Book Reviews

If you have already shown the Truth Project to the people in your church you know what a great service Dale Tackett (PCA elder from Village seven) has done for us with this worldview series.

Dale, who works for Focus on the Family, now has a follow-up series that is aimed at high school and college age specifically. If you go to the website (www.trueu.org) there are helpful promos of the series.

There is a second series coming next spring. This series is on helping prepare young folk for the onslaughts of college by helping them defend themselves in the area of the existence of God. The second series will be Is the Bible Reliable?

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This first series is brilliantly taught by Dr. Stephen Meyer, who is a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute near seattle. He has spent 20 years researching cosmology, biology and metaphysics in order to be able to explain the existence of a creator God. He is a Ph.D. from Cambridge and an expert on the subject of Intelligent Design.

The website has a downloadable 40 minute presentation which serves as an introduction showing why you need to use this series with your teenagers. It is also well worth showing to the entire church. The series will be available in November.

The title drew me to this book written by Ben Witherington, Professor of New Testament, Asbury seminary, and faculty in the doctoral program at st. Andrews university in scotland. Being less than 100 pages, I thought this would be an easy read. I found that while it was easy to read, it required some thinking, checking scripture references, and playing around with some of the end questions. Consequently, I underlined a lot.

I was humbled in the very preface of the book. Witherington mentioned “kingdomtide.” I had never heard of that. He explained that it is part of the Christian church calendar many churches, including his Methodist church, use to mark a period from August 31 through the next 12 to 13 weeks culminating with the feast of Christ the King. I was comforted a bit by my lack of knowledge when I read that because we do not always observe those things in our church. As I read, I felt that maybe it would not be a bad idea, though from January 1 to December 31, because it is evident that people do not understand the kingdom of God.

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The little book of six studies has two parts: first dealing with the presence of the kingdom and then the future of the kingdom, an exposition from the Lord’s Prayer, “Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” He is correct that people do not understand the Kingdom of God, what it is, how it differs from the church, or Israel, and whether it is now or not yet.

Because the word kingdom today suggests a geographical location, and because the now part of the kingdom does not, Witherington suggests for clarity that we should call it the “dominion of God,” depicting activity rather than location, at least now. The kingdom refers to the rule and reign in the hearts and lives of God’s people wherever they are now. In the not yet final appearing of the kingdom it will have a location, namely the new heavens and new earth. It will be a activity and place combined.

Witherington makes an interesting point, “It is never adequate theology to say, “this world is not my home, I’m just passing through” as if heaven were all that really mattered. To the contrary, the New Testament suggests just the opposite. Heaven is simply a place through which believers pass between the time they die and when they are raised from the dead.” At that point they will be in the new heavens and new earth.

Witherington makes clear that while the church is not synonymous with the kingdom, it is through the church that the world presently sees the kingdom. As Christ rules and reigns in peoples’ hearts, the church gives evidence to the kingdom through the worship, in their daily lives as they demonstrate the beatitudes and fruit of the spirit, as they obey God’s word in all things, and demonstrate works of charity, righteousness, and a love in opposition to the powers of darkness. As Christ redeems his people and sets up his rule and reign in their hearts and minds such transformation will lead to redemptive actions and will change others as well as the fabric and structure of society. When that happens then God’s will is being done he says.

He asks “What would the church look like if it really took seriously the Great Commission? ” His answer, “It would look like a lot more like the dominion of God coming to earth.” There would be no place for racism, sexism, rivalry, greed but more of a place of love, justice, and mercy and servant leadership.

Each chapter ends with penetrating questions. While it does not say everything about the kingdom such as a world and life view, though the implications are there, you will benefit from reading, studying, and teaching this little book. Don’t pass it by.

If you read the report issued by Willow Creek Church a couple of years ago you know how a lot of people feel about their lack of spiritual growth. In fact, let me ask you a question: over this last year how much have you grown spiritually? This is not a minor question. I have been looking for a long time for a tool to use to help me, and the church overall, to be able to start measuring spiritual growth.

Too many times we think we are measuring spiritual growth, but we are only measuring one component – academic knowledge of the Bible. There is another area that is just as important – your personal life and growth, as well as your relational life and growth, such as with your mate and others in the church and the world.

Frazee has done a great job with this tool to help us do the measuring and planning for future growth. In the first part of the tool we assess ourselves in 10 competencies in three categories: beliefs, practices, and virtues. These answers assess how fully you have developed a Christlike profile. But you don’t stop there.

The Christian Life Profile is most effective when used in the context of biblical community, such as a small group where the members of the group provide support, encouragement, accountability, and prayer for each other, as you, individually and corporately, seek to grow in Christ’s likeness. The assessment tool even strongly suggests you allow three other people who know you well and care
about you to answer a set of questions about you to help you to develop a fuller assessment. I see this as one of the most beneficial aspects of this tool.

