Gospel Centered Church

Gospel-Centered Church:

Becoming the community God wants you to be

by Steve Timmins and Tim Chester

In a nutshell:   How gospel principles shape the Church’s life.

The Church is a growing body, which means it can experience growing pains, or become unhealthy or lethargic. Or, she simply may not know what to do next. This book is something of a timber yard for a church: plenty of material to help us grow together. It’s short, and has short chapters, with provocative scenarios and questions to keep you thinking.

It starts out with the Church’s purpose (gospel mission), which points us in the right direction. Everyone has the same mission, but by pointing up some general principles, the book will draw out a great variety of ways it can be lived out. Second, nothing will get done without people. The Church is made of people, and they must be cared for in spiritual and practical ways (eg hospitality, relationships etc): we cannot love God if we do not love our brothers and sisters. This leads to the final section: building a gospel-centred community, one that reaches out persuasively to society.

If there is a weak side to the book, it is that the why of the gospel is not articulated especially well, instead focusing on the how of gospel. We do things as Christians, like hospitality, preaching, caring for the sick etc, not just because they spread the gospel, but also because they are objectively good and right. This is important, because (for instance) we don’t stop being hospitable if it isn’t obviously helping the gospel spread, and there are times when doing the right thing doesn’t seem to pay off. The book could benefit from making this more obvious.

Apart from that comment, though, the book is excellent. Many of the scenarios deliberately push our comfort zones, posing questions about caring for homeless people to betting on horses (yes, I know… read the book!). Its provocative scenarios and thoughtful questions will help us think creatively and biblically about sharing the gospel. In addition, the book’s layout is perfect for discussion groups, and could be used successfully as part of leadership training. But most importantly, it helps us grow into mature gospel-centred Christians.