- Book Review 6 – David E. Fitch, The Great Giveaway

Author: David Fitch (Ph.D., Northwestern University) is pastor of Life on the Vine Christian Community of the Christian and Missionary Alliance in Long Grove, Illinois, and is adjunct professor of ministry, theology, and ethics at Northern Seminary.

Theme: “The Evangelicalism has “given away” being the church in North America” (P. 13)

Summary: This book talks about how the evangelical church today has lost its identity and its function to the world (e.g. American business, parachurch organizations, psychotherapy and etc…). The church has been influence (and is still) by the values of modernity and stop being the church that was originally meant to be. It can not be done by stripping away the modernity aspect since it is very fundamental to the church but the church has to deconstruct and rethink on many methodological aspect of being a church.

Reflection: The book addresses many issues such as: seeker service in post-modern world, the need of renewal in worship, business model of leadership in the church, and etc… These issues are nothing new but part of the ongoing discussion within evangelicalism and emerging church movement. Yet the great thing about this book is that the authenticity of the author and his heart is transmitted through is writing. He is not criticizing the evangelical church from an “outside” view point but from the inside view point. The authors really spoke to me since I totally felt his struggle since that is my current struggle as someone planting a church. He writes: “Some things remained important to me about evangelicalism, and yet some things remained seriously problematic about its commitments to modernity” (P. 15). I have mentioned in a couple of reflection and book reviews that I believed in renewing the current church and not dismissing them and replacing them with a new form. Yes, there are something problematic with the church today but I believe we are called to work within our situation and strive to change what is wrong and continue the good work. The churches throughout the history have been and are corrupted in many aspects; yet God has chosen the church as his vehicle of spreading his message and good news. We must work within the situation where God has put us. If the church can be compared to a family, then now matter how problematic the family become we need work with it and not look for a different family.
Also this book helped me in developing my ideas and visions regarding the church plating (which is my case study) since it sheds great lights on the issue of church planting, the worship service and preaching. The author writes: “Church planting is the ultimate form of postmodern evangelism” (P. 68) stating that salvation is not passing out the right information and getting the right answer but it is a way of living. This helps me to focus the new church even more in the aspects of community, a community that lives out the salvation instead of just trying to get it…

– Book Review 5 – Leonardo Boff, Ecclesiogenesis

Author: Leonardo Boff, was educated in his native Brazil and Munich, Germany. He is author of numerous books, including Jesus Christ Liberator, Ecology & Liberation, cry of the Earth, Cry of the Poor, and most recently Holy Trinity, Perfect Community.

Theme: The Basic Church Community (community base Christian gathering where the laities plays a central role) is the new way of church which up to this point has relied on structure and hierarchical organization.

Summary: The author uses the basic church community seen in the country of Brazil as a model to speak of the new way of church; which breaks the structure of the traditional organization and focuses on the people and the community. The issues that are raised through this from of emerging church (although the authors does not identify as such) is the definition of church, the will of Jesus regarding it and the practical aspect of clergy-less Eucharist and Women Priesthood.

Reflection: Here again we see the discussion regarding: what makes a true church? Or what is needed to be identified as church? It is the ongoing discussion of the emerging church vs. the traditional local church (each claiming to be the church Jesus originally desired). Actually my understanding of the church has changed in many ways due to the various readings in the class. At first I had negative views of the ideas that spoke of the universal or invisible church (it seemed to ignore or even reject the traditional local churches to the extremes). Also the movement towards the purely social justice (at the expense of the Spiritual aspect) seemed to be an incomplete solution for the current problems of the church (which many characterize as the lack of social justice and community values). I am beginning to see that it is not an issue of one or the other; nor can’t it be simply summarized by “doing both.” The church should definitely work towards a holistic church but that will look differently depending on the culture and context. It all comes down to the idea of being faithful to the context and modeling the incarnational ministry of Jesus. As great as the new ideas (such as community based, world church, and etc…) might sound, I realize it is very unrealistic in my current context of Korean-American church. To follow the model of base community or other emerging church would be unthinkable. But in fact, that is actually ok, since the whole idea here is not to have an x, y, z formula. My case study, which is the Korea-American church plating, can not and should not follow the “look” of the basic community church but to seek how to incorporate the idea of community, social justice and many more kingdom characteristics into my context. I can not get rid of the structure or the hierarchical organization but what I can do is to turn that upside down; just like Jesus did. The solution is not to get rid of it (since it is impossible) but to communicate the idea of bottom-up leadership which could be interpreted as “serving.” Another way in which I could incorporate these ideas is to have the congregation realize that Jesus always spoke to the community rather than to an individual when speaking of “church;” to have people realize how individualistic we have become and that church is the gathering of believers (the community of God).

