Book Review: The Externally Focused Church
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Authors: Rick Rusaw and Eric Swanson
"If we were to examine church calendars and budgets, we could determine fairly quickly what really matters most to our churches today. Is it what mattered most to Jesus?" - from The Externally Focused Church
The main idea of the book is that many churches are too inwardly focused, and that a change to an external focus is needed. Inward focused churches are those that measure success by attendance and activities in the church. They might offer great teaching and worship, things that are necessary but are not sufficient for a healthy church. Such churches are often excellent at telling the gospel message, but not at showing it.
In contrast, externally focused churches value impact and influence in the community more than attendance, and they would be missed by the community if they left. They focus on deploying people into the community where they can be salt, light, and leaven. Such churches build bridges to the community around them instead of walling themselves off. These churches seek to promote the welfare of the cities the find themselves in; based on the example of the command to the Israelites to seek the good of the pagan cities they were a part of during the exile. (Jeremiah 29:7)
The book talks a lot about service, which viewed as an essential aspect for an effective church. Service is basically expressed in the "good deeds" verses in the Bible (taking care of windows and orphans, visiting prisoners, seeking justice for the oppressed, etc). Externally focused churches often partner with community charities, schools, and other organizations to better serve people. Inwardly focused churches miss out on this, opting for a "serve us" mentality instead of a service mentality wherein people are only concerned what they can get out of church themselves.
Jesus seems to have had a special love for those people on the margins of society, and therefore externally focused churches do as well. These groups are often the people we can most serve. Specific groups identified in the book: the poor, children, the aged, widows and single parents, orphans, prisoners, the sick and disabled, and immigrants.
The book talks about three spheres: want God commands and desires, what they church can provide, and want the community around us want. Service is one thing that is in all three spheres, and thus is an irreplaceable means of reaching our community. Service does not preclude presenting the gospel message; in fact, it makes it possible. This is because the church no longer occupies the privileged position it used to, and as a result of being inwardly focused has forfeited it's right to be heard in the eyes of the non-Christian population. Service is then seen as the way the church can earn it's right to be heard.
A popular idea in some circles recently has been the idea of "incarnational" approached to service and evangelism, which basically consist of the idea that of being Jesus to other people. The book notes that that isn't quite right. In the passage on the sheep and the goats Jesus said that when we serve others, we serve him. In effect, those we serve are in a way Jesus to us.
Externally focused churches seek to move beyond this type of "mercy" service to also include justice (see amongst others Micah 6:8 and Isaiah 58:6). Seeking justice means addressing the issues that created the need for mercy in the first place. For example, in addition to feeding the homeless, externally focused churches also try to fix the problems that have caused so much homelessness.
Unfortunately, many of the examples of actually implementation of these ideas in the book were done by large churches and often would not be practical for smaller churches to do. One example a found interesting was a church that implemented the "5+5" tithing strategy. They asked their members to give half their tithe to local charitable organizations. They also encouraged their members to spend time volunteering with those organizations to which they had donated money.
The book ends with two appendixes that quote a lot of scripture verses. The first is "Revealing God's Heart for the Poor, the Needy, Widows, Orphans, and Aliens," and the second is "Concerning Good Works and Good Deeds"
I found The Externally Focused Church to be a very interesting book, although I think it dragged a bit towards the end. I think many of the ideas in this book are in dire need of being implemented in American churches today.
Technorati tags: The Externally Focused Church Rick Rusaw Eric Swanson Church Spirituality
Authors: Rick Rusaw and Eric Swanson
"If we were to examine church calendars and budgets, we could determine fairly quickly what really matters most to our churches today. Is it what mattered most to Jesus?" - from The Externally Focused Church
The main idea of the book is that many churches are too inwardly focused, and that a change to an external focus is needed. Inward focused churches are those that measure success by attendance and activities in the church. They might offer great teaching and worship, things that are necessary but are not sufficient for a healthy church. Such churches are often excellent at telling the gospel message, but not at showing it.
In contrast, externally focused churches value impact and influence in the community more than attendance, and they would be missed by the community if they left. They focus on deploying people into the community where they can be salt, light, and leaven. Such churches build bridges to the community around them instead of walling themselves off. These churches seek to promote the welfare of the cities the find themselves in; based on the example of the command to the Israelites to seek the good of the pagan cities they were a part of during the exile. (Jeremiah 29:7)
The book talks a lot about service, which viewed as an essential aspect for an effective church. Service is basically expressed in the "good deeds" verses in the Bible (taking care of windows and orphans, visiting prisoners, seeking justice for the oppressed, etc). Externally focused churches often partner with community charities, schools, and other organizations to better serve people. Inwardly focused churches miss out on this, opting for a "serve us" mentality instead of a service mentality wherein people are only concerned what they can get out of church themselves.
Jesus seems to have had a special love for those people on the margins of society, and therefore externally focused churches do as well. These groups are often the people we can most serve. Specific groups identified in the book: the poor, children, the aged, widows and single parents, orphans, prisoners, the sick and disabled, and immigrants.
The book talks about three spheres: want God commands and desires, what they church can provide, and want the community around us want. Service is one thing that is in all three spheres, and thus is an irreplaceable means of reaching our community. Service does not preclude presenting the gospel message; in fact, it makes it possible. This is because the church no longer occupies the privileged position it used to, and as a result of being inwardly focused has forfeited it's right to be heard in the eyes of the non-Christian population. Service is then seen as the way the church can earn it's right to be heard.
A popular idea in some circles recently has been the idea of "incarnational" approached to service and evangelism, which basically consist of the idea that of being Jesus to other people. The book notes that that isn't quite right. In the passage on the sheep and the goats Jesus said that when we serve others, we serve him. In effect, those we serve are in a way Jesus to us.
Externally focused churches seek to move beyond this type of "mercy" service to also include justice (see amongst others Micah 6:8 and Isaiah 58:6). Seeking justice means addressing the issues that created the need for mercy in the first place. For example, in addition to feeding the homeless, externally focused churches also try to fix the problems that have caused so much homelessness.
Unfortunately, many of the examples of actually implementation of these ideas in the book were done by large churches and often would not be practical for smaller churches to do. One example a found interesting was a church that implemented the "5+5" tithing strategy. They asked their members to give half their tithe to local charitable organizations. They also encouraged their members to spend time volunteering with those organizations to which they had donated money.
The book ends with two appendixes that quote a lot of scripture verses. The first is "Revealing God's Heart for the Poor, the Needy, Widows, Orphans, and Aliens," and the second is "Concerning Good Works and Good Deeds"
I found The Externally Focused Church to be a very interesting book, although I think it dragged a bit towards the end. I think many of the ideas in this book are in dire need of being implemented in American churches today.
Technorati tags: The Externally Focused Church Rick Rusaw Eric Swanson Church Spirituality
posted by Freethinker at 8:35:00 PM
1 Comments:
Sounds like a book worthy of some consideration. The definition of "incarnational" seems rather incomplete from the uses I've seen, but maybe I can skim the book (so I can get it back to you more quickly this time.)
So what do you see as your part in making this kind of stuff happen around you?
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