One of the most influential books on my own personal ecclesiology has been Tim Chester and Steve Timmis' Total Church. Until now, the book has only been available in the UK, but Crossway has just released it as part of its RE:Lit line and you should buy it now. As in, quit-reading-this-blog-and-go-buy-it-now.
Once you get back (or if for some reason my endorsement didn't persuade you, here's a brief interview that David Mathis (John Piper's assistant) did with Tim Chester over at the Desiring God blog:
DG: Tim, what do you and Steve Timmis mean by the title Total Church?
Tim Chester: The phrase is actually adapted from the world of football (or soccer in the States!). “Total football” was a style of play associated with the Dutch international side in the 1970s.
“Total church” is our way of capturing the idea that church is not one
activity in our lives. Church isn’t a meeting you attend or a building
your enter. It’s our identity, our community, our family. It’s the
context for the totality of the Christian life.
DG: How would you summarize the message of the book?
TC: Total Church argues for two core principles: We need to be gospel-centered and community-centered.
Being gospel-centered means we’re word-centered (because the gospel is a message; it is good news), and it means being mission-centered (because the gospel is a message to be proclaimed; it is good news).
I think most conservative evangelicals are strong on this. But we
also need to be community-centered. The Christian community is the
biblical context for evangelism, discipleship, pastoral care, social
involvement, and so on. That doesn’t mean meetings. It means the shared
life of the community.
One of our catchphrases is “ordinary people living ordinary life with
gospel intentionality.” It means doing the chores, having meals,
watching sports, and so on with an intention to talk about Jesus, to
pastor one another with the gospel, and to share that gospel with
unbelievers.
DG: At several points in the book, you mention the value of
hospitality. Do you see this virtue as lacking in the church today, and
is there is an especially significant need for it in the 21st-century
church?
TC: Here’s what I think is the key issue. In the book, we tell
the story of a young man who invited us to do some street preaching
with him. When we said it wasn’t really the way we did things, he
clearly doubted our courage and commitment.
We began to talk instead about a whole life lived in mission and
community, in which we were always looking to build relationships and
always looking to talk about Jesus. By the end of the conversation, he
admitted he wasn’t sure if he was up for that.
He wanted evangelism you could do for two hours on a Saturday afternoon
and then switch off. Tick. Job done for the week. He didn’t want a
missional lifestyle.
I think that’s the issue with hospitality. People want to put church
and evangelism into a slot in the schedule. But we need to be sharing
our lives with others—with shared meals and open homes. That can be
demanding, but it’s also wonderfully enriching.
DG: The book’s double emphasis on both gospel-speaking and
relationship-cultivating is rare. What or who have been some of your
most memorable influences on this “dual fidelity” to gospel and
community?
TC: Our main influence has been The Crowded House
which Steve and I lead together. We began as one household congregation
and have grown into a family of small church planting networks. Some of
our congregations meet in homes; others gather on Sunday in a building
but function as smaller missional communities throughout the week.
Although the book isn’t the story of The Crowded House, it does capture
a lot of what we’ve learned doing mission and community together.
We’re Reformed and evangelical, so many of our key influences are
fairly predictable—the Reformers, the Puritans, and, more recently,
people like John Stott, John Piper, Tim Keller, and the guys from CCEF.
In terms of our understanding of community and mission, the evangelical
Anabaptists have been an important influence, and we’ve also tried to
learn from the experience of missions around the world.
Individual writers include Roland Allen, Robert Banks, and Lesslie Newbigin.
Another important influence has been biblical theology (through people
like Graeme Goldsworthy, Ed Clowney, and Elmer Martins). Biblical
theology is important because people often have a very individualistic
view of the gospel: “It’s all about me and God.” And an individualistic
view of the gospel leads to an individualistic view of mission. But the
Bible is the story of God saving a people, a community, a new humanity.
DG: Can you give us some idea what being gospel-centered and community-centered looks like in practice?
TC: Let’s take evangelism. We encourage one another to build
relationships with people and share the gospel. But we also encourage
one another to introduce people to the Christian community.
That doesn’t necessarily mean inviting them a church meeting. It means
welcoming them into the network of believing relationships by inviting
them to the cinema, to go shopping, to a meal—Christians and
unbelievers together.
Jesus said all men will know we are his disciples by our love for one
another. We want people to see that love—to see the gospel-shaped
relationships of the Christian community.
Or let’s take pastoral care. We often have a very professional
approach to pastoral care—it’s something done by a pastor or a
counselor. But Paul tells the whole Christian community in Ephesus to
speak the truth to one another in love.
The context is the gospel community, and the content is the gospel
word. So we try to create a culture in which we encourage one another
to challenge, comfort, console, exhort, and rebuke one another with the
gospel in the context of ordinary life.
If I’m moaning, someone will challenge me to find joy in Christ. If I’m
anxious, someone will exhort me to trust in my heavenly Father’s care.
If I’m ashamed, someone will comfort me with the grace of God.
It might be another leader; it might be a new Christian. It might be in
a scheduled meeting; it might be as we tend someone’s garden together.
It’s all about ordinary life with gospel intentionality.
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