This is a short review/summary of The Gospel Centred Church by Steve Timmis and Tim Chester for students in my church.
Steve Timmis and Tim Chester are leaders in a network of house churches in Sheffield. They wrote this short 'workbook', which is published by the Good Book company, to help individuals and groups think through their church life. It is notable for not arguing for certain church structures or activities for pragmatic reasons but because of what the Gospel implies. The Gospel-Centred Church that the book wants to see is a church 'in which the whole of its life and activities are shaped by the content and imperatives of the gospel'. To help us evaluate whether we are being faithful in this calling it identifies 3 key priorities of the church:
- The priority of mission
- The priority of people
- The priority of community
They assert that mission is the central purpose of the church in the world. Given that. they argue that every church member should be involved in mission and should do so confidently and daringly. We shouldn't stay hunkered down in our 'cosy, safe ghettos' but go out to the ends of the earth. You may question this and ask whether there are more central purposes of the church such as worship. After all as Andrew pointed out to me last night we will not be doing mission after the second coming of Christ. However, worship we all know is a whole of life thing and so mission and worship are not two opposing purposes we have to hold in balance but 'in the world' they are welded together. Mission should not be one of many activities we do but should be all that we do. We therefore worship as we go on mission.
So everything that we do as a church and as individuals should be measured by our faithfulness to this priority. Does the priority of mission shape the decisions you make about where you live and work? Does it shape your prayers and your meetings together as Christians? Does it effect the standard of living you expect?
But if mission is the central purpose of the church, what is the church? As we have been considering quite a lot recently the church is the people of God. As Timmis and Chester put it 'The church exists wherever believers are covenanted together under the authority of the word of God.'
This means that mission is not a question primarily of programmes or events. It does not require a building or paid staff. It is done by everyone because everyone is part of the church and it is often low-key and through long-term relationships.
Church leadership should then enable people to serve and not shape activity around 'things'. But the priority of people also means that the whole church has to be involved and active. The leadership are not the church but we all are. That means we cannot be passengers but must have our lives shaped by the priority of mission too.
But the priority of people could lead to lots of isolated individuals going off doing their own personal missions. This is not what God intended. He wanted the church to be doing mission and the church is a community of people. Hence the third priority is the priority of community.
This is a great comfort as we are not alone in our mission. It is not us up against the world. We can do mission in partnership, and in fact this is the best way to do it. Jesus prays in John 17:
'The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.'
Timmis and Chester put it like this: 'a Christian community is a persuasive apologetic for the gospel'. People who are not yet Christians are attracted to the community of self-giving love that the church should be. They may be initially attracted to that community itself but Jesus recognises that by seeing that community in action they come to know God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit who are united in a community of love which is imaged in the new humanity of the church. But like the Trinity our community should not be closed and exclusive but outward-looking, welcoming and inclusive. This means we should asking questions of ourselves such as whether when we meet together we can be understood by non-Christians present. Nobody should feel on the fringes.
So lets think about how we can reach friends, and those we have never even met yet through exposing them to the church which is shaped by the Gospel. Lets ask ourselves how how we we can build relationships as a community of people with those outside the church.
So that is my take on the book. It is well worth a read, but it is not a book you can passively read in a comfy armchair. It is a workbook. It is quite provocative and you may not agree with all of it. It is always (literally) asking questions of you, but also providing plenty of stimulating answers.
