Gospel-Centered Church

Product Review (submitted on June 25, 2007):

'A vision for church growth must be a vision for church planting.' That's what Steve Timmis and Tim Chester say in 'The Gospel-Centred Church.' I'm more than ever convinced that they're right.

This is a workbook or study course, rather than a book you would sit and read. You could certainly work through it on your own, but it would be far more useful for the whole church to go through it together. (A series of sermons and discussions? Go through it in home groups?)

It’s divided into three main sections (The priority of mission, the priority of people, and the priority of community), and eighteen chapters. So you could take eighteen weeks to go through it with a group. This might feel like a long time, in some groups. However, the chapters are quite short, so you could probably take two chapters per week, and cover the whole book in about nine weeks.

Timmis and Chester say a lot of thought-provoking things. How about:

'Most people are no more likely to enter a church than you or I are to go into a betting shop.'

Or:

'Church is where we feel safe and comfortable. Church is where non-Christians feel embarrassed and awkward.'

If nothing else, this book will make you think about what is essential to church, and what is disposable or tangential.

I've also written a longer review, which can be found at
www.facingthechallenge.org/chester.php