe to our successes and failures (whether we see ourselves as the cause or whether we see external factors as having caused them) and how this relates to our self-evaluation of worth.

There is a chapter that explores the relationship between negative self-esteem and various mental illnesses and personality disorders. One important concept they explore is that of “attachment” and “separation” in a parent-child relationship. Feelings of abandonment lead to low self-esteem, whilst a sense of attachment brings positive self-esteem.

At the mid-point of the book, they bring in a Christian critique of the prevailing secular understandings of self-esteem. Christians should neither uncritically accept or deny secular findings. However, the main weakness they note in secular approaches is the denial of the problem of sin. A Christian understanding of sin is deeply counter-cultural. Christianity offers freedom, but sin brings bondage.

Secular approaches assume that we do not need to question the way we are. We need not seek anything beyond the realm of this world. And, for the Christian, this inevitably means that those who rely upon secular therapies will remain captive to sin.

Also, secular approaches such as cognitive behavioural therapy are simply content with attaining “realistic” goals, whilst Christ confronts us with absolute moral demands and calls us to be perfect. Rather than destroying the self-esteem of the Christian, our failure to achieve this has the positive effect of driving us to rely on the grace of God rather than upon our own resources. Thus our self-esteem is not based upon achievements (as in many secular approaches) but on grace.

The remaining section of the book is theological and practical, explaining that the cross is the Christian basis for self-esteem and confidence. In a great chapter on the cross, sin is likened to a disease, which God cures through the work of Christ on the cross. This healing is currently ongoing, and so our self-esteem should not be compromised by an awareness of sin. There is also a very helpful explanation of “justification by faith” in relational terms – we are in right relation with God.

The theme of separation and attachment is revisited in a chapter on the fatherhood of God. We find a deep longing fulfilled as we are reconciled to God and adopted. Another chapter works through the book of Philippians to explore how the gospel brings us a contentment and joy in all circumstances that comes as we follow Christ’s example of true humility.

The final chapter is very practical, explaining how Christians can help develop healthy self-esteem through affirming and accepting one another, and teaching on the significance of being “attached” to Christ. There is also a very useful section on the difficult topic of criticism. Our desire to affirm and accept one another does not mean that we will never criticise, but that it is done in the context of knowing one another deeply, being committed to one another, and is to be done simultaneously with affirmation and with a view to redirecting behaviour (rather than merely condemning).

This book is a good mixture of educational (on secular theories of self-esteem), theological and practical material. It will be of particular benefit to preachers and teachers who want to address issues of self-esteem, but are unsure as to what the best approach is. The answer is of course that the gospel, truly preached and rightly understood is central to helping people to develop a right evaluation of not just what they were but how God sees them and what he intends to do in them.

Book Review – The Purpose Driven Church (Rick Warren)

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The main thesis of this book is that a local church needs to know what its purpose it, and then ensure that all it does is directed towards accomplishing that purpose. Rick Warren is of course founder and pastor of Saddleback church in America that has grown to over 20,000 attendees. He has a particular passion to reach the “unchurched” with the gospel, and this book details how he goes about this.

He is aware that “mega-churches” come under heavy criticism, which he seeks to refute early on in the book. You can grow without compromise. Indeed, he would say that a church that is not growing is actually dying. He also reports that Saddleback has not grown through “transfer growth” (Christians changing churches). In fact, 80% of their membership were baptised at Saddleback, and they saw 7,000 conversions in their first 15 years. This is certainly impressive, though sadly I imagine that not many mega-churches would be able to offer statistics anywhere close.

Another “myth” he attempts to debunk is that you can’t have quantity and quality. Of course they are not mutually exclusive, but McDonalds teaches us you can have quantity without quality. There is a real danger that the church grows wide and shallow.

One of his key strategies is being “seeker sensitive”. This involves two things. First of all, he simply means that churches should not do things that make visiting unbelievers feel awkward, confused, unwelcome or embarrassed. The language should be understandable, the welcome should be warm, the music should be of a good standard etc. In many ways, he is arguing for things that most evangelical churches have now taken on board (the book was published in 1995).

But there is a second side to being “seeker sensitive”. The Sunday meeting is actually specifically designed with unbelievers in mind. They still have worship and a sermon, but of primary importance is that the visiting “unchurched” will enjoy the worship and find the sermon useful. Saddleback run services directly targeted at believers on a different night.

