J's Pages

by Ralph R. Covell

For a couple of years now I've signed up for the Harvest Logos bookstore's frequent user club or whatever they call it. Actually, I hope it's not a frequent users club, because I hardly go there as often as I'd like to. However, membership is based on giving them money up front rather than building up equity in your purchases, so I suppose I won't be kicked out. Anyway, one of the perks is that when you sign up or renew your membership, you get to pick a free book or CD off of their remnant shelf. The selection wasn't great, but we found this one, which seemed like it would fit in with our interest in Chinese culture. It was good waiting room material. Informative, too. I have a (bad) tendency to think of foreign countries as homogeneous--that the U.S. is the only country to experience immigration and ethnic minorities. As any good student of history or social studies will tell you, however, that isn't the case at all. This book looks at some of the ethnic minorities in China--specifically their response to Christian missionaries in the past few centuries. It's an interesting mix of cultural history and missionary anecdotes, with a dash of analysis thrown in. It wasn't a life changing tome, at least for me, but it did reinforce my belief that there's no single formula for sharing the Gospel. 

LibraryThing link

Labels: WaitingRoomMaterial

by Rodney E. Zwonitzer

My denomination, the Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod, is in the midst of internal conflict. This time around, the issue is a philosophy called church growth. You see, as Christians, we've been commanded by Jesus to "go and make disciples of all nations." The liberal dudes in the LCMS would measure that by numbers: if your church is increasing in membership, then you are doing the right thing. The conservative dudes, known as confessionals (the liberal side hasn't been assigned a label), would measure the disciple making process by how well the members know and live the Bible's teachings. If that means that some people reject the church and the numbers dwindle, so be it. This book is written by a confessional pastor who also had a first career in marketing. He defines and examines the aspects of the church growth movement. As for myself, I'm sort of on the fence with the whole controversy, so I find it hard to evaluate how well he's done it. I found the book interesting and informative, and it certainly made me more sympathetic to the confessional side. But this controversy, like any real world conflict of values, touches on more than just mere theology. There are also issues of control and tradition which have muddied the central controversy. Rev. Zwonitzer doesn't really deal with these secondary problems, nor does he really address the shortcomings (real or perceived) of the confessional practice. If I were to wrestle more with this, I'd like to read something from the other side. Of course, for me, this is so muddy, I'd just as soon tell both sides to take a hike. Still, the book is a nice, short challenge to the church growth movement. While it wouldn't be of interest to the general public, Missouri Synners and other interested parties should definitely check it out.  

LibraryThing link

Labels: CheckItOut

by John Grisham

Someone--I forget who--had written an online article or blog post that lamented Christians who exclusively read "Christian fiction" by authors like Jerry B. Jenkins yet eschew "secular fiction" written by Christian authors like John Grisham. At least I think it was John Grisham. Maybe it was some other famous scribe. Anyhoo, John Grisham was the name in the back of my mind when I was browsing over at the Bookworm Exchange before catching Spider-Man 2. I didn't buy anything that day. But I did grab this book weeks later at the Poplar Creek Library paperback exchange. (I only took two books, honest. I'm not that greedy.) The Testament is the tale of a rich, um, jerk who writes a will that leaves nothing to his ne'er do well children, ex-wives and sycophants but rather gives the whole shebang to a missionary living in the Amazon basin of Brazil. Half of the story concerns itself with the legal wrangling of the disinherited, the other half involves the efforts of a washed up attorney and recovering addict to find the missionary heir. Like Left Behind, this book is a New York Times bestseller. Like Left Behind, you get people repenting and finding Jesus. Unlike Left Behind, this book is good and left me with a very satisfied feeling. The people were believable, three dimensional characters and I had no problem envisioning the settings Mr. Grisham described. This is definitely a book worth checking out.

LibraryThing link

Labels: CheckItOut, JohnGrisham