I have spent my whole life as a part of the Church of Christ. For those unfamiliar with this group, our core belief is that we are trying to follow the example of the church as displayed in the New Testament. An emphasis is putting on calling Bible things by Bible names and trying to match the pattern that we find in the New Testament.

In recent years there has been much debate over how effective we have been at achieving this goal and even if this a goal that should even be attempted. So, to some extent I have I stopped reading CoC members books as they wrangle with one another over the ins and outs and have tried to focus on other things.

But last year a book caught my attention: Pagan Christianity?: Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices by George Barna and Frank Viola. The book examples some of the practices of Christianity that have been “borrowed” from pagan cultures during the early development of the church. Quickly after this book was released a companion to it, Reimagining Church: Pursuing the Dream of Organic Christianity by Frank Viola was released. While I haven’t read it yet, I am certainly looking forward to it. And then today at the Goodwill I found this book: Rethinking the Wineskin: The Practice of the New Testament Church

1. The Purpose of the Church Meeting
2. The Focus of the Church Meeting
3. The Location of the Church
4. The Nature of the Local Church
5. The Leadership of the Local Church: Who Were They?
6. The Leadership of the Local Church: How Did They Lead?
7. The Content of the Local Church
8. The Boundary of the Local Church
9. The Function of the Local Church
10. The Pattern of the Local Church
11. What Shall We Do?

I really can’t wait to see the conclusions that Viola reaches. If I were reading just these titles from a CoC author I would already know many of the outcomes, so it will interesting to see if someone else comes to the same/similar conclusions.

Tags: Books, Church of Christ, Church Practices, Frank Viola, George Barna, Pagan Christianity, Reimagining Church, Rethinking the Wineskin, The New Testament Church