Blog book club
Frank Viola, who recently wrote From Eternity to Here, sent out an interesting idea to his readers. Basically, he asked us to read his book and either review it or ask him questions about it. Then, he asked us to all post about it on the same day, and list each other's blogs. Thus, it would create more exposure for his book and more exposure for our blogs...genius!
So I signed up. From Eternity to Here is a very good book that really captures God's eternal purpose (something written about far too rarely, in my opinion). Viola speaks of God's desire for a bride, a body, a house, and a family. Each of these captures an aspect of who God is.
I am very fortunate in that we (this group of freaks living in Waco) have had teaching about God's eternal purpose for literally more than a decade. One of the older brothers in our church, Jeff, is gifted and called to share this gospel. Therefore, From Eternity to Heredid not share a lot that was new for me, but I think it's vital for a book to capture this, and I'm excited about others seeing God's purpose in new light.
Below are the two questions I sent to Frank Viola and his responses. You can then see all the other blogs participating in this Blog Book Club.
1. After expounding upon God's eternal purpose, you write that, "The Lord wants a people who embody the bride, the house, the body, and the family in every city on this planet." Does this mean that you believe the local church should be no smaller than a city? Do all these "churches" that we find in a single city really make up one local church, or are they local churches within themselves?
I address this in detail in my book Reimagining Church. The first-century “city” was far smaller than today’s cities. Most cities in the first-century where churches existed were between 1 and 3 square miles. Not the case in today’s large cities. Each city today, I believe, should have at least one church that is standing for God’s eternal purpose. But the more the better. The fact is, few churches today stand for the eternal purpose of God let alone know what it is. I believe that’s beginning to change, thankfully.
2. Frank, I love what you say about the church's role in Commission, and I wish you would write a book on this topic by itself. On the one hand, you break down Revivalist theology (the belief that people have two purposes: 1) to get saved and 2) to save others). You also point out there are only two occasions in the New Testament where Christians who were not apostles preached the gospel to the lost...and you question whether any verse written by Paul, Peter, John, James, or Jude calls for Christians to preach the gospel to the lost. Yet you also do a great job talking about the church's role in this Commission. You write, "As the body of Christ, the church not only cares for its own, but it also cares for the world that surrounds it." You describe how this looked in the New Testament age, but can you describe how you have seen this look in churches today...especially churches that you believe are in tune with God's eternal purpose?
Yes. Let me reiterate, you cannot find any apostle in the New Testament commanding God’s people to preach the gospel. Read the epistles; it’s just not there. Not even a hint of it. But the gospel did spread. It was mostly by the lives of the Christians together and how they revealed Christ by taking care of one another, loving one another, having joy, and taking care of the downtrodden who were not Christians – those that everyone else abandoned. Their corporate testimony is what caused the Roman cities in the first century to be startled. They’d never seen anything like it before. I discuss this detail in my book The Untold Story of the New Testament Church. You’ve got to understand first century culture to appreciate how the Christians lived and the power of their testimony in that day.
As for today, it happens the same way I believe that it happened Century One. When a group of Christians are intoxicated with Jesus Christ and God’s eternal purpose in Him, they begin learning how to live by Christ together. It’s not a matter of them working for God; but of God working through them. Thus the sharing of the Lord to the lost in both testimony, life, and speaking, happens naturally, organically, not out of command, obligation, duty, or any other thing. It’s one of the most natural things a person can witness. I talked about this some in my talk at George Fox Seminary recently, discussing where we got our modern evangelistic mindset from as well.
