Belief Networks Books

This book is easy to read and clearly exposes the guidelines to be great in Jesus. It shows me that there is a way to participate in expanding his kingdom through applying them to my pastoral context.

Many thanks,

Young-Do

This book is filled with great advice for the emerging leader. I bought a copy for all my staff, and we are reading the book together.

This has become one of my all-time favorite books on the subject of leadership (and I've read books by some of the most well-know leadership experts).

Usually I run into two problems with other leadership books. First, some of them are just boring to me. Sometimes I have felt like I'm reading through some dry, academic work. This is not too fun--it seems counterintuitive to try to sharpen your skills with a dull book. Secondly, some leadership books are too repetitive and vague. The information kind of runs together, with one chapter looking suspiciously like the previous chapter.

McNeal's book is different. It was a joy to read, and each of the 7 disciplines made a lot of sense to me. Practicing Greatness is more about being a leader than "doing" leadership roles. This book further confirmed my decision to stay in my current ministry and continue to do something that I'm gifted for and passionate about.

I hope you'll take time to read it.

This is a great book, and a must read for those looking to better themselves in the areas of leadership and life.

Better than your average Christian leadership book. It's neither so business-minded as to make you wonder where God is in all this, nor is it so spiritual that it neglects practical application. It challenges you to examine yourself through the Word of God and develop healthy relationships - which are often lacking most in church circles.

This book contains practical (be is very basic) information for locating religious resources on the internet. One plus regarding this book is that it covers more than just the 8 'great religions' and also covers alternative religious sites as well. Recommended for the internet search engine challenged.

It is quite off-subject in the first few chapters, going through explaining how to use various features of the browser and such, but it does get going eventually. It is by far the best book I have read yet concerning online religion.

Along with being a great list of great web sites for many, many religions, it also covers quite a bit of information about them, explaining some basic philosophies, practices, etc.

If you're doing any religious research or looking for your religion or doing anything else with religion online you must have this book!

This author belives that the Soka Gakkai is pure evil, and as a Soka Gakkai member I was deeply offended. But its still a OK book.

Bruce must be congratulated for the indepth research in facilitating acces to the Web, that is otherwise hidden, deep and in mysterious webs.

An interesting project, considering that every religion has its critics, and you are always going to offend someone by writing about their religion. The Watchtower is no exception, with literally hundreds of websites postured against this organization and only two official websites of the Watchtower with very limited information. Yet, it is the responsibility of the web critic who wishes to reach the reader to be kind and fair to members of the religion who may be browsing online. A little humor and some poetry, film and sound waves are nice. I get many Witnesses write me at freeminds.org.

Leading Congregational Change is an excellent read for all pastors taking their congregations to a new level of health and vitality. About half way through the book one realizes too much to soon may be expected from the laity. Change is a process. It takes patience. Within these pages is perscribed the value of patience and process when leading a congregation through change. A quick read. I highly reccommend it.

This book does not offer simplistic answers to a complex issue. Instead, it provides tested, seasoned directions, discussions, and examples for leading congregations to a "preferred future". It's a must read for every church leader.

This book is an excellent answer to the question, "how do we transform declining congregations into Christ-like bodies that display the power of the Gospel in our communities?" [page 1]

Jim Herrington and James Furr of this author triad are great friends of mine in ministry. Readers should take time to abosorb the spiritual and strategic wisdom of these two guys along with the third author, Mike Bonem.

For congregational leaders and congregational champions who are looking for a solid change process that has been well tested by practitioners, this is a good book to add to your collection.

Judicatory leaders will especially want this book as it was written from the perspective of reinventing how a local denominational organization helps its congregations to transform.

For congregational leaders and congregational champions who feel they already know the process they like to use for change and transition, this is a book that at least they must reference. Too many processes do not adequately address the spiritual and relationship vitality that is so well addressed by this book.

As the General Supervisor of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel in the United States, I am constantly looking for leading edge thinking to resource our 5,000 licensed ministers. The authors of LEADING CONGREGATIONAL CHANGE are much more than just brilliant theorists or students of change theory. They are practitioners who have successfully piloted their recommended change process and offer this excellent book to help leaders in congregations seeking true and lasting change.

