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Total Church: A Radical Reshaping Around Gospel And Community (2008)

by Tim Chester(Favorite Author)

4.09 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

1433502089 (ISBN13: 9781433502088)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Crossway Books

review 1: Unlike many non-fiction books, that, for me, get redundant in the second half, this one got better. And the last chapter on"Success" was excellent. The western church, or at least the church in the United States, measures success through size and therefore, deems mega-churches as the pentultimate of Christiandom. "Christ is building His church for the most part unseen, in the shape of thousands of small congregations. This is the future of the church - the sovereignty of the risen Christ and the church of the poor."
review 2: I thought this book was very helpful in thinking through and understanding how the gospel and community are intertwined. Chester and Timmis make a great push to show how they are connected and how that looks in practice through all our fac... moreets of life through church. While there were several parts that I did not agree with, for the most, this was a very helpful book that has deepened my thinking and understanding of the biblical church.There is an abundance of material from the book I value and enjoyed reading! First, in the chapter, “Discipleship and Training,” the authors make a point that, “we often surround ourselves we people we most want to live with, thus forming a club… not a community. It takes… hard work to form a community (113).” This idea hit home for me. It is entirely to easy for me to surround myself with people who are of one accord, like-minded, or same interests. But community is messy, it is hard work, and it takes effort. This is one thing out of my entire summer so far that I am taking back to implement in my neighborhood, and friend group. Another point I was blessed with was the chapter “Pastoral Care.” In this chapter, the authors point that the work of a pastor happens mainly in ordinary life (137). I am learning more that caring for the flock is not just a technique that can be learned, but rather a heart experience prompted by the Holy Spirit making us more like Christ. Other areas I noted down that were extremely helpful were (but not limited too): discipleship being an identity not an event (121), problems believing are in the heart not the head (167, 172, 175), the key to youth ministry is the Bible (184), and success in a church is growing Christians (197), Although this list barely begins to encompass what I have learned from this book less

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