Gary McIntosh, Seminary Professor, Speaker, Church
Consultant, Church Growth expert, and prolific author has written another book
which should prove invaluable to pastors and church planters: Growing God's Church: How People Are
Actually Coming to Faith Today (BakerBooks, 2016).
As we read through the New Testament, Especially the Gospels
and ACTS, we notice how often significant religious discussions are held at the
table. Food is involved. Throughout the book McIntosh uses ''Dining with Jesus as
a metaphor for engaging our family,
friends, and associates with the gospel of salvation" (16). And then he
highlights what he sees as a problem in Christian Churches: "While
churches are becoming more missional in their thinking, they are becoming less
evangelistic in their practice; that is, they are less involved in helping new
people dine with Jesus" (p16,17). And this is definitely a book about
evangelism.
The book is conveniently broken into 3 sections I: the
Church Today, II: Faith Today, and III: Evangelism Today. Part I asks us to look
at the story of Jesus and then at our church. What's our mission, our priority,
our role, our focus and our context. Then we're asked to put them in the
context of the biblical mandate to make disciples. In Part II the reader is asked to reflect on
his or her on faith journey: who led you to Christ? What method influenced your
decision" Why did you start to attend church and why do you stay at the
church that you're at? And then the part that pastors will groan at: the
pastor's role in evangelism. In Part
III, McIntosh Shares some tips for effective evangelism and a chapter called
"inviting Others to Dine with Jesus".
Throughout the book we find charts and statistics based on several years
of research done to determine what it is that makes a compelling argument for Jesus
and His church in the 21st century when so many different world
views are competing for their share of the market.
5/5
Mandatory Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book in
exchange for a review. I was not required to write a positive review.
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