Your Church Is Too Safe: Why Following Christ Turns the World Upside-Down - Hardcover

Buchanan, Mark

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0310331234 ISBN 13: 9780310331230

Publisher: Zondervan, 2012

Synopsis

“These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also.” – Acts 17:6 That was the startled cry, circa 50 AD, from a hastily assembled mob in Thessalonica. Paul and Silas had been arrested for preaching the gospel. They were viewed as revolutionaries, dangerous men who were upsetting the status quo and inciting riots. But they were just two ordinary men, walking in the power of God, sharing a simple message of his love and grace. It’s been a while since we’ve seen the likes of this. If you ever find church boring or you believe something is missing from our churches today, you aren’t alone. Mark Buchanan believes there is a visible gap between the life Jesus offered to us and the life we’re living, between the church Jesus envisioned and the church we see today. When Jesus announced that the Kingdom was at hand, this can’t be what he meant. Instead of counting everything loss to be found in Christ, we’ve made it our priority to be safe instead of dangerous, nice instead of holy. Author and pastor Mark Buchanan believes that we need to recover a simple idea: that God meant his church to be both good news and bad news, an aroma and a stench – a disruptive force to whoever or whatever opposes the Kingdom of God and a healing, liberating power to those who seek it.

About this title

About the Author

Mark Buchanan is a pastor, award-winning author, and father of three who lives with his wife, Cheryl, on the West Coast of Canada. Educated at the University of British Columbia and Regent College, his work has been published in numerous periodicals, including Christianity Today, Books and Culture, Leadership Journal, and Discipleship Magazine. He is the author of six books: Your God Is Too Safe, Things Unseen, The Holy Wild, The Rest of God, Hidden in Plain Sight, and Spiritual Rhythm.

Review

“Don’t read this book without preparing to be disturbed in all the right ways. If you love the local church, like so many of us do, you know there are days when you want to shout with joy, exhilarated by its beauty and power. And there are many other days when you wonder why God would ever choose the likes of us to usher in his kingdom because of how petty, divisive, shortsighted, judgmental, mediocre, and apathetic we can be. Mark Buchanan calls us out of our safe zones of comfort to a vision that is transformational---and somewhat terrifying. It’s the only kind of church that can change the world. So dig in, wrestle with these biblical truths, and commit yourself to building a community that is anything but safe.” -- Nancy Beach, , author of Gifted to Lead: The Art of Leading as a Woman in the Church

Edition details

• Publisher: Zondervan
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0310331234
• ISBN 13: 9780310331230
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 240