LEADING CONGREGATIONAL CHANGE recognizes the complexities and difficulties in bringing real change to established congregations. No quick fix or limited approach produces the fundamental changes needed to position many established congregations for future vitality. The authors apply current change theory to the local church in a sequential and understandable way.

I purchased multiple copies of this book and distributed them to Foursquare District Supervisors across the U.S., recommending that they encourage pastors in their regions to use this excellent resource.

This book is a guide to psychological manipulation of the church, geared toward leaders that want to move the church in a different direction whether it is scriptural or not. If you are resistant to what they want to implement, this book will instruct them on how to fool you and draw you in, even using false flattery and kindness as a tool. If you are not easily taken in they will ostracize you, making you appear to be the problem and perhaps even recommend you leave. Deception and cunning are key words here. If church leaders will stoop to the levels suggested in this book, they are not led by God, but by their own flesh and are not worthy of term 'leader.'

Some books on the missional church in a postchristian culture leave you wonder what a local church is suppose to do and be in the new mileu. Not Shaped by God's heart. It ask pointed questions that help you a church evaluate who they are and how missional they are. It also has some very missional applications. If one is having a hard time figuring out what missional church looks like in the post-christian age...this is the book.

When I began to read this book, I couldn't put it down. In fact, I read until 2am! He explains exactly what it means to be on mission for God. He takes you logically through the principles of missional church and helps you know what to expect. At the end of each chapter is a section to reflect and apply as well as to assess just exactly where your church is in the process of becoming missional. He points out how we need to be authentic disciples of Christ and reach the world outside the walls of the church - be missional.

I have been looking for a single book to give to church leaders that explains what it means to be Missionsal. I have found it in this book. I'm ordering some additional copies to give away.

The more I read about the missional church, the more I want to learn. This title is the latest in a string of several on the subject. Minatrea begins by describing the need for the missional church. He then lists nine practices of missional churches: they have a high threshold for membership, they are real, not really religious, they teach to obey rather than to know, they rewrite worship every week, they live apostolically, they expect to change the world, they order their actions according to their purpose, they measure growth by capacity to release, not retain, and they place kingdom concerns.

While the explanations of the nine practices of missional churches are useful, the best part for me was Part 3. The author in this section gives some very practical ways in which these new approaches to ministry can be incorporated. Overall, this book is superb!

Minatrea proposes to show us what missional churches look like. While his characteristics seem to be useful and would make a good sermon series or introduction to leadership class, he largely draws on 3 or 4 Baptist churches for examples, with an occasional nod to Adam Hamilton @ the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection and Brian McLaren and the emergent conversation.

Formatted in short chapters it is a useful starting place if you don't want to wade thru Guder's Missional Church

Without over-generalizing Rex Miller explains many trends we see around us and helps us consider where they will lead. He helps us understand how we got where we are today in a way that makes me thankful to be alive at this turning point in human history. While it was written with church leaders in mind, thinkers and leaders of all organizations will benefit from this timely work.

What a helpful book on understanding our past, present, and future in communication. M. Rex Miller is clear and precise as to the breakdown of how we have learned from ancient times and how we will learn in the future. If you are worried about postmodern thought then this is the book to read because Miller shows how a new way of thinking and processing information can be very spiritually productive in a rapidly changing society and church.

Not just another book about postmodernism, "The Millenium Matrix" is an innovative look at human technology and how it influences culture, psychology, and ulimately faith. By exploring the major worldview shifts of the last 2,000 years, Rex Miller looks ahead to the future of Christianity and 21st century culture. Written in an engaging and simple style, "The Millenium Matrix" is quite the enlightening read.

-Eric Hurtgen, Relevant Magazine

Read it! It will do both your mind and soul good.
It isn't often I run across something like this. This is a book I wish I had written. That's the highest compliment a writer can pay to another author. Rex, my hat's off to you.

