Google books on church, there will be no shortage of choice! Some will be helpful, others less so. So why another book on church? Josh Moody, is, in fact, asking a very different question: why should I go to church at all? Filled with practical advice, this book will help you answer questions you maybe should have known the answer to and other questions you never knew to ask!
I learned a great deal from Josh Moody's How Church Can Change Your Life: Answers to the Ten Most Common Questions about Church (Christian Focus, 2015). That's because Moody doesn't ask how, but tells why. Why should you go to church? Ultimately, the answer is that you can meet Jesus there. Church is not a continuation of Jesus or a substitute for Jesus. It is a way-the God-ordained way-of getting to know Jesus.
Moody's key insight is that preaching is the living voice of Christ speaking in His church: Biblical preaching is important because it is Jesus' way to meet with his people and show us his glory, his beauty, his love, and help us to be captivated by who he is. So when you listen to a sermon, you are not comparing this sermon to other sermons, or to what you would say about the passage if you had the chance. You listen to preaching because it is what Jesus has to say to you at a particular moment. Thus, Moody writes, Churches are not meant to be led by administrative geniuses with fancily marketed programmes for all ages; they are meant to be led by Christ through his Word, which means that preaching is centrally important.
With that focus on the preaching of the Word come excellent short chapters on the sacraments-and on other things that are often hard to find good answers on. Do I need to go to church if I am Christian? Moody's answer: Does a severed hand need to be reattached to the body?
... a book of great worth. It would make a helpful 'book of the month' on church bookstalls for church members to read and be reminded of what church is meant to be about, or to help non-Christians make progress as they consider the Christian faith.
-- Evangelicals NowThis book is just brilliant!
-- Steve Levy (Pastor, Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, Swansea, Wales)This book answers questions about the church that your friends are asking!... Read this book and be encouraged by his answers, and then pass it along to a friend who has considered church attendance to be optional.
-- Erwin Lutzer (Senior Pastor, Moody Church, Chicago, Illinois)... a powerful and needed reminder of the central role the local church should play in the life of every Christian.
-- R. Albert Mohler (President, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky)...presents a compelling case for why we must be part of a healthy local church... ideal for new Christians, seekers who are unsure about the church, and for all those who have lost sight of the glorious truth that the church is God's agency for changing the world.
-- John Stevens (National Director, Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches, Market Harborough, Leicestershire)