New Books

As I went for my early morning walk (actually not that early today, but the mornings are getting lighter...), I was thinking about what book I would recommend to the congregation of our church if I wanted them to read something about what it means to be a missional church. There are lots out there, many on my bookshelves, but it would be great to find something that was short enough and accessible enough for everyone to read. Great as some of the books I have might be, they are not always easy to read.

So I was interested in a book that popped up on a blog feed from the Missional Church Network. It's a new book by alan Hirsch and Lance Ford called Right here, right now: Everyday mission for everyday people.

Here's a quote from Alan Hirsch:

“A working definition of missional church is a community of God’s people that defines itself by, and organizes its life around, its real purpose of being an agent of God’s mission to the world. In other words, the church’s true and authentic ‘organizing principle’ is mission. When the church is on mission, it is the true church. The church itself is not only the result of God’s mission but is obligated and destined to extend it by whatever means possible. The mission of God flows directly through every believer and every community of faith that adheres to Jesus. To obstruct this is to block God’s purposes in and through his people.” 

Sounds like this might be a useful book, so I'm off to Amazon to see if it's available for pre-order in the UK.