Whole Church: Leading from Fragmentation to Engagement Book

A great book overall. The theological underpinnings (his foundational comprehension of who God is) is as solid as it comes, with a continual reference to God's remarkable character. It forms the backbone of the book and never deviates.

He also introduces some theological concepts that seem a bit "new" and which I'm sure would spook many strong fundamentalists. But in so doing, he's maintaining an emphasis on God's continuing work in humanity and in Creation, a work that moves forward, through the power and leading of the Holy Spirit. He never leaves this "newness" entirely without guide, both in the Bible and in the Christian community, and so it's never unfounded as some might fear. But it does leave plenty of room for God to work and for him to bring about the New Creation which he's promised and which we're all longing for... a rich and strong emphasis that keeps us looking forward to God's redeeming work, not only backwards in human history.

The subtitle of this book says "forming leaders for God's people", but I felt like the final chapters of the book, the only ones which really seemed to deal with leadership, were more of an afterthought. To be sure, they didn't deviate from the foundation previously laid, but they definitely seemed to stand apart and weren't entirely necessary to the book. Nonetheless, even those chapters brought up some solid points that could help in considerations of what it means to lead a church or any group of Christians, with the character and vision of Jesus.

The only complaint I have about this book is that his personable and easy-to-read anecdotes were all too often interspersed with overly academic or even overly-cited language and diagrams. It made the book quite a bit too dry at times, but never for more than a few pages in a row. All in all, it's recommended to anyone who wants to consider some foundational ideas for God's gracious interactions with humanity and how that should color our interactions with each other. A great book!