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The Provocative ChurchEvangelismTHE PROVOCATIVE CHURCH I found this a very difficult book to review. It has many good points: it's about evangelism, which is good. It takes seriously 1 Peter 3.15 ('Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason...'), which is even better; proper Christian living should be so provocative that people ask us to explain. That's Peter's point, and it's Tomlin's, too ù a point that's usually missed by books on evangelism. Churches should be places where people are being transformed in such a way that it's obvious to all: 'One of the key themes of this book is that unless there is something about church, or Christians, or Christian faith that intrigues, provokes or entices, than all the evangelism in the world will fall on deaf ears' (p. 10). And there are some very good stories and quotes; I particularly liked the 'Robin Hood' analogy (p. 28). But there are niggles, too; he tells one story of a High Anglican church complete with vestments and Day-Glo trainers that communicated a sense of reality; neither the trainers nor even the vestments worry me - but have evangelicals now reached the point where 'bells and smells' services are a good thing? He speaks of people leaving churches 'not out of lack of attention to the Spirit' but who 'continue the journey of faith... elsewhere.' Really? Or how about this: 'It's still argued about today, but there is a good deal of evidence to suggest that... Jesus... did envisage small communities of people committed to living out his vision of the kingdom...' Is the author really not sure that Jesus envisaged the church? Or is this just how scholars speak (I wouldn't know!)? Conclusion: it's a good book for church leaders to read if they think their church is stuck in a rut; but I wouldn't give it out more widely than that. Gary Benfold, Bournemouth© Evangelicals Now - November 2002 |