Seriously, Rex has done an absolutely marvelous job of bringing together a whole lot of complexity and laying it out in an understandable form. While his major focus is on how technology will impact how churches organizae themeselves, the lessons are equally applicable to just about any large formal organization in Western society.

It is certainly a must read for anyone trying to understand the diverse cultural mix we find oursleves living in today.

Rex Miller's excellent work reminds us that we are living in an age of extra-ordinary change. His work points to the challenges we face: what will we salvage from the past (in order to stay grounded in those things which are timeless) and what changes will we embrace (so that the church does not become irrelevant).

Every pastor who is willing to re-assess the effectiveness of his or her church should spend a few days with this book, and then spend a few years working out its implications. Miller asks us to forego programs and methods and think for ourselves--how refreshing!

The author of this book, Brenda Brasher, got her Master of Divinity degree from my seminary prior to getting her doctorate at the University of Southern California. Brasher's earlier book, `Godly Women: Fundamentalism and Female Power', showed that she likes to push the envelope and go into subjects that are not without controversy. `Give Me That Online Religion' is another book like this - the whole idea of culture and society on the internet is riddled with controversial aspects. Far from being simply a new technology or a new and faster method of communication, the internet is transforming the very idea of communication in ways not thought of by even the most prophetic of observers and science fiction imaginations.

Brasher sees the realm of cyberspace as being the ultimate diaspora (she entitles one of her early chapters with this phrase) - people need no longer rely on physical proximity or geographic groupings for their associations; like the Jews of old, the community can be far flung and multicultural while maintaining certain key ties - one primary difference now being that the people involved in these virtual communities may never actually meet another person of their religious persuasion.

The ideas of authenticity (of communication, of individual truthfulness, and of actual spirituality) come to the forefront of much of Brasher's discussion, as questions about the validity of persons online and the reality of experiences that exist primarily or solely in virtual space are exposed. At what point does the virtue become a vice? While the internet is an incredible tool for the dissemination of information as has been available never before, it is also true that the number of questionable sites (ranging from the mildly prurient to the bizarre and violent) seems to multiply at an even faster rate. This same trend holds true in religion, in which there is sometimes no reality at all behind the words on the website. What kinds of values are being expressed and exposed?

Brasher compares the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales and Mother Teresa as a case study, comparing their media presence - particularly on the internet - against their actual lives and the grounding each had in certain communities and `real' life. Brasher locates the websites of celebrities such as these as pilgrimage sites similar to the old saintly sites of earlier times; they become important continuations of a celebrity's seeming power and influence.

Brasher speculates on some of the influences and trends for congregational life - that pastors and theologians grounded in an education influenced by agrian culture and pastoral concerns might find a difficult time in relating the modern technological-cultural issues to their communities. This is not to say that pastors and theologians are not technically savvy - many will have the latest computers with fast-speed internet access, palm pilots, cell phones and the like, but still not be able to adapt the changing trends these bring in society together with their more traditionally-based theological training.

Brasher ends by looking at the apocalyptic element online, not only with situations like the Heaven's Gate tragedy, but also the more general ministry portals run by evangelical and fundamentalist preachers such as Jack Van Impe, whose focus for ministry online (as well as in other media) seems to start with the prophetic apocalyptic message. She examines the potential and the pitfalls for future use of the internet in the religious field mystically, institutionally, and socially.

This is a fascinating text for any person in the twenty-first century, given that no matter where one is, the influence of the internet will be felt, and two so pervasive things like religion and the internet cannot help but be influenced by each other, one hopes for the better of both.

this book is of interest to both people interested in religious behaviuor and those studying the web phenomenon. brasher surveys how both traditional amd new religious movements have used the internet to further thier interests and causes. religion on the net now is not contained by time or place and is accessible to any and under no obligations. cult and other credes are descibed too from lady di, elvis to mother theresa. alternatively all means of approaching religion are noted such as sending messages to god, requesting absolution or placing a note at the wetsern wall.religion is one of the main areas of activity on the internet and new sites are opeining by the minute with the most up to date tools.this fascinating book also raises ethical questions as how to avoid abuse and encouraging criminal and other actions. she suggests that standards and codes of practice be considered. what is also remarkeable is the fact that in this modern day and age, religious practice is on the increase and many relgious institutions are using the web effectively and via this new medium able to attract new followers. the book is both learned and highly readable suitable both for scholars and the genral public. i enjoyed reading it immensly and am now a fan of this author.

