Book Review
John Bishop
Dangerous Church: Risking Everything to Reach Everyone
Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011, Pp. 198. Paperback. $18.99 ISBN: 9780310318323
Paul A. Nierengarten, MA
As always, thanks to Zondervan for the review copy. They have been such a blessing to the church body with the valuable resources they continue to provide. However, please know I am under no obligation for a positive review. (Some of my reviews should demonstrate this!)
From the first phrases of the book it is easy to see John Bishop’s passion for doing church in a way that wins souls. It is not about adding numbers to a church. It is about adding souls to the kingdom of God. He begins with several good questions:
Why are you doing church?
If your church ceased to exist, would anyone notice?
Will you lose to win?
Who is building the church?
As Bishop explains the questions, I grabbed some nuggets that really spoke to me. When speaking about how church leaders have been given a “sacred trust by Jesus”, Bishop says, “You are called first to know him and then to go for him” (15). Reaching people with the love of Christ is essential. It is not love as the world knows love. It is a genuine love for God that pours into the lives of others that they too might come to know him. Unlike some other books in the popular eye at the moment, I respect how that Bishop is unafraid to deal with the realities of heaven and hell. In fact, the idea that some are lost and could remain lost motivates Bishop to go out and save that which is lost so that they too can know the love of God through Christ Jesus.
Another great comment that resonated with me was when Bishop said, “Emerging generations just aren’t interested in another program. They want honesty..to engage with the truth…and to accept or reject it” (17). They just want to hear the truth and they’ll decide what they want to do with it. When coupled with a passion to share the good news of Jesus Christ we become dangerous to our enemy’s agenda. By dying to our own agendas, it is then that “we really win” (19). It costs something to follow Christ and make disciples. Jesus “requires us to make a radical commitment to the truth…even when it is challenged or discouraged” (19).
As Bishop shares the early days of his church start-up, it is the real deal. There were no church planting classes or big ministry network support. They simply went out and shared their testimonies and introduced people to the gospel. What they were convinced of was that “lost people mattered to God” (30). Their imperfections were not a problem. God used them nonetheless to reach people.
John Bishop talks about how the early church did church, which is a popular topic these days. I really enjoy that Bishop notices and takes focus on the proclamation of the gospel. Sure, the early church was communal, but that community cannot exist apart from the message of Christ. It is the gospel that saves. As Bishop shows, it is from this heart that the ability to live out true community then comes (33).
Bishop shares a humorous story about losing his luggage as a way to illustrate that lost people matter. It’s not about the luggage, but about its contents. Even as it becomes tattered and torn, what was lost is valuable. This reminds me of imago dei and how each of us is made in God’s image. We are valuable to him. Others are valuable to him. A dangerous church seeks to allow God to use them to reach his lost.
An startling statistic Bishop shares is that “America has more un-churched people than the entire populations of all buy 11 of the worl’d 194 nations (39). The mission field is in our back yards. Bishop presents excellent fodder for motivating and challenging us to ”rely on the power that God has provided…to move forward” (46). Old patterns can get us stuck and dysfunctional. When we recognize them it is time to refocus and do something dangerously different.
Jesus said that whoever will give up their life for his sake, will end up saving their life (Mat 16:25). To this, Bishops gives several costs they’ve had to pay along the way:
People
Money
Time
Reputation
Jesus didn’t come to “reach the already reached” or to build a “social club” (52). He didn’t come to make things comfortable. He called us to follow him no matter the cost.
Plans are good, but allowing God to freely move is even better. Bishop shares a story about losing a list of baptismal candidates (about 60 people). They went ahead with the baptism service anyway and ended up baptizing around 300 people. “If there’s one thing you can expect from God, it’s that he’ll do the unexpected”, says Bishop (60).
Bishop’s section on failure was encouraging. When we experience them, we often feel like its the end, but “they rarely are that final” (64). Determination is what helps us overcome failures and not allow them to “define [our] future” (65). Often when we are finished, God is just getting started (66). Whever we take on things where we could fall flat on our face, we have taken on something in which God can do something only he could do (68).
Bishop shares a touching story of a friend of the family, Craig, coming to know the grace of God. It is an incredible and heart warming story; alone worth the price of admission. It was treat.
Some more statistics shares offers a glimmer of hope (84).
44% of people said that Christians get on their nerves
72% of people said the church is full of hypocrites
78% of people said they would be willing to listen to someone share their beliefs in Christianity
72% of respondents to a study said that they believe God exists
This is good news from the perspective of the ministry field. People are willing to listen. As mentioned early in this review, people want to be told the truth. They will decide what to do with it. In this helpful section Bishop shows that on the other hand, these statistics show that Jesus isn’t the problem with the church, we are.
There’s a great section titled, Jesus Would Hire Who You Haven’t. In it Bishop says that “many of the people God chose to lead his his people would not be candidates for leadership in our churches today” (139). Jesus called the imperfect to be his disciples. Bishop gives an example of hiring someone without seminary education to run the programming department. It has been one of the best decisions as a leader he had made. Heart and integrity can mean more than credentials.
This book has been a real joy and a blessing to read. There are many terrific sections of helpful information, stories, and passion beyond what I’ve shared. It has given me much to think about regarding church leadership and the grace that has brought each of us to our relationship with Christ. That grace should encompass all we do and motivate us to reach those who are lost: just as we were.
I have benefited from John Bishop’s hard work and the support Zondervan has given to this work. I highly recommend this read and assure that you will not be disappointed. It is informative, encouraging, a breath of fresh air, and substantive.
What is a good wage? An acceptable harvest for our hunting and gathering depends on many things: like how much satisfaction we get from the work, if we feel compensation is honoring and not demeaning, for example. But those things seem to bring about one other criteria that is of major importance: our joy. To be able to provide a comfortable living for our loved ones feels pretty good. To be compensated in a way that respects our skill and our craft is most gratifying.
I read a good blog entry today. Chris Brady over at 
