Gathered Together
Gathered Together
Gathered Together: The beauty of living as God's church
Sunday: time for church.
Do you feel eager anticipation? Or has life or weariness turned church into a dutiful habit?
Either way, it’s useful to pause and ask:
- What is church, and what’s it for?
- Why do we go?
- What does God expect us to do when we’re together?
- What gifts does God give to his church, and why?
- How does our time together influence our time apart?
Long-time pastor and theologian Karl Deenick has thought deeply about these questions and has years of experience in living out the answers. In Gathered Together, Karl helps us to reflect on our relationship with church.
This book is clear, biblical, honest, timely and wise. It’s essential reading for everyone who wants to enjoy being part of God’s people, God’s way.Our church picked this book for our "10 weeks of reading" group that reads a book each term. I had to consider changing the name to "5 days of reading" because of the sheer number of people who couldn't put this book down!
Karl gives a wonderful vision of what God's church is, both gathered, scattered, visible and invisible. He also challenges his readers to have a better vision for the church. Karl says at the beginning of the book: "We rightly have high hopes for our churches. But the tragedy is that often our hopes are far more mundane than the ones presented in the Bible. Often we hope for lesser things: good music, a short meeting, slick leading, good creche facilities or a great children's programme... When our hearts are fired by God's vision of hte church in the New Testament, our hopes are lifted to much greater things. "