It is worth considering the unique culture of America here. Rick Warren got over 200 people to attend his first meeting simply by mailing invitations and promising a church that would not be boring and irrelevant. And these were not Christians who came. Such a thing is unheard of here in the UK, and this fact should give pause for thought for anyone who would seek to copy his methods (Warren himself is insistent anyway that it is only the principles that should be copied – the particulars will differ). Evangelism in a “post-Christian” culture will look very different to this.

Warren claims that though the sermons are aimed at people’s “felt needs” this does not mean that the gospel is watered down. He argues that Jesus himself used this method. While I agree that Jesus was a good communicator, I was not entirely convinced that his messages were all as upbeat as Warren makes them out to be. For example he portrays the Sermon on the Mount as starting with “eight secrets of genuine happiness” and ending with a nice story about the importance of putting the teaching into action. It strikes me as a remarkably positive spin on some very challenging teaching!

Saddleback are very intentional about who they are targeting. They even have a name for their ideal customer (yes Warren even calls church attendees customers at times!) – Saddleback Sam is a well-off, middle-class, professional, husband and father. They design their services to be exactly what he wants. If someone objects that this is pandering to his ego-centric consumerism, Warren responds that these attitudes will be challenged after they become a believer. If people came to church with the mindset that it was merely a dispenser of religious goods and services, then we would hope that that idea would be challenged almost immediately as they find the church not to be a mirror of their culture, but a counter-cultural community.

We might also wonder why such a “nice” person was chosen, when the gospel is surely for all races and social classes. Warren seems to think that other churches can target other types of people, but that you can’t simply try to reach everyone, so you should go for the people you “most easily” reach. I found this approach uncomfortable – if every church thinks like this, who will reach the poor, Muslims, alcoholics? The fact is that the Christian population is predominantly white middle class both in the UK and in America. We cannot avoid “cross-cultural” mission even in our own cities. Having said that, it does appear that Saddleback has developed some other ministries to reach different types of people, even if the seeker service is not aimed at them.

Also slightly odd was their discipleship program. This involved people graduating through four stages, each complete with its own covenant (for example the first one is to tithe, have a quiet time, and attend regularly). This sounded a little formulaic and even verging on the legalistic, but it has to be said that it is way beyond what most churches require of new members and does at least demonstrate a genuine commitment to spiritual growth rather than merely an infatuation with “numbers” that many mega-churches are accused of.

In fact the chapters on helping members mature and minister to others are perhaps the strongest in the book. They take seriously the importance of commitment, and one of the things I liked best was his aversion to bureaucracy and committees. He would much rather people spent their time in ministry. He also believes that members should be empowered to initiate new ministries as they have a heart for them, rather than leaders coming up with ideas and looking for staff.

Rick Warren is certainly a pragmatist. This will leave some readers wondering whether he puts results before uncompromising faithfulness to the gospel. This is the first of his books I have read, and to be honest I wish he had taken the time to articulate what he understands the gospel to be. I appreciate his passion to see people saved, and to see them become mature. There is undoubtedly much to be learned from this book. But at the same time there is much that should not be copied, even if it is working at Saddleback.

Book Review – Prayer (Philip Yancey)

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I thought it was about time I read a book by Philip Yancey, since most of his books end up as best-sellers and this one won various awards. The subject was also of interest – probably like most Christians, prayer is something I feel that I need to get much better at. Its quite a sizable book for a paperback, running to over 300 pages. You can tell why he is such a popular author. He is a good storyteller and has an easy to read style.

The way he tackles the subject is interesting. Its not really a how-to manual, although it does offer a few useful suggestions, and unlike many books on prayer, its not written to convince you that prayer unleashes power so you ought to get on with it. Instead, Yancey takes a more philosophical approach, trying to understand what the point of prayer is, and tackling some of the difficult questions we have about it.

While he believes that God does answer prayer, Yancey is painfully aware of many who have not seen their prayers answered. He tackles these problems head on, with great honesty about his own struggles to understand the subject, especially living as we do in a skeptical society. He notes that many in the Bible, including Jesus himself, prayed prayers that we might say were “unanswered”.

