Confessions of a Reformission Rev.: Hard Lessons from an Emerging Missional Church (The Leadership Network Innovation)

I didn't know what to expect when I picked up this book, and I honestly didn't expect that much from it. I was pleasantly surprised by the book--not because my expectations were so low, but because it really is a helpful and useful book for a pastor trying to wrestle with the deepening and broadening of the church. The sarcasm was an unexpected treat. I am sarcastic a little too often, and it was fun reading his take on the world. As with all hard humor, though, it was great when I agreed with it, and it was frustrating when I didn't.But humor aside, Driscoll has a handful of extremely important things to tell pastors (and church leadership in general). To being with, church is about Jesus. We can put on dazzling shows, mimic models working half-way around the States, or disband the whole thing in favor of house churches, but every adaptation needs to be about Jesus. Pastors and churches grow in the right ways when we preach Christ and him crucified every week no matter the topic or text. A church without carefully defined and followed theology is like a grocery store that only sells Hostess cupcakes. People will get a sugar high coming, but the crash is not far away and they certainly won't grow.In addition, churches need to define or discover why they exist and move in that direction. As so many church leadership books tell us, that sometimes requires hard decisions. But as Driscoll reminds us, churches are guarded by shepherds that are supposed to tend for and protect the flock.He also raises an issue I have discovered in my own journey as a pastor. It sounds simple on paper, and if you haven't struggled with this temptation you may not guess how powerful it is. Pastors and leaders need to be who Jesus called them to be and do the things Jesus called them to do. We make huge mistakes fitting into someone else's mold or trying to act and preach like the popular guy down the street. Churches sometimes put pressures on pastors to be and do certain things that will end up sapping them of vitality and ruin the church. Sometimes it is a cult of personality or a denomination, but the problem is the same - pastors give into other peoples' expectations at their own peril. We all know pastors and leaders end up with things in their portfolios they are not great at or need to learn to love, but, as a matter of priority and gifting, be who God called you to be.I am not a huge fan of books on church leadership technique. That is probably why I liked this book. Instead of a heck of a lot of tips and tricks (there are a fair amount of details, pie charts and schematics), it is mostly about a set of lessons learned trying to do what God called a pastor to do.

I have read a thousand or two pages of "how to do church" books. I pastor at a church of about 900, and so it's par for the course. Most of them bore me these days. This one I read in three sittings.There will be considerable criticism of this book. Mark didn't say what he was supposed to. He is pretty clear about what he thinks of Brian McLaren, the public pope of the Emergent church; and it isn't complimentary. He recommends both pragmatic evangelicals like Hybels and Warren and yet he affirms the work of their firm critics like Mark Dever and D.A Carson's work in his footnotes (a both-and I both agree with and am impressed with). He thinks masculinity should have content beyond plumbing, and even dares to refer to Grudem and Piper's book on the subject. That alone can get you stripped and beaten in some very loving evangelical circles.He also says church people can be immature idiots and life sucking dead weight; like the Leech's two daughters that constantly cry, "give, give!" form Proverbs 30.I was horrified.I completely agree.There will no doubt be many coming up with clever little shots at Driscoll and making pithy condescending remarks about the book. Mark has really opened himself up to that. I suspect he could care less, and I really appreciated that about his style.No doubt many will find his style arrogant. It will be decried by the equally arrogant under the pretense of humility and nuances spiritual maturity. Many will be convinced. But it should be noted that Mark claims to have been arrogant and to be arrogant. He only claims that that doesn't necessarily make him wrong about what he is saying in this book, and about that he is right. Introspective indecisive hand wringing doesn't work as a dominant disposition when you're leading a church of more than a thousand people in the kind of context he is in. I know from experience. Nor does it particularly work in life unless you are interested in simply criticizing the position of others.In terms of content, Mark has written his own leadership manifesto about making the hard choices, knowing your mission, learning from others, daring to be serious about the Bible's content in preaching and leadership decisions, allowing for messes, and focusing on spiritual growth if you want organizational growth.Concerning his bits about the Emerging Church, perhaps his greatest bit was in a footnote. In that note that sprawls from pg. 203-205 he overviews looking into postmodernism as an epistemology, cultural phenomenon, the fruit of modern linguistic theory and post-structuralism, etc. He talks about reading in primary and secondary sources and finally concludes he's going to go ahead and stick with most of what Jesus was saying.If you think that's simplistic, it's likely that either you're not in the subculture, are considerably more arrogant than Mark is, haven't read the literature or you don't have ears to hear (ie. have lost the will to find a culturally potent expression of Christian orthodoxy).I have been in many social situations with Gen-X pastors or ministry folks who spoke with such arrogance in criticism of people who "just didn't get post modernism". I was sad because many of them knew more about postmodernism than the gospelThe greatest benefit of what this book is adding to is that there are now two clearly different options for those of us looking to the emerging church conversation for new ways to do church in the increasingly post-Christian West. Those of us that do not think Brian can get us where we want to go want another option. This is a much better one.Mark Driscoll and Dan Kimball are needed to secure that second voice. And this book was needed to give some steam to that conversation. Mark Driscoll has done the church a service.P.S.- I have no tattoos, I do wear pants, I do not carry a handgun, I am a Christian, and I'm a pastor in a mainline denominational church that is 98 years old. I'm only 29 though.

Great read - very helpful

I read and digested the truths of this book in less than a week. Here is a guy (dude) who bears his heart for the truth of The Gospel and records & discusses in all honesty how best to make it relevant to today. The earlier review serves as a synopsis but I would like to confirm that Mark Driscoll's diect, honest and often humourous writing style is most effective in getting across important ideas & practical strategies for effective church growth in stages from 50 to 5,000+ members. I'll be purchasing more copies for my friends at Chrisdtmas!