I am still in search of a new ministry position and so I have been in search of good books on the church. I have been thinking about church planting for some time now and I have been waiting for the right time. So I have been reading a lot about the church in hopes of getting some ideas about what a church should do and not do and just seeing what is connecting with me in my heart about church both local and global. I just finished a book by Kevin Ford called Transforming Church which was really good! In good “book report” fashion let me give you a quick review.
The overall theme of the book is that there are two battles going on in every church. The first is a fight between consumerism and community. The author goes to great lengths to explain how consumerism short circuts what a biblical church is to be about. The second battle that is being waged is Incongruence vs Code meaning that every church has a code or a rythm that they play to. To go against this code is to again short circut the process and go against the DNA as it were of that particular body. The author shared many stories of churches who once knew what they were about (not in mission statements and visions quips but really understood what that church community was about) at its core. The code that Ford speaks of cannot be violated (nor should it be) because this is what the Holy Spirit is doing in this body of believers. Over time the leadership just re-imagines how the church code is to be played out in the life and times of the community in which they find themselves.
Over all I would say that this book is a great read for minsitry leaders, lay leaders and Elders of churches. I believe Ford hits a home run when identifying that at the core the church MUST be about Jesus and the life giving Community and Code that He gives to a local church!
