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Title: An Unstoppable Force: Daring to Become the Church God Had in Mind by Erwin Raphael McManus ISBN: 0-7644-2306-1 Publisher: Group Publishing Inc Pub. Date: 01 June, 2001 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.07 (14 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Revolutionary
Comment: As soon as I knew that Erwin's first book was available I ordered it. Erwin McManus leads a church in Los Angeles that is unlike any church I have ever encountered. This book goes through much of the foundational patterns of the church, Mosaic, and Erwin's personal vision for church in the 21st Century. The work begins with some of the things that have gone wrong with church in the modern era. The author mentions that church is treated as an organization instead of a living organism. He argues that church must be treated as a living organism to awaken an apostolic ethos, which unleashed the movement of God. I can say with great certainty that not too many churches are thinking this way. Every church that I involved myself with, whether as a volunteer, or paid ministry professional, treated church as a business for God. Business systems are fine for the business world, but what the author argues for is that church be treated as a living organism, a species, that must adapt and change to remain culturally relevant. He argues that when church is a living organism, its members will reproduce new believers, small groups will reproduce communities of faith, and the church will unleash the apostolic movement of God.
The author next moves us towards how the church has become stagnant. He rails us to not be stuck in a safe theology, rather for us to move towards engaging what Christ envisioned as a dangerous faith. One of the more interesting pieces of this work is when the author notes that the only storm that can sink a church is the storm that rages from within. From my own experience, joining a church after it had split over a small issue, this rings completely true and close to home. How many times have churches split over issues ranging from what color the carpet will be to what to do with the missions' budget for the following year. It seems to me that God is looking down upon us and grabbing his hair in frustration.
This book became even more important to me personally in wake of the recent tragedies in New York City and Washington, D.C. The author informs us that Globalization and a mass urbanization is taking place all around us whether we like it or not, and churches need to do something to handle this new change, risk extinction. Time and time again I see churches near the city whose neighborhoods have changed, and they have done nothing about it. The so-called transitional communities, change, and become ethnically diverse, and the original church members move to the newer suburbs, and there is no shift in what the church looks like. The new people in the neighborhood have no place to attend worship; they simply are not going to attend a church where they are not represented in leadership. The author commands us to change, to be a living organism as a church, to move past being purpose driven, and being alive. Many church models over the past two decades focus on get the new people in, train them up, and send them out. This model was fine in a more ethnically stagnant climate which we dwelt in during the modern era. What the author commands us to do is to move back to the past, so we can see the future.
Other authors, such as Robert Webber, and Leonard Sweet echo what Erwin calls us to do, have a radical new vision for church in the postmodern era. To emulate the apostles and how 12 men and their followers changed the face of the world. The author challenges us to find, or to ourselves be catalytic leaders who are not afraid to move fast and move others quickly with us. While not everyone will be a catalytic movement leader, when the church or body of believers finds a catalytic movement leader, let us not snuff them out. To many times churches that refuse to change, whose feet are stuck in spiritual cement, refuse to identify, and then develop leaders who will awaken the church from the slumber of decline. This needs to change. While this author's work definitely does not provide a ten step plan to improve your church, he does more. Erwin McManus calls us to reexamine everything about how we do church. If we hope to survive and thrive in an era where Islam in the fastest growing religion in the United States, we all should take heed to what Erwin is saying to us in the important work.
Rating: 5
Summary: The hope of the 21st century church
Comment: Erwin McManus' book is THE best there is on the role of the church in society - not just western society. He inspires us with the stories, prods us, challenges us, makes us uncomfortable; but most of all, shows us what God is doing through a church (i.e., Mosaic) and wants to do through the church everywhere. The church really can be an unstoppable force. It will take a lot of courage for church leaders to face the issues this book raises. The difference could be between the very life and death of your church. Caution: you will never be the same after reading this!
Rating: 5
Summary: Read this book now!
Comment: I am not a pastor but this book still managed to change my life. It challenged me to rethink the way we do church and now I am striving to follow what I feel is God's will for his church. When we rely on outdated traditions, everyone suffers. Erwin offers a fresh look at how church is done and I feel he is right on the mark. Read it!
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Title: Seizing Your Divine Moment : Dare to Live a Life of Adventure by Erwin Raphael McManus ISBN: 0785264302 Publisher: Thomas Nelson Pub. Date: 05 November, 2002 List Price(USD): $19.99 |
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Title: Uprising: A Revolution of the Soul by Erwin Raphael McManus ISBN: 0785264310 Publisher: Thomas Nelson Pub. Date: 04 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $19.99 |
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Title: Emerging Church, The by Dan Kimball, Rick Warren, Brian D. McLaren ISBN: 0310245648 Publisher: Zondervan Pub. Date: 01 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.99 |
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Title: The Next Generation Leader: Five Essentials for Those Who Will Shape the Future by Andy Stanley ISBN: 1590520467 Publisher: Multnomah Publishers Inc. Pub. Date: 01 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $16.99 |
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Title: Courageous Leadership by Bill Hybels ISBN: 031024823X Publisher: Zondervan Pub. Date: 01 August, 2002 List Price(USD): $19.99 |
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