Total Church book review

Total Church by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis

Why does the gospel and community change every aspect of the Christian walk?

Community is where we practice our identity that we have in Christ. We are a family in Christ and your allegiance lies with the Father. It is in the church that we live what we believe. If what you know in your head never makes it to community, you don't really live it.

The gospel is how God has revealed himself to us. It contains instructions how to live and how to please God.

"Total Church" takes these two principles and address key areas of the Christian walk such as:

Discipleship and Training
Pastoral Care
Spirituality
Theology
Church Planting
Success
Apologetics
Social Involvement

Some quick thoughts that have challenged me to grow.

1. In the realm of social involvement, we must preach the Gospel because our actions could be interpreted differently. We may even be preaching a worked based religion. Unless you open your mouth you look exactly like someone just trying to be nice.

2. Apologetics is simply bringing someone to the realization that they have chosen to hold a spirit of rebellion against God. It is our faith lived in community that is to instill a desire for the lost to WANT to believe that Christ following is legit.

3. Pastoral care takes on a preventative stance as we open our lives to one another in community. When we speak into each others lives and expose sin/struggles we can eliminate/deal with them before they become fatal. Furthermore, many pastoral care issues are due to a lack of faith/truth in a believers life. Pastoral care is first and foremost the ability to apply the gospel word to problems in people's lives.

Basicly we know how to live because of the gospel and we live what we know in community. This applies to every area of Christianity.