The last step is identifying two or maybe three areas where you want to concentrate your growth over this next year, and making a plan that is workable and attainable. To do this you need not only a mentor or small group, but most of all prayer that the Holy spirit will be the one to actually bring about the change

Several books on having a Christian mind have been in print for a good number of years. We will be mentioning at least one of these in each review section of Equip to Disciple for the purpose of making certain that you have read them. If you have not read them, you will want to do so while they are still available. This book, The Christian Mind, by Harry Blamires is one of those books, first published in 1963.

If Blamires was not the first to use the phrase “the Christian mind,” he was certainly among the first. I first read this book in the mid to late 1960’s and have quoted from and referred to it numerous times when speaking and writing on the topic. His major thesis was twofold. First, the modern mind is a secular mind; and secondly, there is no longer a Christian mind. Though we are seeing somewhat of a spiritual revival in our culture, the modern and/or postmodern mind is not oriented towards the supernatural, which is not to be confused with Christianity. He says, “As a thinking being, the modern Christian has succumbed to secularization.” Today’s mind accepts religion but not as a way of life. “There is no Christian mind; there is no shared field of discourse in which we can move at ease as thinking Christians by trodden ways and past established landmarks.”

I would like to say in the forty-six years of this book’s existence that things have improved. However, all that can be said regarding there being no Christian mind is that the situation has gone even more downhill. Certainly more books have been written on the topic, some of which we have reviewed in the past, but no significant change for the better has taken place. Mark Noll wrote The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind in which he concluded, there is no evangelical mind. Earlier, Allan Bloom wrote The Closing of the American Mind with a broader emphasis on how the Western mind is not a thinking mind.

The main thing that underscores our being the image of God is namely our ability and capacity to think. How tragic when we do not. People in general, but Christians in particular, face some extremely serious, complicated, and complex issues. The need to know how to think from a Christian perspective has never been more urgent.

But what is a Christian mind? Part two of the book identifies six characteristics.

1. A supernatural orientation. There is more to reality than the here and now and what we can see.
2. An awareness of evil and what it has done in perverting “the noblest things.”
3. A conception of truth that depends on God’s revelation.
4. An acceptance of authority. We must know what God requires and submit to it. He is the final authority in all of reality, things present and things to come.
5. A concern for the person, realizing that people are not machines. Human life has value.
6. A sacramental cast. In a sacramental view of life, the Christian mind recognizes things, such as relationships and sexual love, as God’s ways of opening reality to us.

In his conclusion, Blamires asks the question: what will Christians do during the next fifty years to strengthen the Christian mind against secularism and the anti-supernatural? His time frame is now up, and our response is not very encouraging. Blamires concludes, “it is better to define, establish, and nourish a Christian mind in freedom now, as a positive last effort to bring light and hope to our culture and our civilization, than to have to try to gather together the miserable fragments of Christian consciousness after triumphant secularism has finally bulldozed its way through the Church, as a body of thinking men and women.”

If you have not read this book and been challenged by it, please do so. It will make a strategic difference in your outlook.

What does an author do when he writes an academic youth ministry book that is critically acclaimed in youth ministry circles and sells beyond all expectations? Simple. He writes another book on the same topic only this time he joins with another expert in the field and moves from the academic into the practical. Dr. Chap Clark, Fuller Theological Seminary professor, made the compelling case in his book Hurt: Inside the Mind of Today’s Teenager that teenagers in today’s culture have been systemically abandoned by the adults and institutions that have traditionally cared for them. The resulting effect of this abandonment is a generation of hurting, disenfranchised young people who, somewhat ironically, are actually craving relationships with the very same adults who have abandoned them. Clark’s first book served as a wake up call for anyone who works with or cares for teenagers, from parents to school teachers to youth ministry workers. In the follow up book When Kids Hurt,Dr. Clark joins with Steve Rabey, editor of YouthWorker Journal, to further explain the ramifications of a generation of teenagers who have been abandoned and offer some well-seasoned advice on how adults should address these issues.

By his own admission, Clark is a glass half-empty kind of guy when he surveys the landscape of contemporary teenage culture. During his research, he and Rabey see hurting, abandoned teenagers around every corner. As a veteran youth worker, I am afraid that I am in agreement with their conclusions about hurting teenagers. If an adult will scratch just a little below the surface, I am convinced that you will find teenagers experiencing the affects of abandonment in the most unlikely places…like sitting in the pews of your church this Sunday.

With academic and athletic performance pressures, which conflict with the message of unconditional love, and meaningful familial relationships being replaced with material possessions or more activities, teenagers are more stressed out than ever and uncertain how to cope. The reality is that teenagers do not exist and develop in a vacuum; something will always fill the void.