I agree with almost all of what Dr. Brasher has to say about the potential of online religion. That being said, however, this book (which makes at least some attempt at being academic, with footnotes and a chapter contextualizing technology and religion historically) fails to delve very deeply into specifics. Unsupported generalizations are rife, and anecdotes (accounts of individuals' experiences with religion on the Internet) are related without any evidence to suggest how widespread these kinds of experiences are. Overall, the book fails to look at enough specific Internet resources in enough detail to justify Brasher's sweeping claims for the future importance of online religion. Her speculation on the character and potential cultural effects of online religion are certainly interesting, but they make up the bulk of the work. As a result, _Give Me That Online Religion_ is an interesting personal vision, but a very weak piece of scholarship.

I originally faulted this book for lacking any reference to major Internet religion hubs such as Beliefnet, but Dr. Brasher has since informed me that the book went to press before Beliefnet came online. I still think, however, that a print directory of religion-related websites with brief descriptions would have been an excellent addition to the book. Even though the directory would have been outdated after a year, such a listing would have provided specific information about the context in which Brasher was writing and given her argument additional weight. Brasher does, however, provide a directory on her website, which is listed in the back of the book.

Brenda Brasher's "Give Me That Online Religion" is a must-read book, a superbly written, insight-packed exploration of what happens when ancient faith fuses with tomorrow's technology. One of our most adept guides to modern religion, Brasher provides the first serious look at how the Internet is transforming spirituality -- and gazes into the always-intriguing, sometimes-frightening future of global religion in the brave new era of cyberspace.

-- Gershom Gorenberg, senior editor and columnist, The Jerusalem Report

How will we do religion twenty, a hundred years from now? Will buildings still be important? Or, perhaps, will there be e-religion that people practice at home, just as they e-shop rather than going to the mall? According to Brenda E. Brasher, we already have e-religion, as shown in her book _Give Me That Online Religion_ (Jossey-Bass). A funny, imaginative work, it is also a serious look at how online religion has gotten its start in what humans will surely look back on as the most primitive days of the internet. Brasher teaches religion and philosophy, and for more than a decade has been taking a look at various religious websites. She has had her work cut out for her; there are more than a million sites of diverse religious affiliation, drawing believers as well as those simply curious. Perhaps this is just the internet way of distributing tracts, but Dr. Brasher says no: "online religion is the most portentous development for the future of religion to come out of the twentieth century" and "could become the dominant form of religious experience in the next century."

Those familiar with basic traditional religions will find that they have moved onto the Web without much change; perhaps the literal Bible, apocalyptic ones are over-represented, just as they are on TV. There are others in this book that any reader will find strange. Some sites are direct offshoots of IRL (In Real Life) religious practice, like online prayer chains and chat rooms where people can go for a more-or-less directed Sunday school. The site of EvilPeople, Inc., invites people to click on a button in order to sell their souls. (A soul was recently put up for sale on e-Bay.) There are memorials to many dead people; there are 8,000 Brasher has counted devoted to Princess Diana alone. There are strange and comic religious sites. Brasher never mentions the surrealistic site of the Church of the Subgenius ("The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!") or the subversively comic realism of the Landover Baptist Church ("Where the Worthy Worship and the Unsaved Are Not Welcome.") She does explain that much of the religion on the web is suffused with over-the-top humor. There are what she calls "Celebrity Altars," devoted to some sort of worship of someone famous, and she gives extensive quotes from the site "Dudes of the Keanic Circle," devoted to finding, among other things, the esoteric meanings of the films of Keanu Reeves. Keanu as Christ-figure is very weird, and so is another site that holds Keanu as the Antichrist, confusingly enough. The Transhumanists are interested in the typical religious goal of eternal life, but intend to do so by uploading their brains onto the `net (undoubtedly Windows is merely withholding this software until their legal problems are worked out). There are many strange religions in this book. There are some not so strange, as the cyber-seder, and the woman who was drawn to convert to Judaism because of it.

