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Everyday Church: Gospel Communities on Mission
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Christians are increasingly aware that we live in a post-Christian culture. We recognize the need to adapt, but are unsure of the way forward. This book offers practical ideas for engaging with secularized society and does so in a way that is enfranchising, helping churches rely on their members instead of one leader with a dynamic personality or specialist skills. Chester
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Paperback, 173 pages
Published
September 30th 2012
by Crossway Books
(first published January 1st 2011)
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Start your review of Everyday Church: Gospel Communities on Mission

A fine, slim book by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, two British church leaders. Organized loosely (and I can't emphasize the 'loosely' enough here) around 1 Peter, Chester and Timmis paint a persuasive picture of both the socially marginal station of today's church and also the way in which 'church' is a reality meant to be lived in everyday life, not merely occasional settings like Sunday worship or in extraordinary displays.
The call is to move from "attractional events" to an "attractional com ...more
The call is to move from "attractional events" to an "attractional com ...more

I have read a number of "missional" books and have been struggling to do it for years. I read Missional Church, Tangible Kingdom, Breaking the Missional Code, Planting Missional Churches, sections of Launching Missional Communities, attended conferences and all the rest. I have grown tired of it because in the end I wasn't sure how to actually do it and these guys just must be more gifted and sanctified than me. Center Church is the only exception and that is an exceptional book but more for the
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Let me say upfront: “Everyday Church” is an excellent book, a much needed one! Authors Tim Chester and Steve Timmis argue that if we are to be Biblically faithful, we can no longer think of church as Sunday gathering alone, rather we must think of church as “a community of people who share life, ordinary life.” Further we can no longer think of mission as an event that happens in a church building, rather we must think of mission in the context of everyday life. The book is divided into 6 chapte
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The times they are a changin’. If America ever was a Christian nation, it certainly isn’t one now. It would do us good, therefore, to listen to conservative Christians whose nation is much further down the secularizing road we’re on. Tim Chester and Steve Timmis are two such men from one such nation: Britain. And they are here to tell their fellow Brits—and warn their brothers in America—that old methods of outreach which traded on the social cachet of the church will bring diminishing returns o
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Really good read, especially since it's basically the model for summit college. Loosely based on 1 Peter. Rating just because I think his discussion on sharing in everyday conversation could be more direct and seems a little vague in light of calling people to a response.
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Thought-provoking. Effectively inspires vision for being the church (growing and going, together) rather than merely attending events that bless or equip. Other books with this emphasis sometimes come across as reactionary or elevate a specific model. That is decidedly not the tone or emphasis here. Authors are not anti-big church, anti-sermon. They promote spiritual communities on mission as the most effective way to engage unbelieving culture. Everyday Church is permeated by the language and p
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The basic premise of this book is that the way the western church operates is not the best way nor necessarily the biblical way to carry out the mission of the church. The concept that we live in a post-Christendom world is something I have understood vaguely for awhile now, although it hasn’t been defined with that term until reading this book. The effort and energy that I spent and others have spent in attempting to get back what we once had in the western church, a culture with an alliance of
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I highly recommend this book to those in the church who want to understand what being a Gospel centered community looks like. I appreciate the author’s level-setting of where Christianity is in society today, and making a clear distinction between Christianity and Christendom. This book is both an exhortation and an encouragement. My one critique would be in the chapter titled “Everyday Pastoral Care” I wanted to better understand if they were discussing care between believers in the church or c
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No book has changed my perspective more on what church should be. Gospel community groups living lives that naturally cultivate everyday evangelism. A community that lives life together every day of the week, eating meals together, gospelling one another, spending time with each other’s friends and family. Creating a community that just radiates the hope in Jesus.
Love church? Love the gospel? Afraid of evangelism? Read this.
Love church? Love the gospel? Afraid of evangelism? Read this.

Really great book! Not perfect but the author did an incredible job describing what gospel community is supposed to look like mainly through the lense of 1 Peter. This is such a good resource for anyone who is stuck in the only just attending a weekly gathering and wants to see what true biblical community is supposed to look like not just in Sunday’s but every day of the week!