The authors do a good job in part two of the book helping adult readers get a glimpse into the world of teenagers. Speaking of mid-adolescent (9-12 grade) reasons for increasing sexual behavior, the authors state in the chapter “Sexual but Not Satisfied” that “adolescent sexuality, and perhaps all human sexuality, is connected more to a desire for relational connection and a safe place than to a physical, albeit sometimes pleasurable, activity of the body.” In other words, teenage sexual behavior has more to do with the desire for meaningful relationships than it does with a physical act. As part of a generation of youth pastors who stood and barked at students to not have sex before marriage because it is sinful, these types of sentiments convict me. Perhaps the better approach would be for adults to first provide meaningful relationships and then to help teenagers establish meaningful relationships with each other. Although I have to admit that I will miss giving my “fornicators go to hell” fire and brimstone youth talk, common sense dictates that adults look not exclusively at the tip of the iceberg. Rather, our focus should be on the portion of the iceberg below the surface that sinks the ship, because right now many teenagers in our midst are sinking.

When Kids Hurt is a solid book full of helpful insights from the authors and the other contributors who add commentary in each chapter. I am reluctant to label this a youth ministry book because youth ministry books are too easily written off in the PCA as “lesser than” theology, counseling, or church history books; and this book deserves careful consideration from adults who are charged with the raising and discipling of teenagers. Whether or not one agrees with every conclusion Clark and Rabey posits is unimportant. What is vital is that this book be read by adults who are ready to confess culpability for the abandonment of young people and willing to move on and become the mentors and shepherds that mid-adolescents need.

Jerram Barrs has given us a good sequel to his earlier book, The Heart of Evangelism. This book is more focused in dealing with how Jesus approached the subject we would call evangelism. I agree with David Wells. “This is not a book about evangelism technique but about doing evangelism biblically.” In one sense we can say that Jesus did not have a particular methodology in doing evangelism; yet on the other hand, there are certain aspects that are a common thread in his approach. We perhaps should say that Jesus always had an objective in mind, though it was always applied by situation or context.

Barrs points out an approach of Jesus to people that was often followed by the late Francis Schaeffer. Schaeffer knew how to learn about people, to ask questions, and to listen before seeking to present Christ to them. Barrs actually quotes Schaeffer, who used to say that “if he had only one hour with someone, he would spend 55 minutes asking them questions and 5 minutes trying to say something that would speak to their situation once he understood a little more about what was going on in their heart and mind.” This is a good summary of Barrs’ approach in this book, using the parables to demonstrate Jesus’ style or method.

Barr even quotes from the observation of Paul Weston, who has counted the number of questions Jesus asked in the Gospels, an overall total of 284. Jesus also told stories and left the audience to respond and conclude His story, such as the famous parables in Luke’s Gospel regarding the two lost sons. Jesus used story form to communicate His message; and He did so in a way that the audience, if they had ears to hear, would know exactly what He was driving at.

The confrontation with the Bible teacher, as Barrs calls it, or the Good Samaritan parable, demonstrates another approach of Jesus. This time, more than telling a story, He asked questions. Jesus met the young lawyer where he was, which not only caught the man off guard with His questions back to him but also revealed something inside this inquisitor.

Here was a lawyer who knew Scripture and could quote at least the key parts but in reality did not know what those Scriptures meant. Through a questioning process, Jesus made it obvious that such was the case.

In witnessing we have to realize, and we soon will if we do not, that simply quoting Scripture does not reveal belief and understanding. Knowing the truth is different from doing the truth. Jesus masterfully demonstrates how to answer questions with questions to make His point. Barr also reminds us that many to whom we witness may not only lack a saving knowledge of God but an understanding of themselves as well. Following Calvin, he reminds us that we can only know ourselves if we know God.

Barr also talks about witnessing or doing evangelism in a way that does not lead to a quick decision where there is no knowledge of sin and the need of forgiveness, which is prevalent in much “evangelism” today. “Many people need to hear the law before they are ready to hear the gospel,” he says.

In this book we see Jesus using different methods, both direct and indirect, stories and questions, to carry out His evangelism. Barr writes, “The theme of this book is that Jesus, the Son of God, shows us the way to be in the world. It is my deep conviction that our evangelism, both in theory and practice, must be shaped not only by the general teaching of Scripture, but also, indeed most of all, by imitating the pattern of Christ.”

While you may not find anything here that you have not already known, it is good to refresh ourselves by studying more about Jesus and His teachings with the desire to learn how to be more like Him. Learning Evangelism from Jesus contains fifteen chapters dealing with different stories from Jesus’ life, and the study guide at the end will be helpful to those wishing to teach or study more on this topic. Obviously, we recommend this book.