In a chapter asking whether prayer changes God, you can tell he is not from a Reformed persuasion, preferring to emphasise God’s concern for human free will rather than his sovereign control over all things. He does stress the importance of prayer changing us, and drawing us closer to God, getting his perspective rather than merely being about getting the things we ask for.

The main purpose of prayer is not to make life easier, nor to gain magical powers, but to know God. I need God more than anything I might get from God.

He finds the ultimate answer to the question “why pray?” simply in the fact that Jesus did it. Prayer is a means of getting God’s will done on earth, not ours. Rather than simply challenging us to have more faith and be more persistent (though he does encourage that), Yancey encourages us to reflect more deeply on why some prayers seem to go unanswered.

Sometimes, like the boy who asks his parents to solve a maths problem while he plays video games, we ask God for the things we should be doing ourselves.

I don’t think I would recommend this as the first, or only book someone should read on prayer, and yet I think its value is in his willingness to talk about the things that many who tackle prayer leave unsaid, or rush past very quickly.

Perhaps its most timely contribution may be to provide some balance on the subject of prayer for healing. While some will consider his approach to be lacking in “faith”, the reality is that even those who pray regularly and with great faith for healing do not see complete success. It is a book that doesn’t promise instant results or insist upon certain styles or techniques, but will leave you with a richer understanding of the value and mystery of prayer, and hopefully also will encourage you to grow in your own practice of prayer.

Book Review – Total Church (Tim Chester, Steve Timmis)

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There seems to be a glut of books on new ways of doing church recently – liquid church, provocative church, deep church, messy church, intelligent church, relevant church, deliberate church, positive church, and here “total church”.

Total Church is co-written by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, who are leaders in the “Crowded House” in Sheffield. The unique thing about them is that while being very conservative doctrinally (I’m pretty sure they are Reformed and cessationist), their approach to church is quite radical.

Their contention is this – churches should be built around gospel and community. The “gospel” part of this breaks down into two aspects – they are word-based, and they are mission-focused. Both of these must be done in the context of community, so the word is taught and applied in community and mission is done in community. They note that many churches are trying to be both faithful and contemporary with their presentation of the gospel, but ultimately find that there are very few opportunities for unbelievers to actually hear that message.

They argue that churches have got so much going on that they transition from “mission” mode, to “maintenance” mode. We need to run fewer evangelistic events, youth clubs and social projects to allow more sharing of our lives with unbelievers. This means starting new congregations rather than growing existing ones.

The type of “sharing of lives” they seek to cultivate in their house churches is one in which the church itself adapts to changes in peoples lives. So when a family have a baby, for example, it is the whole churches responsibility to help them and support them in practical ways, not just that family who have to adapt themselves so they can remain part of church life. And while avoiding “heavy shepherding”, they stress the importance of people making decisions (such as moving house, changing job) with regard to the community and in discussion with them, because they are family, just as a husband would discuss with his wife and family.

By becoming a Christian, I belong to God and I belong to my brothers and sisters.

Having laid a theological foundation for word and mission centred community, the second part of the book moves on to look at some practical topics. The authors do not insist that you give up your existing church models and do things their way, but lay down a challenge to “make community infectious”.

Become a blessing by offering hospitality, showing practical care, dropping in on people. Create around you a group of Christians who will share their lives and encourage one another in the faith. You might start with your home group. Often home groups are little more than a meeting. Make yours a community by acting like a community.

Having laid down the principles of “gospel” and “community”, the book shows how these two strands should run through everything we do. So evangelism must be done in community, sharing our lives rather than seeking out “evangelistic opportunities” to hit people with the gospel message. The conviction is that “our love for one another, to the extent that it imitates and conforms to the cross-love of Jesus for us, is evangelistic”. Evangelism involves sharing our lives and sharing the word, and so we need to introduce people to loving a community, not just to church meetings.

There is a challenging chapter on social involvement, which warns that we tend to build churches aimed at professionals. We may not be racist, but are we truly open to those of a different social class to ourselves? The authors encourage us to move beyond “hit and run” social action, to a model where we offer the poor and needy a genuine place of welcome and community.