Brasher does a good job of explaining how chat rooms and Web sites work, for those who don't know much about the `net. She draws instructive parallels about previous shifts in media within religion; who is to say that the Web will not, as the years go by, have as much effect as Luther's use of the new technology of the printing press? She is an advocate for watching with curiosity the way religion branches in cyberspace, and for its protection in the face of commercialization. She is right to point out that those who grow up on the web may find the agrarian and pastoral images of inherited religion less credible than they find futuristic fiction. We are just at the beginning, but she has given us a start on a way to thinking about what might come.

Excellent book to help guide a church into mission thinking and action. I recomment this for all leaders in a church that seeks to be "missional" in the true sense of the word.

Having read many books on leadership, and having read a few on the missional church, I was very pleased to find this volume with a missional approach to leadership. The author asserts that this approach can be used in any church setting to give the congregation more of a missional church direction. Although the entire book is well-worth reading, the most intensive section is chapters 3-5. I recommend this one highly.

Alan Roxburgh has finally pulled together all the pieces that he has been writing about and teaching for a number of years. Some of this stuff he taught in a course I took with him 14 years ago at McMaster. He highlights the character required, the skills required, and the processes required, of pastors seeking to innovate toward the missionally-engaged congregation. There are far too many people using the term "missional" to signify whatever they want. Alan and the others in the Gospel and Culture Network are giving us principles, practice and definitions that do justice to what Newbigin meant when he started some of us using the term long before it became vogue.

I'll be usng this book for a class that I am teaching. It covers the basics of "missional church" all right, but the strength of the book is chapters 3-5, where a change strategy for adopting missional church paradigm is lifted up. The last chapters, on leadership, I found less helpful in part because it is grounded not to the experience of a church becoming "missional" but to the author's evaluation instrument. The authors acknowledge but underestimate the membership loss that comes from adopting the missional paradigm: they estimate 10 to 15%, without systemmatic research I have found closer to 50% loss in several cases in the UCC.

This book was eye-opening for me, and gave me a fresh new prespective on the life of a church. We need to focus less on self and on the future of the church to bring life and vitality to the church.

This book is about how to think, not what to think. It is a great book that helps pastors and leaders see the importance of setting the culture rather than trying to do patchwork quick-fixes on the church. Because culture has a way of communicating itself, if culture is not changed, things would slide back to what they were, and may continue to deteriorate.

Your culture is the lens through which you view your life. If you change the lens, you change your outlook. Change the culture, and everything else changes, including the future. Changing a culture is an inside-out approach that transforms the place. Transformation can never be brought in from the outside. Transformation is inside work, and every church already possess the elements that can bring it about.

Because culture shapes the church, and leaders make the culture, this book helps leaders work through cultural issues in their church, and to find ways to change and incarnate the godly culture that they would want. In this book are also questions and suggesstions that guide the reader into looking at how things are, working out where you want to go, and areas to focus on to take you there. In general, a church that goes through a culture shift would likely go through the following (pg. 183-4):

1. Identify and believe God's promises about your church's potential.
2. Model kingdom culture personally.
3. Enlist allies to champion the culture shift.
4. Focus on "what we're becoming."
5. Compare the vision of the future to present reality.
6. Outline a specific, doable pathway.
7. Help it filter through the church, and learn from feedback you receive.
8. Stay focused on transformed people, and on those receptive to change.
9. Make heroes of people who best represent the kingdom values.
10. Celebrate every success, and give God the glory.

I read this on the recommendation of a good friend a little while back, and decided to give this as a gift this Christmas. After going through the reviews, though, I thought I needed to throw my voice into the ring as well.

