Everyday Church: Gospel Communities on Mission Paperback – September 30, 2012

Bought this book 3-4 years ago for a community church bible studyLlbve the contact and contend of bookI still keep this book on hand and come back to it for studies

Every Day Church is a practical and challenging call to live out the Gospel in Community. Chester and Timmis use the book of 1 Peter as their plot line for this book.The Chapters include; Life at the Margins (1:1-12), Everyday Community (1:13-2:8), Everyday Pastoral Care (1:22-2:3), Everyday Mission (2:9-3:16), Everyday Evangelism (3:15-16), Hope at the Margins (3:8-5:14).Chester & Timmis argue that 21st century Christianity is similar to 1st century Christianity in that we are at odds with the prevailing culture, we are strangers to the ways of the world and if we really live out the high calling of Jesus we will most likely face questions as to what we are doing (and why?) as well as persecution.As the authors argue, we cannot be content with programs, buildings and a "build it and they will come" attitude. More and more Americans are growing up with no biblical literacy and no understanding of the Jesus of the Bible. We must go out to them and meet them where they are.Living the Gospel for Chester and Timmis seems to boil down to properly understanding the Gospel and its implications for everyday living and the uber important concept of Christian community.While this book may be considered part of the missional church/church planting spectrum I would argue that Chester and Timmis go beyond that. Yes, they give biblical understanding to those ideas but they do so much more and that is why I heartily recommend the book.As I was reading last night, I realized this is a commentary on 1 Peter (I need to re-file where it is in my library!). However, by about half to three quarters of the way through the book I had to stop again and say - wait this is Biblical Counseling. Yes the book is a top read because it combines exegesis, commentary and application of 1 Peter with real Biblical Counseling in addition to being a manual on community, discipleship and church planting.The Chapter "Everyday Pastoral Care" is worth the price of the book (as are several other chapters!). In this chapter five principles of community-based, gospel-centered, mutual pastoral care are explained.1. We pastor one another in everyday life2. We pastor one another in community3. We pastor one another over a lifetime4. We pastor one another with grace5. We pastor one another with good newsThe beauty of this chapter is the challenge, not to dispense with 'the Pastor' but to realize that we are all called to 'pastor' each other, to be a regular part of each others lives - challenging and equipping one another in love (deep love).Additionally, four liberating truths are presented (these alone are food for life). Because we tend to regularly exchange the truth of God for a lie (Romans 1:24-25) we must be constantly reminded that;1. God is great, so we do not have to be in control.2. God is glorious, so we do not have to fear others.3. God is good, so we do not have to look elsewhere.4. God is gracious, so we do not have to prove ourselves.The following indicators of our tendency to violate these principles are outlined in a separate blog post.[...]The Chapter on Everyday Mission challenges us to get out into the world and interact with our neighbors and make new relationships. Go for a walk and talk to someone, invite people over for dinner (not just your Christian friends).Ten questions are provided to help us evaluate ourselves in this area.The Chapter Everyday Evangelism provides a very helpful and much needed method of re-thinking our approach to bringing people to Christ. For people who have no understanding of the degree to which they are separated from God, but do recognize the struggles in life, Chester and Timmis provide a framework based on Creation (My Identity), Fall (My problem), Redemption (My solution), Consumation (My hope) in which they provide examples to re-orient our thinking to better understand what is really going on under the surface of peoples lives (and our own) as we cry out in frustration, usually demonstrating false views of Creation, Fall, Redemption and Consummation.This paradigm is then connected with the Liberating Truths prevented early, demonstrating the wholeness and Gospel contentedness of this approach and the book in general.If we want to see a movement of God in America in the 21st century then we must get back to basics - genuine understanding of the Gospel and its implications for how we live life, daily community where we help each other grow in Christ, public not private demonstrations of Christianity, all driven by a deep love - first for Christ and then for others.Great book! Read it and then Practice it!

I believe with all my heart, in the idea of everyday church. The book started out great. Once it became a how to approach, I lost interest. Some would look for this. For my peculiar kind of perspective, this limits rather than stirs my imagination. I am glad that I read it.

The church in the west is terribly flawed and it shows in so many ways. Consumerism, rugged individualism and privacy have all crept their way from the world into the church. It's sad and not the way God meant it to be.This book is a follow up to Total Church, but it is not necessary to read Total Church first. I probably would read it first if you plan to read both. They cover similar matierial from different angles.I wholeheartedly agree with the over glowing reviews here and don't feel the need to restate it all, but I would say the highlight of the book for me was the chapter on evangelism and how the authors positioned people's story in contrast to God's story in the Creation/Fall/Redemption/Consummation model. It really is a brilliant way to interpret people who you meet and I need to do it more. I have used the approach not only evangelistically but also in the counseling I do.If you are interested enough in the book to be reading this review then you ought to buy it and read it. If you get hooked like I did you will be done in a week and it could change your whole philosophy of ministry in practical, everyday ways.

Read this one! I think it is better than "Life Together"! The book does a great job putting aside pre-conceptions about "ailing churches" and calls the church to obedience around God, in both the holy and the mundane. I found it both profoundly convicting and also comforting and wholesome.

This book had a lot of good diagnoses of the problem of living on the margins of society, but not sure all the solutions were as well thought out for those that don't do church the way the author's churches do things. The central fix is "gospel communities on mission" with a large downplay on the Sunday morning meeting. It has a strong emphasis on close community and "doing life" together, and engaging in mission together in very doable and practical ways, but it doesn't seem to have room for traditional, liturgical, steady-state, sacramental churches that take the Sunday morning worship service very seriously. This book had a lot of good, but I just don't know how to apply it to my current context. I'd love to have closer community and more mission engagement with my neighborhood like this book suggests, but I am not sure how to make that happen. I liked this book. I just wish our particular tradition had more of a heartbeat for these things, and the liturgy. A good blend of these things is hard to do.

Is our mission the Gospel or is the Gospel our mission? No matter how one asks it, this question must be answered in our church today. Everyday Church opens up our hearts and minds to better understand the truth to that question. I now look at Sunday gatherings in a new way. Are we just playing Church or are we truly living out the Gospel? The answers to these questions are paramount if we truly want to seek Gods Glory. Everyday Church challenges us to rethink how we do "church " and inspires us to live our lives in a manner worthy of the calling.

Such a great book. Heavy going at some points but an excellent book if you really want to learn.

Wrestling with incarnational practice? Or missional theology? Tim and Steve address the struggle in relatable ways and then give us some tools to help think through context based solutions. This is not a 'how-to' book by any means, but a practical, real encouragement to get to know your neighbourhood and love them for Jesus.