Church planting is strongly encouraged as the mode of church growth. “The household model is in some way defining of church. The church is the household of God. … For New Testament Christians the idea of ‘church’ was synonymous with household and home.” The authors do not however give any indication of what they consider an ideal size for such a congregation before a new one is to be started. They try not to be too dogmatic, especially concerning the relation of these households to one another. “It matters little whether these small groups are called churches, home groups or cells, as long as they are the focus for the life and mission of the church.”

Discipleship and training is also worked out in the context of community. New leaders are trained by a leader sharing their life and ministry with others. The conviction is that “truth cannot be taught effectively outside of close relationships.” Pastoral care, too, is to be handled in the context of community, not by simply passing people on to “professionals”, nor by becoming amateur “counsellors”, but by the conviction that as we live in community, applying the word in ordinary situations we will see lives transformed.

A chapter on spirituality takes a bold swipe at ideas of “solitude, contemplation and silence”, arguing that these are the luxury of the spiritual elite. Actually we are called to community, meditation on the word and prayer. The authors encourage that Bible study and prayer (and even sermon preparation) should be done in community, not in isolation. Theology too, “is also the task of the church, because the only theology that matters, and is worthy of the name, is practical theology.”

A fascinating chapter on apologetics asks whether we have mistaken the symptoms for the cause. We have assumed that people reject Christianity because of an intellectual problem, rather than because they don’t want God. Thus our attempts to prove Christianity to be rational, while helpful, may miss the mark. A relational apologetic is required. “Christian community is the ultimate apologetic.”

Equally controversial is their chapter on youth work. They argue that much effort is spent with little fruit in running large scale youth events. Rather, it would be better for Christians to invest their time in community with a smaller number of young people, effectively discipling them. Also, the youth are to be included in the church community, rather than being filtered off into “youth church”. It is certainly an idea worth some reflection, but not without some serious practicalities to be worked through.

Finally, the criteria for success is of course faithfulness rather than numbers. Success is being a gospel-centred community. “It is judged in terms of growing Christians and gospel opportunities.” Ultimately, the authors close with a reminder that “Christianity is not a strategy or a set of principles. It is a relationship of love with the triune God.”

I can wholeheartedly commend this book to anyone wanting to shake up their thinking about church. I didn’t agree with all of it, and was left in some cases wanting to know more (for example eldership was not discussed). But this book stands as a fine example of how we can have a radical ecclesiology without losing our biblical moorings.

The church, … is not something additional or optional. It is at the very heart of God’s purposes. Jesus came to create a people who would model what it means to live under his rule. It would be a glorious outpost of the kingdom of God: an embassy of heaven. This is where the world can see what it means to be truly human.

Read more quotes from this book on underlined bits

Book Review – Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire (Jim Cymbala)

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This book tells the story of Brooklyn Tabernacle, an inner city church in New York that has grown from a handful of people to several thousands. However, the real subject of the book is prayer.

Cymbala is fiercely critical of much “church growth” thinking today. Over three quarters of church growth is actually Christians transferring from one church to another. He pleads with churches not to look for novel ideas (he particularly singles out strategic level spiritual warfare) or marketing strategies to grow, but to simply devote themselves to prayer. A large church devoid of the presence of God is worthless.

He tells of how Brooklyn Tabernacle started a weekly prayer meeting, and how this became the source of spiritual power and life for the church. He argues that the prayer meeting is the spiritual barometer of a church.

You can tell how popular a church is by who comes on Sunday morning. You can tell how popular the pastor or evangelist is by who comes on Sunday night. But you can tell how popular Jesus is by who comes to the prayer meeting.

The book is divided between amazing stories of the power of prayer and biblical teaching on prayer. Cymbala is very honest about the struggles and difficulties they faced, particularly as they sought to minister to many people struggling with drug addictions.

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of prayer. Only when we are full of the Spirit do we feel the need for God everywhere we turn.

Those who have read any of Leonard Ravenhill’s books will recognize the style. Cymbala is a no nonsense, give me God or I die kind of person. He calls the members of his church to be passionate about prayer and radical about holiness.

What does it say about our churches today that God birthed the church in a prayer meeting, and prayer meetings today are almost extinct?