First, understand that this book is primarily a set of fictional dialogs, not a drama or action book by any means. Through the dialogs between the main characters, we are presented with an interesting and thought provoking alternative perspective on Christianity.

Through this story (and his other stories as well), McLaren tells hard truths- about a church that is out of touch with modern society, a church that is so caught up in its orthodoxy and purity of doctrine (conservative or liberal) that it has largely forgotten its original purpose. This message is bound to raise the hackles of those in the establishment, and you can see this discomfort reflected in the negative reviews above.

Which is fine, and I am guessing that this is what McLaren wanted in the first place. Modern America has lost the art of dialog and debate. Sure, you can turn on the TV and watch ranting people talk past each other, but that is not a dialog. True engagement with the possibility of disagreement is considered impolite and distasteful, and something to be avoided at all costs. So what we are left with is opposing positions (Christian and otherwise) isolating themselves in their own ideological sandbox and refusing to constructively engage the other side.

McLaren is making an effort to start the missing dialog, and bridge the isolated ideologies, and he does so by presenting a new perspective on the Christian story... a "third way" that is perpendicular to the liberal/conservative axis. He never claims (either himself or through his characters) that this is the right story or the only story. But it is a story that makes you think and challenges each reader to explore further. (One way to explore, of course, is to engage with those of opposing perspectives... perhaps, just perhaps, there is a kernel of truth in their position as well.)

Christianity was born as a rebellious movement with a focus on ditching the ceremony/dogma of Roman era Judaism and getting back to the basics- honoring God, serving each other, etc. In some ways, McLaren is simply asking us to go back to our roots. I, for one, have been enriched by that journey, and I suggest that you give it a go. This is as good a place as any to start.

Again I loved this series. If you are open to new presentations of Christianity but are not ready to question parts yet then read this book first. You cannot come away from this novel not either having been opened up to new expressions of faith or having your current beliefs strengthen. Either way your far better off.

In the most unlikely of settings with the most unlikely people, NEO (see book 1) tells his imagined story of the universe and life, ending with a a very interesting preview of what Heaven might be like. (Some characters: terminal cancer PhD biologist/atheist and her hippy son, Jamaican ex-preacher-still-Christian PhD scientist and believer in evolution (NEO), a disenchanted preacher, and his family). The book centers around a long story by NEO , who is on vacation, that starts in Ecuador trying to explain how he can be a Christian and a Science teacher to a sceptical atheist biologist who is trying to save species. It continues and concludes in Maryland where NEO finally convinces her (with God's help, of course). Shortly before she dies of cancer she becomes a true believer and is baptised. It sounds pretty far fetched and terribly melodramatic the way I put it here, but actually, for me, it was a believable, fascinating continuation of the first book, "A New Kind of Christian", well worth 5 stars. I am going on to read the last of the trilogy, with great thanks to Brian McLaren for some beautiful insights and a touching narrative.

In part 2 of the this series we find the characters coming to the realization of no boundaries, unexpected discoveries, and love for all of creation (not just the human creation). What the author brings forth for all who read is not a pointless liberal agenda, or leftist mentality, but rather a perspective of the truth that transcends categories. It is a story about the inclusive rescue by God for all creation, our role in that rescue, and the role of others past, present and future. This book- and series- has challenged some of my earlier notions and categories and is bringing about an emergence of a new perspective. I am gratfeul to the author for writing this book.

...but in a good way, I think. McLaren's ideas in this installment of the trilogy are excellent, shying away from any kind of doctrinal statement but instead placing ideas and thoughts within the wider meta-narrative of Hebrew religion, Judaism, and Christianity. The best move this book makes is placing sexuality, perhaps THE most overlooked part of the human experience in evangelical culture and American culture as a whole, within the framework of creation. McLaren is absolutely right in pointing out that any debate on origins shouldn't start with creation vs. evolution, but should start with sexuality. McLaren's ideas have always been more conversational, and this book follows in that stance of critiquing rational minded religion.

