Body Life: The Book that Inspired a Return to the Church's Real Meaning and Mission

by Ray C. Stedman, Billy Graham (Foreword by)

Ray Stedman's classic book on church renewal shows you how to help your church recapture the vigor and passion of the early church, a radical body of enthusiastic believers who spread the Word of God throughout the world! Includes study questions.

Genres: Christian, Nonfiction, Theology, Ecclesiology, Christian Living, Church, Christianity

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Raymond Charles Stedman was an evangelical Christian pastor and author. He was a long-time pastor of Peninsula Bible Church in Palo Alto, California, and author of several books.

Reviews

[Glenn Gray]

This book should be required reading for any new Christian, or a Christian who wants to revitalize their spiritual walk. Stedman walks the reader through understanding of the teachings of Jesus and the Apostle Paul to the early church while relating those same lessons to today's Body of Christ, which is the church. Each person receives one, or more spiritual gifts with the expectation that those gifts will be used to fulfill God's great commission and to build up the local Body of Christ.

Stedman is truly gifted as a teacher and his unpretentious teaching style is very easy to understand for readers of all ages and reading levels. This book would provide a wonderful study guide for small groups, Sunday Schools and family studies.

[Trevor]

Nice, basic book on the church and what it's supposed to be. Biggest pro: it's true. Pastor Stedman lived true church at Peninsula Bible Church for many years. The best parts of the book is when he explains "this is how we did it." Biggest con: it's really basic and I found myself over and over again wanting more in depth explanations and biblical defenses of his statements. It's a good read, and I'd say a great read for anyone who wants to understand what God intended for the church.

[Emily]

Interesting look at how the church could work together

[OVES]

I was introduced to Stedman’s ecclesiology through The Open Church by James Rutz, a book that really rocked my understanding of the church. Body Life was good, but it barely covered the material I was hoping it would cover (pastors allowing ministry to happen in the whole body of Christ, as opposed to a spectator church.)

"Along with this there came a gradual transfer of responsibility from the people to what was termed 'the clergy,' which is a tern derived from the Latin clericus meaning a priest. The scriptural concept that every believer is a priest before God was gradually lost and a special body of super-Christians emerged who were looked to for practically everything and so came to be termed 'the ministry.' Now it is most apparent from Ephesians 4 that all Christians are 'in the ministry.' The proper task of the four support ministries we have been examining is to train, motivate, and undergird the people to do the work of the ministry.

When the ministry was thus left to the professionals there was nothing left for the people to do other than come to church and listen. They were told that it was their responsibility to bring the world into the church building to hear the pastor preach the gospel. Soon Christianity became nothing but a spectator sport, very much akin to the definition of football-22 men down on the field, desperately in need of rest, and 20 thousand in the grandstands, desperately in need of exercise!”

[Sam]

I nearly skipped this book because of the awkward title but I have such great respect for Ray Stedman as a teacher that I read it anyway and I’m glad I did. It’s a great brief summary of how a church body is supposed to operate. Some of the things that were earthshaking in the 70’s are now standard in church (somewhat because of the great impact of this book at the time) but many of these lessons are still unheeded by many churches in 2021!

[Jonathan Bradley]

Great read, however, there are some theological statements that I disagree with. The biggest one is that maturity is the goal of God, therefore the goal of the church. I agree more with John Piper in that Worship, not maturity (or Missions, as Piper would say), is the goal of the church (Let the Nations Be Glad, John Piper). While I understand that maturity in Christ is important for a proper worship of Christ, there is a lot more to it than just maturity.

[Rob]

Good concepts but dated. I never really got the feeling that the author was explaining himself well. He just talked around the concepts without ever really getting to the meat of it. Originally written during the "Jesus Movement" days of the 1970s and updated in the 1990s. The updates seem far out of time now almost 30 years later.

[premkumar samiraj]

Life of Ressurrected Jesus!

This book explains the life of ressurrected Jesus in simple and plain words that is available for us! Every chapter dislodged some scales from my eyes so that I can see both the resurrected Jesus & counterfeit Jesus living today on earth more clearly and plainly. This book answered most of my open questions that popped up within me in the last couple of years. This book once again reminded me of the exhortation in Hebrews, "Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from beginning to end."

[Krisan Marotta]

This is a classic that every church leader should read.

[Katherine Wacker]

In his book, Body Life, Pastor, and Author Ray C. Stedman takes an in-depth look at Ephesians chapter four and explains how the church is supposed to function biblically. Starting with Christ as the foundation, Stedman also explores the different responsibilities of leadership such as Apostles and Evangelists. He stipulates that every believer has been equipped with a spiritual gift which is to be used for the encouragement and edification of the Body of Christ. Can today’s church replicate the model found in the New Testament? Stedman’s answer is, “Yes” and clarifies why it must, to fulfill its mission.

Body Life is an enlightening, accessible but not an exhaustive volume. As a gifted teacher himself, the author illuminates and illustrates the key principles of the passage in such a way that both new and mature believers will benefit the exposition. It is not an academic tome. It seems a solid and concise effort. Stedman’s contemporary definition of an Apostle as a “church planter” seems a bit off. In addition, I don’t know how one evangelizes properly if there isn’t an emphasis on sin. Apart from these aspects, I found Body Life a worthy effort in explaining how the church should function in the modern age.

[Erin]

A look at church life from the Ephesians 4 model. There was lots of good stuff here but it didn't seem really practical to my life right where I am today.

[Kirk Lowery]

Body life: over promised, under delivered. The book that started it all. A piece of hippy culture that made into the mainstream.

[Carlyn Cole]

Great to read due to its early attempt at moving the church in a relational direction. The theology is excellent.