This provocative book deserves a hearing from anyone who desires to see their church grow. The only type of growth that is worth having is that which the Spirit of God brings, and we cannot expect such growth unless we birth it in passionate and persevering prayer. I didn’t agree with some of what he said about preaching (he downplayed its importance), but the reminder of the importance of prayer is a word in season for the modern church.

Book Review – The Legacy of Sovereign Joy (John Piper)

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This short book from John Piper contains three biographical messages based on the lives of Augustine, Luther and Calvin. Rather than attempt to tell their whole life stories, Piper focuses in on one of the main passions of each man.

He begins, however, with a chapter discussing their “flaws”. Augustine’s views on baptism and sex, Luther’s foul mouth and anti-semitism, and Calvin’s involvement in the execution of Servitus have caused many to dismiss these three men as having nothing worthwhile to teach us. Piper does not excuse their faults, but simply notes that God can and does use flawed saints.

The chapter on Augustine deals with his belief that it is sovereign joy in God that triumphs over joy in sin. There is also an interesting account of his debate with Pelagius over free will. Augustine believed that we are only free to move towards what we delight in, but we are not free to choose what we delight in.

The chapter on Luther narrows in on his diligent study of the Bible, based on his understanding that the Word of God comes to us in a book. He endured many trials and afflictions, but devoted himself to a phenomenal lifestyle of studying, teaching and writing about the Bible. Piper highlights the importance of learning the biblical languages to enable us to really wrestle with the meaning of the text.

The chapter on Calvin primarily highlights his passion for expository preaching. Everything he taught and wrote was as a systematic exposition of Scripture. He had a zeal for the glory of God to be displayed and this is what motivated his diligence in preaching verse by verse through many books of the Bible.

This book serves as a good introduction to the lives of these three influential men, and left me wanting to read more of their life stories and writings. It also serves as an inspiration and a challenge to keep persevering in studying the Bible, and making sure that the glory of God, and our delight in him are kept at a central place as we seek to understand its message.

Book Review – God’s Big Picture (Vaughan Roberts)

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  The concept of knowing the biblical “metanarrative” is one that seems to be supremely popular at the moment. Many theologians are saying that there is a desperate need for Christians to understand the big story of God’s redemptive purposes and how they fit in. I bought this book as I was planning to do a series of studies with my cell group on the “big picture”, particularly with regards to the question “what is the point of the Old Testament”.

Vaughan Roberts uses the concept of “kingdom” as the uniting theme of the whole Bible. The kingdom is God’s people living in God’s place under God’s rule and enjoying God’s blessing. This is then explored under eight headings:

  • The Pattern of the Kingdom (Creation)
  • The Perished Kingdom (the fall)
  • The Promised Kingdom (God’s promises to Abraham)
  • The Partial Kingdom (History of the nation of Israel)
  • The Prophesied Kingdom (future hope of OT prophets)
  • The Present Kingdom (life and ministry of Jesus)
  • The Proclaimed Kingdom (early church to present day)
  • The Perfected Kingdom (new heavens and new earth)

I had originally planned only to borrow ideas from this book, but I found myself being increasingly impressed with the organisation and flow of the argument. Each chapter has a short Bible study (two for the partial kingdom chapter), so the whole book could be covered in nine sessions.

Roberts has done a great job of keeping the vocabulary simple, and showing how various prophecies are fulfilled throughout the biblical story. There are a number of breakout boxes which fill in useful information about themes of the Bible or the books of the Bible. He frequently uses diagrams to help explain the concepts.

Tricky concepts such as the “now and not yet” nature of the kingdom, and how the church can fulfil OT prophecies that appear to be exclusively to do with Israel are explained in a straightforward manner. There are probably one or two aspects to his theology I could question, but overall I found this an excellent overview. Those who have already done some reading on the subject of “biblical metanarrative” may not learn anything new, but this is a fine example of how a big theological concept can be taught simply and systematically.

Book Review – God Inside Out (Simon Ponsonby)

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All the evangelical books on the Holy Spirit I have read seem to fall into two categories. First are the books by cessationists, who focus on the Spirit’s role within the godhead, his work in creation and regeneration and his ongoing role in sanctification. The charismatics on the other hand tend to quickly skip by these aspects so they can get to the more exciting and dynamic topics of power, baptism in the Spirit and gifts of the Spirit. I have been waiting for some time to find a book that adequately covers both sides of the story.