– Book Review 4 – Ronald J. Side, Churches that Make a Difference

Author: Ronald J. Side, president of Evangelicals for Social Action (ESA) and professor of theology and culture at Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary, is the author of over twenty books, including Just Generosity and the best-selling Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger.

Theme: The holistic church should combine both the words and deeds (Good News and Good Works). It should focus on the inner strength and spirituality of the people so the church can reach out and fulfill the complete mission of Christ.

Summary: As seen in the theme, the author focuses on the two very disputed and divided sides of the church (the “conservative” which focuses on personal salvation and “social-gospel” which focuses on the social works). The author claims that both have partial truth of what the church in this world should be and do. The holistic church should contain both elements; since social work without Spirituality and personal salvation without reaching out are incomplete image of the church. This is because we are both physical and spiritual beings. We can not neglect or emphasis only one aspect. Jesus’ ministry on earth focused both on the eternal salvation and the physical restoration of the person and community.

Reflection: By far, one of the best books I have read in this subject. I was blown away by how clearly he organized and argued his case. He answered many of the questions I had in my mind regarding the “healthy and holistic church.” I always had the sense that the church today was missing something yet I was hesitant to move away from it and go into the social issues because I truly believe in the importance of the local church. Most of the books I read criticized the current local church and emphasized mainly on the idea of going beyond its four walls. This book combines the two elements and emphasizes the important of seeing them as one. He does not just theorize it but shows models and theological grounds for that idea. As the author mentions; there is no one, two, three step process in creating a holistic church.
This book has been truly relevant and strongly helpful for me since my case study (not just for the class but for my ministry) is the church planting project. I had real hard time imagining the new church and to what direction should I take it. Because as much as I had an idealistic image of doing all that Christ wants, I also knew the reality of my culture in which the church planting team (as well as the congregation) were accustomed to. This book has really challenged me in pursuing a holistic ministry, but not just idealistically but taking in consideration of my current cultural limitation and hardships. At the same time it gave me a good foundation and models to refer back to as I am in the struggle to form a truly holistic church.

–Book Review 3– Karkkainen Veli-Matti. Introduction to Ecclesiology

Author: Veli-Matti Karkkainen is associate professor of systematic theology at Fuller Theological Seminary. He has published numerous articles in international journals of theology, and his books include Pneumatology: The Holy Spirit in Ecumenical, Internationalm and Contextual perspective and An Introduction to the Theology of Religions

Summary: The book is a survey of different ecclesiological traditions (Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Reformed and more) and theologians (Zizioulas, Pannenberg, Newbigin and more) as well as the church in different cultural contexts (Non-church movement in Asia, The Feminist Church, Post-Christian Church and more).

