Books to Read

    Books to Read    >    The Church

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Ancient-Future Faith
by Robert Webber
Makes the case that the "road to the future runs through the past" by showing the similarities between our current postmodern world and the ancient world. Provides many helpful charts that show the way history has been changing from ancient to medieval to reformation to modern to postmodern, the last of which is claimed to be basically a return to the ancient. Webber suggests that the church needs to move beyond its modernistic mindset in order to engage the postmodern world.

 
Antagonists in the Church
by Kenneth C. Haugk
Sobering and illuminating look at the way antagonistic individuals can wreak havoc in a local church body. This is an excellent resource to help a church get ready to recognize and respond to troubled people who can destroy a church.

 
The Church
by Richard D. Phillips, Philip G. Ryen, and Mark E. Dever
This is a helpful, quick, biblical and easy-to-read overview of the nature of the church from a Reformed perspective. This is needed in an age when individual spiritual development has sometimes taken precedent over a strong theology of the body of Christ.

 
The Church of Irresistible Influence
by Robert Lewis
Makes the case that churches should avoid the temptation to build their own fortresses, and instead build bridges to their communities through service and mercy. Relies on Lewis' own experience with his church in Little Rock, Ark. New Life's outreach strategy has been influenced by this and The Provocative Church.

Confessions of a Reformission Rev.: Hard Lessons From an Emerging Missional Church
by Mark Driscoll

Driscoll is pastor of the innovative and fast-growing Mars Hill church in Seattle. The church is considered an emerging church, but Driscoll has parted ways with other leaders of the movement because of theological differences. Driscoll holds strongly to reformed theology while also managing to be relevant and appealing in one of the most unchurched areas of the country. This book is the story of how his church started and grew to several thousand people.

 
The Glorious Body of Christ
by R.B. Kuiper
Examines the different characteristics of the church of Jesus Christ, in short but meaty chapters. Extremely helpful for those whose understanding of the church is somewhat shallow.

The Lost Soul of American Protestantism

by D.G. Hart

"Confessional Protestantism" is not a category to which many American Christians would claim to belong. The problem is not so much that confessionalism is rejected, as it is that many Christians don’t even know it’s an option. Protestantism has been divided between “public-minded liberal churches on the left” and “convert-seeking evangelical denominations on the right.”  Confessional Protestantism is an option. It stresses, in contrast to emotionalism and pietism, that “the church, its creed, order and liturgy” are the “chief vehicles by which believers are sustained in this world for life in the next . . .” 

 
Ministries of Mercy
by Tim Keller
Presents a strong case that mercy ministries are not merely an option for churches, but should rather be considered an essential element of their calling.

On Being Presbyterian: Our Beliefs, Practices and Stories

by Sean Michael Lucas

Finally, a concise overview of what it means to be Presbyterian. This is a very helpful and direct summary of the beliefs, practices and history of Presbyterianism. Unfortunately, the word "Presbyterian" can immediately bring to mind the word "liberal" in many people's minds, but Lucas presents this overview from an orthodox, evangelical and Reformed perspective. This would be an excellent resource for new member classes in PCA churches.

 
The Provocative Church
by Graham Tomlin
Relies on theology of God's kingdom to make the point that churches can reach the lost by making their churches provocative through kingdom-inspired acts of service. New Life's outreach strategy has been influenced by this and The Church of Irresistible Influence.

 
Under the Influence
by Alvin J. Schmidt
Anyone who thinks the Christian religion has brought to society more harm than good needs to read this book. Schmidt details how the church of Jesus Christ has profoundly influenced our approach to hospitals and health care, education and economics, science, justice, art, music, literature and the dignity afforded to women. What a sad world this would be without the church.