The Monday Morning Church: Out of the Sanctuary and Into the Streets

by Jerry Cook

Fired by the passion to take the message of the gospel beyond the walls of the church, Jerry Cook challenges Christians to reconsider their role in society. He emphasizes that the church on Monday operates in the experience of the non believer where the greatest impact for God can occur. He encourages Christians to consider themselves strategically placed by Jesus Christ to go to the non believer rather than having them come to God. Drawing from the book of Ephesians, he challenges traditional thinking of how ministry occurs and what the church should be while presenting an exciting new paradigm of living for Christ.

Genres: Christian

224 pages, Hardcover

First published February 6, 2006

Reviews

[Abby Vaughn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely wonderful book! At times I have allowed myself to feel guilty or discouraged over where God has placed me just because it doesn't align with where He has called other people. This world and its economy are fallen, though, and His plan for each family is different. I can walk in confidence knowing that He has the right opportunities in front of me to serve Him.

"All that matters is that you're where Jesus has asked you to be. God's will for you is not based on your comfort or pleasure. Rather, it's based on a single idea: Did Jesus ask you to do this? ... When you go back into your world on Monday, I want you to go back with an awareness of who you are and who lives in you. I want you to live up to your true identity as a covenant child of God ... I want you to be OK with wherever he has put you. Your job right now may not be the one you'd choose, but it may well be the job he has chosen for you. I want you to have just one prayer as you start the day: "Lord, give me somebody to bless. Give me somebody to be kind to today. Give me somebody to help today."

[Sarah Sutton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my second book by this author (Love, Acceptance, and Forgiveness) and the more time I spend with Jerry, the more I like him. MMC builds on the themes establish in LAF: what it means to be "the Body of Christ," being empowered by God's Spirit, and continuing the ministry of Jesus to the world but this book digs a little deeper into how we, as individuals, are able to do that.

In the introduction, Jerry says,

"The essential gospel centers on the person of Jesus, not the church, not even evangelism. The gospel is Jesus...the person of Jesus can only be clearly communicated through people in whom He dwells."

I love this, I absolutely love it.

If we are to be the "body of Christ," we have to understand who Jesus is, what He did during His life, and what He wants to do through His people. Everything we do individually and corporately should be directly linked back to the person of Jesus.

There are four sections to this book:

Part 1: Where is God on Monday
This section outlines the issues with viewing church as a place or a list of activities and shifts the focus to the church as a body of people. When the church is people, it draws God near to us and makes Him personal, it's like the second incarnation. Jesus made it possible for God to be near, Emmanuel: God with us, and the Holy Spirit makes it possible for us to "be" Jesus. When we tell people that God is near to them and they don't have to come to Him because He is chasing after them, it's important to remember that we're talking about ourselves!

Part 2: Who You Are
Building on Colossians 1:27, the idea that Christ is now in us, we can have the confidence to do the work of God. Even those who have been Christians for most of their lives still struggle with insecurity. Jerry explains that because God Himself rests in us, we don't have to be afraid to do His work, we don't have to struggle with who we are because He has made us into new creations and He is continuing to transform and empower us to do the specific work He has planned.

I love this section because it focuses so heavily on how deeply God loves us and the fact that he has willingly chosen us to be His body. I like that :)

Part 3: What You Have

I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. Eph 1:16-19

If we accept our new position, literally in Christ, then we must also understand the inheritance He has given us: hope, power, freedom, life. You don't need to be disheartened by the weakness of your dying flesh because of God's promises, but we do need to accept these promises. Walking in self-doubt or self-loathing denies the reliability of His promises and it makes us kind of useless.

In order to be the church, we have to accept the tools that He has given us as well as the incredible potential and purpose we now have. We are God's masterpiece and He has a magnificent destiny for us.

Part 4: How You Live
I love it that only one small section of a book about being the church is focused on the "Christian lifestyle stuff." We tend to focus to much on what a Christian life should (or shouldn't) look like in terms of the things we do rather than who we are. And even this section focuses on how who we are in Christ naturally grows into how we live our lives. The fruit of the spirit doesn't come before the tree and the quality (and quantity) of the tree is dependent on the health of the tree.

While this section is incredibly practical, Jerry also makes sure to emphasize that our lives are a work in progress. The point is relationship and growth, not perfection. When we look at "the Christian lifestyle" and then our own, the huge disparity can be depressing or disheartening, but when we look at our lives moment-by-moment, as a series of opportunities to choose the new over the old and to learn how to use this new spirit in us, the process is not only more manageable but actually exciting. Our failures are not cause for despair but opportunities to learn and grow.

Personally, as a Christian woman who struggles with the subject, I deeply appreciated how Jerry handled the section on submission: sensitive, logical, in line with "the whole of scripture" and very Christlike.

I love reading books by Jerry Cook because he manages to find a perfect balance of practical instruction with inspirational truths, but don't take my word for it...

Love, Acceptance and Forgiveness: Being Christian in a Non-Christian World

[Jane Glen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. Clear and practical teaching, reminding us that the church is not a building, but the people of God living for Him wherever they might be.

[Mary Chambers · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very good reminder of what the Christian life is meant to be. All of us who go by the name Christian should read this book.
I read this a second time and got much more out of it because we discussed it along the way.

[Loren Chambers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very practical Scripture-based teaching on how to be consistently and daily in the will of God. Not a bunch of "religion" and self-help nonsense but good expository teaching with useful applications for witnessing.

[Chris Hyde · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fantastic book...very easy to read...and very challenging. It brought a freedom to the Christian life and to ministry that I hadn't realized before. I highly recommend it!