Reflection: The section that got my attention was the “A World Church” which speaks of the catholic missionary Vincent J. Donovan and his work on ecclesiology. This was so since I am currently part of the church planting team of my church (which is also the case study for the class project). Donovan’s main argument is that the church must go and think beyond its four walls and see that the whole world could be the church. He tries to redefine everything that is believed to be the core element of Christianity (i.e. Church, Jesus, Sacraments).
I totally agree with Donovan that Christians have made institutionalized church into something more (or less) than what Jesus had in mind. There are cultural elements, beginning from the Hellenistic down to the current Western culture that have influence and reshaped the church. We have added all this cultural “baggage” (as described by Donovan). The author also criticizes the inwards focus of the church which results in failing to connect with the world and with those we must reach out to.
As much as I agree with his basic ideas, his proposed solutions seem to destandardize (one of the title’s section) the church too much to the point that we loose the uniqueness of Christianity and the church. God speaks of the heart to save the whole world but never deemphasize the idea of the few, chosen people of God; the remnants. We must be outwardly focused but at the same time we must be inwardly conscious of the community of God we are put into. We can truly “reach out” once we know who we are and where we stand. The author’s effort seems to try to destroy the four walls of the church instead of expanding them. As an example, the author states that the authentic Eucharist is found in the world among people instead of on an altar. I see his point, of feeding the hungry, being a crucial part of the church’s ministry but we can only do that once we receive the heart of the servant from our Lord Christ. We don’t feed the hungry and serve the poor just because they need help and we can in fact give them. We do it because it is will of God and because they are also creation of God. The center of all our belief and action must come from God. The church is not a concept but a concrete organization (yes, in need of renewal), a visible sign of the Kingdom of God. Because many times the church is not living in accordance to the Kingdom of God does not mean we should find a different way of portraying the kingdom God. We must reform the existing church by expanding its walls and not by getting rid of them.

-Book Review- John Fuellenbach, Church, Community for the Kingdom

Author: John Fuellenbach, SVD, who teachers at the Gregorian in Rome, has taught in the Philippines, and lectures internationally. He is author of The Kingdom of God

Summary:
In this book, the author revisits the idea of church and the concept of “Kingdom of God” as presented by Jesus; and how that idea is (or should be) relevant to us in this age. The author also states that in the struggle to answer those questions, the church of today is facing a serious difficulty in finding the direction for its future. We can not and should not rely in the historical model since it does not give us the right answer for the future.

The two answers for the questions and the ways for the church to advance in the kingdom of God are: 1) the enculturation and 2) solidarity with the poor. The author argues that the church today must go beyond the western model and theology of the church. We must listen and adapt from the churches found all over the world, especially from Africa, Latin America and Asia, which, according to the author, will be the place for the future church. Fuellenbach also notes that we must focus on the poor, the marginalized, just as Jesus did while standing up against the society.

Reflection
Although I agree in many of the author’s prospective and have greatly benefited from his writings, there are certain aspects that I strongly disagree with. This seems to be an obvious result since we differ in our presuppositions (found at the beginning of the book). The author claims that there is salvation outside the Christian church, through the work of the Holy Spirit released in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He backs his claims with how Genesis begins with the account of humanity and not of the chosen people (just as revelation ends with the gathering of all nations). Also a qualifier he adds is that “the manner in which salvation in Jesus Christ is made available outside the church through the working of the Holy Spirit remains mysterious to us.” In fact it is true that the work of God is mysterious and in fact God “could” grant salvation to an individual outside the church (because he is God and nothing is impossible for Him). Yet, that does not mean we can claim salvation outside the church. Here, I am talking about the principle and the guidance given to us through the scripture (I am not declaring that I hold perfect understanding of scripture). It is clear in the bible that the only way to salvation is through Jesus Christ. I do not think this refers, as the author writes, that the resurrection of Jesus could be extended to other religion. I believe there must be a concrete and specific professing of faith in Jesus Christ and His resurrection through the community of faith (the church). The idea goes back to the idea of principles. An illustration would be: God could in fact save someone who has taken his or her own life if He chooses to (or for some other reason not known to us), but this does not mean we could claim that “you will still go to heaven in case of suicide.” We must teach what we were taught by the scripture (of course while leaving the result to God) and that order should not be changed.

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This disagreement also brings a different personal view and conclusion of the church with that of the author (only in part). I believe the local church as institution (no matter how corrupted it might be) is crucial for us the believers. If there is something wrong with the church, we must try to fix it but not find an alternative under the name of “different church.”
In terms of the answer given by the authors: Yes, we must be sensitive to the culture but we must not let the culture define the church. It is the gospel adapting to the context, not context reshaping the gospel (I am not saying that is the author’s claim but that in fact, it is happening in many places).