So I was quite excited to discover Simon Ponsonby’s God Inside Out book, which is subtitled, “An In-Depth Study of the Holy Spirit”. It is 332 pages long, which is long enough to cover a broad range of topics, but not so long that it effectively becomes a reference book. It had its genesis as a 15 week “school of theology” course he ran, and the continuity can be seen throughout the book.

Part One – The Holy Spirit and God

In the first section, he introduces the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, arguing for his divinity and showing the different biblical titles and pictures of the Spirit. One of the strengths of the book is the interest he has in church history, and there are lots of quotes from various church fathers and theologians. He has a good way of explaining complex debates in simple terms, and is willing to both learn from and critically evaluate the insights of previous generations.

In speaking of the person of the Spirit, Ponsonby portrays him as the “God we experience, the God who encounters us”. So while the discussion is theological and even academic, his passion that we would encounter God the Holy Spirit rather than merely understand him shines through.

We must not attempt to domesticate this wild wind of God – rather we must inhale deep draughts of this vivifying divine life, setting the sail to be carried wherever he wills.

In a chapter on Jesus and the Holy Spirit, he follows Pinnock in arguing that “The Son’s self-emptying meant that Jesus was compelled to rely on the Spirit … the Son decided not to make use of divine attributes independently but experience what it would mean to be truly human.” I think this understanding of Jesus’ operating as a man under the power of the Spirit is vital to our own understanding of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. However, he cautions us that the parallel is perhaps better drawn between Jesus and the church – together as the body of Christ we walk in his example as a people filled with the Spirit.

Part Two – The Holy Spirit and the World

This section deals with some tricky subjects, including the Spirit’s role in Creation, and asks questions of what ways in which the Spirit is active in the world outside of the church & believer. Ponsonby interacts with various liberal theologians who see the Spirit at work in secular movements for political justice as well as in works of art.

The Spirit-led ministry of Christ was to the whole of man, not just the soul. … We are not saved on the basis of our ministry to the needy, but proof that we are saved is found in our ministry to the needy.

Part Three – The Holy Spirit and the Christian

This section deals quite brilliantly with regeneration, and moves on to consider the Spirit’s role in sanctification, and our sonship. One interesting theme he develops is that our salvation does more than restore us to our pre-fallen state – we are raised to a higher place than Adam was, seated with God in the heavenly places, and co-heirs with Christ. He also laments that sanctification is being neglected in the church at present.

Regrettably in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, sanctification as a theological foundational doctrine, and holiness as a personal and communal imperative, do not seem to be high on the agenda. Holiness has become a dirty word, as the Church has become rather dirty.

The chapter on satisfaction seems to be a condensed version of his book “More: how you can have more of the Spirit when you already have everything in Christ“. I was struck by his observation that the “works of the flesh” list in Gal 5 can be seen as “human attempts to find the satisfaction which the Spirit alone brings.” He presents the satisfaction the Spirit brings as being “love unfathomable, joy unspeakable, peace unshakable and a stream unstoppable”.

The final chapter in this section is on power. He interprets Acts 1:8 as not promising power (i.e. boldness) for witness, but promising power (i.e. for attesting signs and wonders) that would accompany their witness. He argues that “God never withdrew the power of the Spirit to work signs and wonders”, drawing on Stanley Burgess’ research.

Part Found – The Holy Spirit and the Church

The final section is on the Spirit and the church. He starts off with an examination of the ever-controversial “baptism in the Spirit”, which he sees as being for joining to the church and equipping for ministry. It is this concept of being joined to the church that causes him to take up a “third wave” position, in seeing this as being another term for regeneration.

His arguments against a subsequence viewpoint are the main ones found elsewhere – it makes out that two-millennia of Christians are “second-class”, and sees 1 Cor 12:13 as insisting that Spirit baptism is a universal Christian experience. He claims that Luke uses “saved” and “granted repentance” interchangeably with “baptism in the Spirit”, but I did not find this convincing. He is also convinced that Acts 19 refers to unbelievers. I was disappointed to find that he had not interacted with Pawson’s view, which seems to have been ignored by every third wave theologian I have read.