So, why three stars? To put it as nicely as I can, McLaren's prose is underwhelming, his characters are one dimensional, and the plot of this book would have been better written by a team of writers from "General Hospital." Some might disagree with me and would say that McLaren's book is more conversational theology than novel, but I would counter that it would have been better as a strictly conversational theology book and not a novel.

But, its hard to argue with McLaren's intentions and this book is a welcome addition to his end of the theological conversation.

Organic Church answers the heart-cry of a worship-hungry soul. Worship is not just about music. Worship is a life-lived in a loving relationship with Jesus Christ with a desire for others to find that same loving relations with HIM. Organic Church is a must read for those who are serious about finding "non-traditional" avenues of being CHURCH that desires to reach family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers with the Good News of Jesus. Don't read this book if you think that CHURCH must be four-walls, pews, and a pulpit. It will probably make you a little upset.
Cole speaks in simple terms without lofty theological language. His illustrations hit the mark. I liked that what Cole is doing is not just "ivory-tower" ideas, but practical teaching that he is living out daily. We can do this. Thanks Neil Cole for getting out-of-the-box, taking the risk of truly following what the Spirit led you to do, and giving us a grand example of what God can do with a man who not only desires to follow Jesus but steps-out and does it.
Personally, I am recommending this book to some of my close friends that go to church because they love Jesus, but seem to say, "There has got to be more to the Christian life and Church than this . . ." I am so sure this book is what true believers are seeking that I am not only recommending it, but have sent it to one friend as a present. I hope to send more in the near future. I am that convinced that this is the CHURCH that pleases Jesus.
What's so cool about this book is that you can take what Cole shares and start today! You don't have to wait on a MDIV, or a certificate from a Bible Correspondence course to start a church. Just do it! Get this book! Read it! And share your life and the Good News of Jesus with a friend.
Cole's Life Transformation Groups are a must for new believers, old believers, and any believer. Cole wrote that we need to read God's Word in bulk. I agree so that we will get the "big picture" and to have a better understanding of what the Bible says a whole. A 20 minute sermon once a week that is based on 1 to 4 verses is not enough Bible-intake. Also, Cole's accountability questions are painful, but so needed to keep our eyes on Jesus and to keep us clean and healthy in mind and body. Lastly, we are so convinced that we have the power to change things . . . this is so untrue. Cole emphasizes the need for prayer and dependency on God, Jesus, and the power of the Holy Spirit in the LTG's. Wow! What a refreshing read! I read it twice so far.
When you buy a copy, think about buying two and invest one in someone who is not totally satisfied with the "status quo" of just going to church. Give them this book and let them learn how to be CHURCH!

I have been reading a lot of books about the organic church movement lately, and I have found that Neil Cole's is the most persuasive one. And here is the funny thing about it: he doesn't emphasize organic church being better, or more doctrinally correct than the institutional church although I would say he clearly lays out the points in the case for just that fact. However, he does so not by stating a lot of little known facts, logical statements, and I-told-you-so scripture references. Instead he explains his spiritual journey and that of many others which led him to an organic expression of the church, not because all others are wrong, but because that is what God would have them do. If you want a bunch of facts on the matter, I would recommend Frank Viola's Pagan Christianity? But when it comes to helping an institutional church member understand what the organic church is, this is definitely the first book I'll give them.

I loved the first half of this book, even though my parish is running from a far more traditional model. I felt that the course this book suggested could be integrated into a more traditional church for a more balanced approach.
But the author just kept pushing the Organic idea so far that he stretched the metaphor. It got rather hard to deal with and distracting and I put the book down half way through. I'm glad for what I got out of it, but I just couldn't stomach the rest.

It is a thought provoking book that helps you to re-evaluate what church really is and should be. It makes a great discussion starter.

Be very careful when you read this book. This is not taught in church, nor is it taught in Bible schools. It is not taught in Christian books nor is it taught any where in America. Nope, this is a revolutionary way of doing church, one that is Biblical and organic in nature. (Thus, the title). Niel Cole does an excellent job showing what the purpose of the Church truly is. He also clearly shows how the way we do church here in America is ineffective.

So beware, it will rock your world, if you let it.