Whole life discipleship

John Woods reviews Fruitfulness on the Frontline by Mark Greene.

As a pastor I was very grateful to The London Institute of Contemporary Christianity (LICC) for their emphasis on whole-life worship and whole-life preaching. This book was one of the resources that helped me to think about how to equip church members to reflect on how they can live Christianly on their frontline.

For Mark Greene a frontline is where we are in our lives, a school, a workplace, or our neighbourhood. These are the places where we can be a witness to Christ both by lip and life.

This book has also been a seminal resource at the Latvian Biblical Centre, where I teach regularly on Whole Life Preaching at our School of Preachers and Whole Life Worship at our School of Christianity, Work and Society.

Mark Greene’s genius is being able to communicate in a creative, relatable and readable style. The bulk of the book is based on exploring six Ms:

• Modelling godly character
• Making good work
• Ministering grace and love
• Moulding culture
• Being a Mouthpiece for truth and culture
• Being a Messenger of the gospel.

The book is based on Biblical principles, tells some great true stories of people living out their Christian lives in a variety of contexts, and is full of practical application for how we can live fruitfully for Christ.

I am glad that Mark Greene has refreshed the book and the training resources connected to it. One of the areas in church life that still needs development is equipping members to live as Christians in all the corners of our everyday lives.

He writes: “I’ve updated the cultural references, incorporated fresh insights, added some new stories and addressed the big changes in the way we live and work in our post-Brexit, post-pandemic society.”

This is a helpful reminder that even excellent ideas and resources need to be adapted to equip readers to be nimble in their responses to the rapidly changing circumstances that all Christians face in their everyday lives.

FRUITFULNESS ON THE FRONTLINE: Make a difference where you are (Updated 10th Anniversary Edition)
By Mark Greene
IVP. 164 pages. £11.99
ISBN 978 1 789 745 634