Having said all this, the chapter takes a surprising turn as he considers the position of the Church Fathers who taught a post-conversion reception of the Spirit through the imposition of the laying-on of hands. He develops this theme to talk about a “divine equipping for service” or “transmission”, which “may come suddenly like a violent wind, or gradually like the rising of the sun.”

The chapter on gifts of the Spirit does not go into great depth, but gives broad definitions of many of the gifts listed in Scripture. They are not to be understood as natural giftings, but all are given supernaturally by the Spirit. The section on cessationism is very helpful as he tracks the gifts throughout history and considers why their use has been lacking for much of the time.

There are some other great chapters in this section. One on the Spirit and the Word considers how the Spirit speaks through Scripture, but also outside of Scripture. He suggests that the Puritans understood this better than the Reformers.

The book closes appropriately with the Spirit’s role in mission, from which it gets its title. The Spirit is “God inside out to bring those outside in”. The Spirit is not given simply for our personal benefit, or even for our church to be blessed, but that the world might be reached with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Conclusion

If you’re looking for a well-rounded theology of the Spirit that will engage your mind and heart, look no further. I have underlined quotes on almost every page. Its a much more stimulating way to learn about the Spirit than simply reading the relevant chapters in a systematic theology. Read it and get a bigger picture of who God the Holy Spirit really is.

Book Review – Christ’s Radiant Church (John Hosier)

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This book is of particular interest to those who like myself are part of the newfrontiers family of churches. In it, John Hosier seeks to set out what are the values of the “new churches” that have sprung up over the past 30 years and of newfrontiers in particular.

Most of the material in this book will not come as a surprise to those who know the movement well. It starts off reiterating an uncompromising passion for the church, which is “fundamental to God’s glorious purpose in the earth.”

I suspect that most, if not all, the chapters in this book were originally seminars or sermons given by John Hosier, edited slightly to make them more suitable for a book format, but it still retains the style of spoken rather than written word. He draws regularly on his thorough knowledge of the book of Revelation, as well as touching on many other Biblical passages as he goes through each theme.

The first chapter is on the topic of Restoration, which is interesting as I feel that this word has been largely lost from the vocabulary of the new churches. “God’s ultimate purpose is restoration”, and this purpose will be accomplished through establishing his church as a colony of heaven on earth. Thus the restoration of the church to match God’s intention as revealed in the scriptures is a matter of the utmost importance. The church is restored in order to be the demonstration of God’s wisdom to the world.

Salvation is listed as a core value, particularly that the church is made up of those who are saved. He expounds Rom 3:21-26, and underscores the newfrontiers’ commitment to a vicarious understanding of the atonement.

As would be expected, apostles and more generally “Ephesians 4” ministries are covered in some depth. The case is made that while the “twelve” and the apostle Paul are understood to have non-repeatable roles in church history, nonetheless the ministry of “apostle” is ongoing, and indeed one of the gifts that Christ gave the church after his ascension.

This moves on naturally to a discussion of God-given leadership, which is considered vitally important. The main leadership of churches is seen in teams of elders (not apostles), who are to exercise servant leadership.

Next up is God’s lavish and undeserved grace, which perhaps is one of the “flagship” doctrines newfrontiers churches seek to be known for. Avoiding legalism at all costs, the Christian is to look to the Holy Spirit rather than the law as the dynamic for a holy life.

There are two chapters on water baptism and Spirit baptism (fire). Newfrontiers churches practise believer’s baptism, and remain broadly Pentecostal in their doctrine of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. The latter remains the more controversial doctrine, with many prominent charismatics equating the baptism in the Spirit with regeneration. However, Hosier puts forward a strong case, based in part on Lloyd-Jones, and also drawing from David Pawson, that the baptism in the Holy Spirit is a distinct experience, though we should normally expect it soon after conversion.

In a chapter on worship he defends the more lively style of the new churches against the more formal worship of traditional churches, although this debate has moved on a long way now from when the new church movements began. Another chapter deals briefly with the charismatic gifts of tongues and prophecy, again a significantly less controversial topic than it was in the early days of the restorationist movement.

I was interested to see a chapter devoted to prayer. Certainly the new churches have a very different and more dynamic style of prayer meetings than those typically found in the traditional denominations. However, my personal experience is that there were far more prayer meetings in my old Baptist church than I have found in newfrontiers. Possibly this is a value that needs to be recovered.