OTHER BLOGS PARTICIPATING IN THE “FROM ETERNITY TO HERE” BLOG CIRCUIT
Today (June 9th), the following blogs are discussing Frank Viola’s new bestselling book “From Eternity to Here” (David C. Cook, 2009). The book just hit the May CBA Bestseller List. Some are posting Q & A with Frank; others are posting full reviews of the book. To read more reviews and order a copy at a 33% discount, go to Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Eternity-Here-Rediscovering-Ageless-Purpose/dp/1434768708/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233609867&sr=1-4
For more resources, such as downloadable audios, the free Discussion Guide, the Facebook Group page, etc. go to the official website: http://www.FromEternitytoHere.org
Enjoy the reviews and the Q and A:
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Out of Ur - http://blog.christianitytoday.com/outofur/archives/2009/05/viola.html
Shapevine – www.Shapevine.com (June newsletter)
Brian Eberly - http://www.brianeberly.com
DashHouse.com - http://www.DashHouse.com/
Greg Boyd - http://www.gregboyd.org/blog/
Vision Advance - http://vision2advance.blogspot.com/
David Flowers - http://ddflowers.wordpress.com
Kingdom Grace - http://kingdomgrace.wordpress.com
Captain's Blog - http://www.captainestes.blogspot.com/
Christine Sine - http://godspace.wordpress.com
Darin Hufford - The Free Believers Network - www.freebelievers.com
Zoecarnate - http://zoecarnate.wordpress.com
Church Planting Novice - www.churchplantingnovice.wordpress.com
Staying Focused - http://kimmartinezstayingfocused.wordpress.com/
Take Your Vitamin Z - www.takeyourvitaminz.blogspot.com
Jeff Goins - http://jeffgoins.myadventures.org
Bunny Trails - http://bunny-trails.blogspot.com
Matt Cleaver - http://mattcleaver.com
Jason T. Berggren - http://blog.jasonberggren.com/
Simple Church - http://www.simplechurchjournal.com/
Emerging from Montana - http://wordofmouthministries.blogspot.com/
Parable Life - http://www.theparablelife.blogspot.com
Oikos Australia - http://www.oikos.org.au/blog/
West Coast Witness - www.WestCoastWitness.com
Keith Giles - http://www.Keith.Giles.com
Consuming Worship — http://www.consumingworship.org
Tasha Via - www.tashavia.blogspot.com
Andrew Courtright - www.andrewcourtright.blogspot.com
ShowMeTheMooneys! – http://www.showmethemooneys.com/
Leaving Salem, Blog of Ronnie McBrayer - http://leavingsalem.wordpress.com/
Jason Coker - pastoralia.missionaltribe.org
From Knowledge to Wisdom - http://isthistheway.typepad.com/
Home Brewed Christianity - http://www.homebrewedchristianity.com
Dispossessed - http://kblog.kevinjbowman.com
Dandelion Seeds - http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Dandelionseeds
David Brodsky's Blog- "Flip the tape Deck" - http://flipthetapedeck.blogspot.com/
Chaordic Journey - http://jeffrhodes.wordpress.com
Renee Martin - http://www.reneemartinmusic.com/profiles/blog/list
Bob Kuhn - http://organicchurchnola.wordpress.com/
Living with Freaks: www.livingwithfreaks.com
Real Worship - http://therealworshipleader.com
Fervent Worship - http://ferventworship.blogspot.com
Julie Ferwerda Blog - www.JulieFerwerda.com / www.OneMillionArrows.com
What's With Christina?! - http://w2christina.blogspot.com
Irreligious Canuck - http://www.irreligiouscanuck.com
This day on the journey - http://guychmieleski.blogspot.com
Live and Move: Thoughts on Authentic Christianity - http://liveandmove.blogspot.com/
Spiritual Journey With God - http://www.elvineve.blogspot.com/
Dries Conje - http://www.echurch.co.za / http://www.thejesusfeed.com / http://www.bookdisciple.com.
Journey with Others - http://journeywithothers.blogspot.com
On Now to the Third Level - www.080808onnowto.blogspot.com
Christine Moers - www.welcometomybrain.net
Breaking Point - http://marybethstockdale.wordpress.com
Hand to the Plough - http://www.handtotheplough.com.au
Jon Reid - http://jonreid.blogs.com/oneanother/welcome-pilgrim.html
Weblight - www.blog.worldwidewebservices.se
D. L. Webster - http://gzmproductions.com/dlwebster
Searching for the Whole-Hearted Life - wholeheartedlife.blogspot.com
Reader Comments (4)
Great discussion! I find re-reading the NT in its narrative context removes a lot of those sacred cows that we once thought obligatory, like 'evangelism.' Lately I've been devouring the works of Andrew Perriman, who (similarly to NT Wright) contextualizes the NT, showing its near-term eschatological orientation in a lot of phrases & ideas we (mis)interpret as involving evangelism, the state of individual, eternal souls, and heaven & hell. Perriman is a top-notch biblical scholar, and his Re:Mission and The Coming of the Son of Man are changing my life - much like the writings of Frankie V. :)
Another recommendation, if I'm allowed: my friend Kevin Beck's punchy tome, This Book Will Change Your World. It's free!
Does HTML not work here? Ah, I didn't format it right....
http://www.andrewperriman.com
http://thisbookwillchangeyourworld.com
freaky,but sometimes you need it too,try to go with them and listen maybe you can get some lessons...god bless...
Various people in the world take the mortgage loans from different creditors, because that's simple and comfortable.