Continuing Conversion of the Church Book

What to say about a dense book on the ongoing work of God in the midst of the institutional church, especially in North America? Firstly, this book is rather tedious at many junctures. The technical language, and a book in translation, makes this a challenge to read and to get much flow going. But going beyond that, I think this book is well-meaning and informative.


Some of the key points of this book include reminding believers that we are always in danger of reducing the Gospel to some manageable concept. In so doing we withhold God from renewing, revitalizing, and moving the church beyond a static relationship with the world. "Reductionism doesn't mean what remains is wrong: it means that what remains is too little. (189)." This is so deliciously written! How are we reducing God's message in the Gospel to something less than it could and already is.

I like he reminds us to translate the Gospel:
"I suspect that many of our so-called seeker-friendly or contemporary worship services are really evangelistic gatherings which, quite rightly, are translating the gospel into the language and culture of people who do not know what worship is nor how to do it. They have to find out who God is through their encounters with Jesus Christ." - 157.
YES! We all have to find Christ, but in a way that is in our own language. That language can be the Pub Church or the local church traditionally known. Still, Guder reminds us that we're not to hide behind the secondary silliness that often we use to mask the REAL Gospel: that God so loved the WORLD that He gave his Son.

And we are to be a contrast society. A place where there is a difference, not just a club. This is a message certainly I need to hear!

Fine book, but difficult to plod through.