Total Church

The following excerpt is from a book titled Total Church (soon to be released in the U.S. on Crossway, published in Britain last year via IVP) that is rocking my church planting world:

Being both gospel-centred and community-centred might mean:

• seeing church as an identity instead of a responsibility to be juggled alongside other commitments
• celebrating ordinary life as the context in which the word of God is proclaimed with ‘God-talk’ a normal feature of everyday conversation
• running fewer evangelistic events, youth clubs and social projects, and spending more time sharing our lives with unbelievers
• starting new congregations instead of growing existing ones
• preparing Bible talks with other people instead of just studying alone at a desk
• adopting a 24-7 approach to mission and pastoral care instead of starting ministry programmes
• switching the emphasis from Bible teaching to Bible learning and action
• spending more time with people on the margins of society
• learning to disciple one another – and be discipled – day by day
• having churches that are messy instead of churches that pretend

These brothers are not saying anything new! (Although some implications practically go against the current of many evangelical churches—even the best of them.) In fact, they wonderfully capture the crux of my understanding of the gospel, the church, community and mission.

What would a church here in Charlotte with a Total Church mindset look like?

Rest assured, there’s more significant implications (tremors?) to come as Redeemer City Church takes root.

~ by Michael L. Johnson on June 4, 2008.