Growing Edge
January 1, 1998
Have you ever read a book by George Barna or
Rick Warren or Lyle Schaller and wished you could condense the material for
your church leaders?
In Rethinking the Church (Baker, $11.99), James Emery White
provides little new or original material, but he makes the concepts more
accessible than do the gurus. White, a Southern Baptist pastor, writes that
Rethinking the Church is not just another book about church growth.
True, the book does not cover church growth per se, but it does speak to
the issues that lead to growth. White challenges the reader to keep the church
current in a rapidly changing world.
God who leads
In Rethinking the Church, White's methods and terminology are similar to
those in Reengineering the Corporation, a popular business book a few years
back. I found his questions to be more valuable than his answers:
- What is the purpose of the church?
- What is the mission of the church?
- Whom are we trying to reach for Christ?
- What determines whether the church is alive and growing?
- How will we accomplish the mission God has given to us?
White concludes that discipleship, community, worship, ministry and evangelism
are what the church does, but he correctly states that these five
do not make up the purpose of the church. White never really answers
the question of the church's purpose, but he frees the church from being
task-driven by stressing purpose prior to task. Although using some
of Rick Warren's language, White seems to be calling the church to be purpose-led
rather than purpose-driven. Although slight, this distinction paints a different
picture of God—a God who leads rather than a God who drives.
In the chapter on evangelism, White explains well how the culture has changed
and ...
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