While this book has been around awhile (orig. publication 2009, revised 2011), it should remain “timely” for quite some time to come for anyone interested in the church as a “missionary movement”. Steve Addison has packed this very quick read with a lot of descriptive history of movements that were successful in spreading the gospel. [It’s a good thing this book does read quickly—I found it very hard to put it down.] He aptly distinguishes the movements that succeeded beyond merely spreading the gospel and bore fruit for successive generations by “making disciples”. [Read more…]
Movements That Change the World: Five Keys to Spreading the Gospel by Steve Addison (A Book Review)
Like Living Stones
As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. __1 Peter 2:4-5 NIV
Why, after nearly 2000 years, don’t more people who profess to follow Christ look more like Christ? Could it be because church-as-they-know-it has failed to teach them how Jesus sees the Church-as-He-builds-it?
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A “Heretic’s Apologetic”—Not an Apology!
Curiosity got the better of a friend who said, “I like your blog. You seem to be well-grounded in Scripture (she must mean My Other Other Blog). But…why do you call yourself a ‘heretic’?”
Off the cuff, “It’s a JOKE.” Serious answer—it’s really NOT a joke.
I’ve spent my entire life living in the Bible Belt. A lot of folks here will actually tell you, “You’re going to go to hell if you don’t go to church!” To their mind, it seems, you can have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and be knowledgeable about Scripture, but if you don’t “belong to” or “go to” a “church-as-they-know-it”, you’re going to hell. In the Bible Belt, if you don’t “go to church”—in some cases that means every time the door opens—you risk being branded a “backslider”. I commit “heresy” by challenging their traditional view of church-as-they-know-it.
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