I just completed this book written by Mark Driscoll (Preaching Pastor at Mars Hill Church in Seattle, WA). Abigail and I are actually attending a Conference hosted by Mars Hill and we’re pretty stoked about it. (Yes, I said stoked). At any rate, the conference looks tantelizing – it’s titled “Text & Context” and the focus of the conference is to preach with the text and apply it appropriately in whatever context you might find yourself in.
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Anonymous Voice: Abigail doesn’t “preach”, so why would you want her to attend such a conference?
Me: Great question. Abigail is attending because A.) We’ve both wanted to visit Seattle. B.) I love to process theology with Abby – even if she doesn’t like to listen to me processing. C.) Any time you can learn helpful ways to study and then appropriately apply the Scriptures it is a beneficial thing to do.
Anonymous Voice: So, would you advocate Abby “preaching”?
Me: No. While I think women can be deacons, teach, lead worship, serve communion, and be in full-time paid ministry, I do not advocate a women as a elder-pastor. (this view is commonly called “Complementarian” rather than “Hierarchical” or “Egalitarian”.
Anonymous Voice: Do you have Scriptures to back this?
Me: Yes. Read for yourself. Genesis 1:27; 2:18; 3:16-17; 1 Corinthians 11:3, 8-9; 1 Timothy 2:11-3:13 (w/ emphasis on 3:11) and Romans 16:1-2.
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Where was I? Right – conference. Abigail and I are really looking forward to this experience together and have invited some friends along the ride. With that said, allow me to get to my book review.
There are some elements of a good book review. In order to be as accurate as I can be, I’ll give those elements and then share my thoughts.
A good review has a description of the content of the book and how it compares to similar books.
Driscoll never says, “this is how you should run your church”. Nor does he imply that he has it all figured out. Rather, Driscoll comes across as someone exposing their flaws so that others (like M-E) may learn from them and hopefully avoid such errors. In reading other “church growth” type books I liked this one the most.
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Anonymous Voice: What have you read?
Me: Purpose Driven Church, Rick Warren; Purpose Driven Youth Ministry, Doug Fields; Advance Strategic Planning: A New Model for Church and Ministry Leaders, Aubrey Malphers; Why Nobody Learns Much of Anything at Church: And How to Fix It, Thom Schultz; Can We Do That?, Andy Stanley; Letters to Timothy, John Bisagno; Communicating for a Change, Seven Practices of Effective Ministry, Andy Stanley; & Criswells Guidebook For Pastors, W. A. Criswell.
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I would recommend some of these books… but there is a glaring difference between Driscoll’s stuff and these others: These others try to tell you how to grow/change your church/preaching while Driscoll asks you questions that cause you to rethink your church and preaching. To me there is a difference. I learned more from his book more than the others.
A good book review should give a detailed account of your thoughts going into your ratings.
I personally give this book a 5 star rating. Why? Well, it isn’t simply an information filled work with charts and figures and reasons why you should do church the way he does church. Driscoll inserts life stories and failures, frustrations and wounds he’s experienced. I connected with that. And then the application questions we’re mindless work – I really wanted to think through them and then took note of what I needed to do in my context.
A good book review should include suggestions on what you might have done to improve the book.
Since I have written SO MANY books (please note sarcasm), I have many suggestions (again, note sarcasm). With that said, I think as the book came to completion, it tailed off in how it related to me. That doesn’t mean that it is poorly written, rather I can connect with a church size of 0-1,500 people; but not to a 4,000-10,000 member church. That doesn’t mean he shouldn’t have included it – but maybe a word to those smaller congregations that don’t have 10,000 members might have been helpful. He could have been able to get different perspectives from those around him during those difficult times he described in his book also – with that said, that would have take a ton of time.
All in all, I would completely recommend this book to anyone who is planning on thinking creatively about their ministry context. I would also suggest reading Driscoll’s other book Radical Reformission:
Thanks for your time.
mc