The chapter on money emphasises the importance of cheerful, generous giving, while rejecting the tithe as a binding law on New Testament believers. Marriage and family each had a chapter of their own. Again the emphasis on these topics varies greatly from church to church.

The topic of women is probably the most controversial in the book, as newfrontiers retain the more traditional evangelical view known as complementarian, against the egalitarian approach which seems to be more prevalent in charismatic circles. Hosier argues carefully but firmly, working mainly from 1 Cor 11 (the passage on head covering), explaining why newfrontiers churches do not appoint female pastors or elders. He did however note that there was a diversity of practise in regards to whether women could preach. I think that this is an issue that does need some clear teaching on, as many churches prefer simply not to mention it and hope that no one asks!

The book then moves on look at the kingdom (already not yet) and mission, underscoring the commitment to plant churches as the primary means of extending the kingdom.

The chapter on flexibility is very interesting. In it John Hosier lists a number of issues over which there has been a change of direction. For example, some churches are now embarking on building projects, having originally intended to avoid doing so. Other changes include various models of house group or “cell group” being tried. I couldn’t help thinking that it wasn’t so much that flexibility is a core value as that we have backed away from a more dogmatic and inflexibile idealism of the early days of restorationism. Whether this is a good thing or not is debatable.

The final chapter is on hope, and again we possibly see a modification of the more postmillenial roots of restorationist churches. John Hosier himself holds to an amillenial eschatology, but an “optimistic” one, in which the church does indeed experience triumph and restoration while at the same time there may be persecution and even apostasy.

After reading the book, I reflected on what the “missing” values were. Perhaps we might have expected to reiterate a confidence in the Bible as the Word of God, along with the conviction that we can find direction for the ordering of our churches in it. Also I felt that preaching and holiness deserved a mention. I don’t think the omission of these mean that they are not valued, but we should be careful lest they be taken for granted. Many in the new churches came out of reformed evangelical circles and so a thorough working knowledge of the Bible was second nature to them. We do need to ask though whether the next generation, those who grew up in the new churches, are getting a well rounded foundation, or whether we are so focused on the values that make us distinctive, that these other things get neglected.

Overall, it is a fascinating book for those in newfrontiers, and it will hopefully challenge all who read it to consider whether these “values” are really being believed and lived out in our churches. If it has a weakness, it is that a book of this length cannot really do justice to such a broad range of topics.

Book Review – Brothers, We Are Not Professionals (John Piper)

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In this provocatively titled book, John Piper urges pastors of churches to focus on what is truly important and be radical in their ministry. He is concerned that so many pastors are getting so caught up in learning professional business techniques that will help them run their churches more efficiently that they lose sight of what they are really supposed to be doing.

But rather than critiquing trends in the modern church, John Piper prefers to write 30 short chapters each giving pastors something to be passionate about. His own remarkable fire and earnestness shines through this book, and you cannot fail to be stirred by it.

He starts off as we would expect with his typical emphasis on the glory of God, calling us to live in “Christian hedonism”, seeking to glorify God by delighting in him.

He controversially urges pastors to tell their people not to serve God. Why not? Because of the potential for a legalistic “debtor’s ethic” – where we attempt to repay God out of gratitude. He states that:

The gospel is not a help-wanted ad. It is a help-available ad. Nor is the call to Christian service a help-wanted ad. God is not looking for a people who to work for Him but people who let Him work mightily in and through them.

Piper moves on to cover a broad range of topics. He makes a plea for the learning of Greek and Hebrew, for reading Christian biography, and for serious study of the biblical text. He urges that we feel the truth of hell, and lead people to repentance through their pleasure, by which he means to point people to God as the source of real pleasure. He warns against fighting sin with “pea-shooter” regulations.

While many of the chapters are about things that a pastor should preach and teach his congregation, the focus is much wider than the Sunday morning meeting. Piper calls his readers to get a passion for mission, to defend the cause of the unborn, to love their wives, to stand up against racism, and to reject materialism.

This book ranks right up there with the best of John Piper’s writings, and I pray that many pastors and church leaders will read it, and heed his call to radical ministry, refusing to be sidetracked by the latest strategies and technologies, and focusing on being who God has called us to be, and doing what he has called us to do.