[easyazon-image align=”left” asin=”0801039584″ locale=”us” height=”160″ src=”http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/519XacPe55L._SL160_.jpg” width=”107″]Page 2: Eddie Gibbs – The Rebirth of the Church [Feature Review]
The book is broken up into two parts. Part One compares our current, post-Christendom context to that of the first century, highlighting similarities and differences. Part Two, which comprises the rest (and bulk) of the book, walks through seven different subjects centering on the life of the church in a post-Christian environment, demonstrating how Paul’s ministry both reveals our own flaws and offers us principles that provide hope and direction for an uncertain future. The book takes an inductive approach, touching on a number of issues as they come up in the Pauline writings. It is a bit of a patchwork of biblical texts, commentary, and applicational principles for the church today. At times this can make it easy to become bogged down and lose the forest for the trees. There are places where some of the information that Gibbs includes feels unnecessary. At the same time, patience with Gibbs will reap its rewards. It is clear that he knows his subject matter well, and he is adept at touching on theological issues without being divisive, speaking to believers from different traditions without diluting his message.
Two themes are worth singling out. First is the focus on first-century cities and house churches as compared to modern cities and churches. Gibbs makes clear our deficit here, describing how modern industrial society has greatly harmed the traditional concept of neighborhood and thus the genuine community that accompanied it. This has led to fragmentation within society and within individuals. Contrast this with first-century contexts, where cities were tighter-knit and much more conducive to community. The earliest churches were birthed in households, which often included extended family, friends, and coworkers, thus easily nurturing intimacy, accountability, community, and genuine discipleship. Thus, a pressing priority of the church in a post-Christian society should be to discern ways to build and foster this kind of local community, so that the church can function more as an organic body instead of another buffet option for consumers.
A second priority that Gibbs emphasizes is the need for apostolic leadership coupled with activated local communities that make use of all the spiritual gifts in the fivefold ministry found in Ephesians 4—apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. The Christendom model of church has lent itself to a top-down leadership structure with a lead pastor-teacher essentially running the organization. But Gibbs shows that this does not reflect early church models, where we find local communities that fully participate in the ministry with local leadership, who lead as loving servants, all of which is catalyzed by itinerant apostles with pastors’ hearts. Gibbs’s work provides reason to rethink church structure at a fundamental level.
In the end, the book’s takeaway is challenging and requires courage. The cultural landscape has changed dramatically, even in the past decade, with all signs seemingly pointing to the numbering of days for the Christendom model of church, no matter how much it is tweaked, updated, and re-branded. Because of this, the sooner long-held but misguided ideas are uprooted the better. “We have taken the passive, consumer model of church for granted for far too long. This model of church is not one that can be built upon. It has to be dismantled, and the church brought into line with the New Testament norm of faith communities composed of disciples engaged in mutual ministry” (230). Fortunately, as painful as this may be, there is the promise of genuine fruit and new life on the other side. While Eddie Gibbs’s The Rebirth of the Church does not come with a blueprint and will probably not be as specific as some would like, it still delivers a lot of wisdom for serious consideration, along with sound principles for moving forward.
C. Christopher Smith is the founding editor of The Englewood Review of Books. He is also author of a number of books, including most recently How the Body of Christ Talks: Recovering the Practice of Conversation in the Church (Brazos Press, 2019). Connect with him online at: C-Christopher-Smith.com
 Reading for the Common Good From ERB Editor Christopher Smith "This book will inspire, motivate and challenge anyone who cares a whit about the written word, the world of ideas, the shape of our communities and the life of the church." -Karen Swallow Prior Enter your email below to sign up for our weekly newsletter & download your FREE copy of this ebook! |
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