Although an examination of the North American church, this book has much to say to UK church culture too. I've managed a first pass through the book in three sittings, which I reckon to be about 4.5 hours. The style of the book makes for fairly easy reading but the content is far from easy to read. I found myself recognising many aspects of church culture with which I've always struggled and whispering a quiet "that's right" like a punctuation mark throughout the text.
For some time now I've been convinced that the church must change and move away from it's inward looking, club mentality towards a more outwardly focused mission orientation. The tough questions (six of them) that McNeal asks in the context of six new realities he identifies are a helpful but far from comfortable framework for this shift.
Written in 2003, this book reads as relevant today as it was then, if not more so.
I'm looking forward to reading the second book, Missional Renaissance to see where that takes me.
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