Total Church was a freebie for me that I picked up at Advance O9. My first reaction to the book in the first fifty pages was less than stellar. It wasn’t that I found the book bad, so much as ordinary. The first few chapters do not stick out as anything different or “radical” as the book claims.
However, continuing to prod on (as I usually do even with books I don’t enjoy), my opinion of the book was changed in the remaining 75% of the pages. It’s authors, Tim Chester and Steve Timmis are cofounders of The Crowded House, a church-planting initiative in the UK. In an age where church planting is the cool thing to do, Chester and Timmis propose radical changes that look at the value of small, intimate, gospel communities with accountable relationships as opposed to large, impersonal, megachurches that allow their members to hide easily and remain disconnected. This value has led them to plant house churches that encourage their members to not only attend church together, but to actually do life together.
This book gives an honest picture of what ministry looks like in our postmodern world. I found many small issues with which I was inclined to disagree with the authors, but I was blown away at how much sense they made in the larger issues. Total Church is an apt name because the book itself is something of a mini-theology course for the church that explores the theological implications of practices like church planting, world mission, social involvement, and apologetics. The conclusion? Theology is best, not when it is practiced in academia, but when it is lived out among the people of God as they interact with one another and the lost world.
Of course, the authors also give some shameless (and very good) plugs for church planting.
The implications of the Great Commission become apparent when we see how the first disciples worked out that Commission in the book of Acts. What we discover is that it meant church planting. As the disciples when in response to the command to be witnesses to Jesus, they planted churches in Antioch (11:26), Derbe, Lystra, Iconium (14:1-26), Philippi (16:11-40), Thessalonica (17:1-9), Corinth (18:1-11), and Ephesus (19:1-10).
Total Church challenged me and it will challenge you. Pastors and staff should read this book to be confronted with Chester’s and Timmis’ conviction that the shepherd is a leader among equals, and not in some special elite class of Christians. I heartily recommend it. You may also be inclined to check out the free pdf study guide that has been created for this book.
Other Resources for Total Church:
- View video and audio from the Total Church Training at Mars Hill
- Read the Total Church blog series
- Get Total Church in the Re:Lit library