-Book Review- Gerhard Lohfink, Jesus and Community 1984, Augsburg Fortress Publisher

Author: Gerhard Lohfink
Has been Ordinarius Professor for the New Testament on the Catholic Theological Faculty at the University of Tubingen since 1976. he is widely known in America for his book, The Bible – Now I Get it.

Translated by John P. Galvin:
He is Associate Professor of Systematic Theology and Chair of Department of Theology at Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. He is editor, with Francis Schussler Fiorenza, of Systematic Theology: Roman Catholic Perspectives (Fortress Press, 1991).

Thesis
Church is the gathering of people, the community formed by believers who trust in the lord Jesus Christ and in his resurrection. Jesus shows the true model of church through his interaction with the community of his time.

Summary
The author begins with the concern of Christianity becoming an individual religion where each person’s need comes before the idea of community. Then shows us the model we need to look at in the life of Christ.

Jesus and Israel:
In this section the author describes the interaction of Jesus with the people of Israel (his preaching to them, choosing of the twelve disciples, interaction with the sick). The reason of this constant interaction and interest in the people of Israel was because Jesus’ mission was to gather the eschatological people, the community of believers which would submit to the rule of God. Jesus’ idea of God’s rule (the kingdom of God) is shown through a community of believers rather than through an individual. This does not mean that God chooses Israelites while rejecting all other nations. Israel was randomly chosen as the people of God to be an example to the other nations, which would eventually follow the steps of Israel and become part of God’s kingdom.

Jesus and his Disciples:
In this section the author further describes the interaction of Jesus with his twelve disciples. Jesus focusing on the twelve is in part because of Israel’s rejection of his message. This does not mean that Jesus chose the twelve to replace Israel but that the twelve became an illustration and symbol for the whole Israel. Just as Israel was chosen to be an example to all nations, the idea of community seen in the twelve was to be a foreshadow and a concrete example of how Israel should become.

The New Testament Communities in the Discipleship of Jesus:
In this section the authors explores how the community after Jesus ascension have followed his teachings. The writer explores the interaction of the early church with their surrounding cultures. Yet the main theme is their relationship with the Old Testament and the chosen people of Israel. Paul, consistent with Jesus’ teaching, does not reject the Old Testament and the idea of pilgrimage of the nation but links it to the current community and speaks of the importance of that link. The idea of community seen in the Israelites is to be continued through the early church and to everything that follows it; not the just the idea of community but the practice of community and discipleship taught by Jesus Christ

The Ancient Church in the Disciples of Jesus:
This section further explores the idea seen in “New Testament Communities in the Discipleship of Jesus” in the early church with the Church Fathers. The conclusion is, once more, the idea that church is the community created and maintained by the grace of God seen in the crucifixion. It is the place where people come in opposition to the values of society and experience the ongoing miracles of Jesus through their gatherings under the rule of God.

Personal Reflection
I have been constantly taught that church does not refer to the building or to the organization but to the “gathering” of believers, just as described in this book. Yet I didn’t have a clear idea of what that really meant. I knew it was the community of believers but as for what that might look like; I didn’t have a clear picture. This book gave me a deeper insight into the idea of church as community. It did not answer all my questions (not that I expected it) but it helped me to better see the link between the message of Yahweh, the Old Testament community, and the work of Christ. It gave me more than the idea of “building vs. people” but the origin, purpose and function of such community. It was more than the idea of “individual vs. communal” but the ruling of God in both individual and collective aspect of the whole humanity. This broadens my understanding of the term “Church in Mission” since it redefines my previous idea and understanding of the church. My idea of mission was redefined though other classes such as “Urban Mission” by Jude Tiersma Watson. I pray that God will work through this class in reshaping my understanding of “Church and Mission” so it will be closer to God’s view and purpose for them.