As an American Christian, I confess to being overly comfortable with my culture and overly sensitive to perceived threats to religious liberty and biblical values. In light of recent hostility by the U. S. Government toward Christian institutions (through mandated provision of contraceptive and abortifacient drugs for employees) and the apparent confirmation of these policies through the reelection of politicians who champion them, it is easy to see the Church’s influence waning in our society a
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Very profitable book. Has 1 Peter running all through it, and makes connections between the situation of the exiles in the first century and the situation of Christians in the UK and (a few years behind) in the US. Their contention is that event based come-to-church evangelism works best when a culture that respects the church, and that we've lost that cultural moment. In it's place, the authors argue for "everyday church", thinking of and living as Christians in ordinary relationships with neig
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I made an agreement with myself to not use the public library this summer, but to read through the 20+ unread books that had gathered in stacks around my house the last couple of years. Several of the unread books -- like this title -- fall under the category of "how to be the Church now that no one goes to church", which I typically approach with a fair amount of skepticism and a dash of hope.
I had special hope for this book because I had so much enjoyed Tim Chester's A Meal With Jesus back whe ...more
I had special hope for this book because I had so much enjoyed Tim Chester's A Meal With Jesus back whe ...more

Jan 28, 2018
Brian Wright
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
life-changing
Such a great book contextualising the ancient world of 1 Peter and showing what it looks like in today’s world to live on mission. It’s highly convicting, challenging, inspiring, and exciting!
It’s about doing the everyday stuff of life with the intentions of speaking the Gospel to believers and unbelievers.
It’s about recognising that the Christian life will be counterculture to whatever culture you live in. We can’t expect them to come to church on Sunday...which isn’t even the mission by the ...more
It’s about doing the everyday stuff of life with the intentions of speaking the Gospel to believers and unbelievers.
It’s about recognising that the Christian life will be counterculture to whatever culture you live in. We can’t expect them to come to church on Sunday...which isn’t even the mission by the ...more

Maybe it was me but the book started very slowly. Probably doesn't deserve a 3 but couldn't give it a 4. I definitely found certain sections helpful (Everyday Pastoral Care, Everyday Evangelism) but it just felt like Chester & Timmis couldn't decide what they wanted the book to be: helpful tool to pastors/leaders or commentary on 1 Peter. They tried to do both and consequently ended up with sections of the book that felt extraneous. Worth the read, just wish it would have been a little more focu
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Chester & Timmis' passion for missionally-shaped churches bleeds through each page. This book gives hands and feet to "Total Church," making missional community ideas brutally practical. Diagnostic questions add a healthy dose of introspection and prevent good information from becoming solely cerebral. Chester & Timmis want you to put these practices into action, and they provide excellent on-ramps for doing so. Most importantly, I found myself worshiping while reading. Jesus is the star of this
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A very practical and insightful book. I appreciated the provocative statements and push backs against past and current 'models' of church.
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Chester and Timmins exposit the book of 1 Peter to demonstrate what Christian fellowship and community should look like. They are not concerned with creating new "programs" in which to squish people into. All too often, churches can tend to start programs which their people must serve, rather than programs which actually serve the people. They put it this way, "Programs are what we create when Christians are not doing what they're supposed to do in everyday life." This book was quite insightful,
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Two of My Favorite Authors
Tim Chester and Steve Timmis have probably done more than anyone else (excluding Tim Keller and Jeff Vanderstelt) to help me understand what applying the gospel to everyday life looks like. Their first book, Total Church, rocked my face off. And Everyday Church is more of the same.
What is a Missional Community anyway?
I began planting a church about two years ago, and it 19s been the hardest thing I 19ve ever done. One of the things we knew we wanted to do while planting ...more
Tim Chester and Steve Timmis have probably done more than anyone else (excluding Tim Keller and Jeff Vanderstelt) to help me understand what applying the gospel to everyday life looks like. Their first book, Total Church, rocked my face off. And Everyday Church is more of the same.
What is a Missional Community anyway?
I began planting a church about two years ago, and it 19s been the hardest thing I 19ve ever done. One of the things we knew we wanted to do while planting ...more

What Chester and Timmis do in this book. addressed primarily to a UK audience, is to somewhat inadvertently speak to an American audience that could be well on its way to becoming a primarily atheistic culture like our neighbors across the pond. Their talk of Christian communities living and ministering outside of typical Sunday morning church building attendance shows how far England, and perhaps soon the US, are removed from being able to witness in ways that have worked effectively for so man
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Everyday Church had its peaks and valleys. What I really appreciated first. Chester and Timmis write out of a great love for the church and Jesus which comes through in their writing. They are concerned that if we don’t open our eyes to the changing climate towards Christianity then we may find ourselves lost and without a compass. They say,
It is a call for us to be an everyday church with an everyday mission.We need to shift our focus from putting on attractional events to creating attractiona ...more
It is a call for us to be an everyday church with an everyday mission.We need to shift our focus from putting on attractional events to creating attractiona ...more

I read this book alongside my growth group as we studied what it would look like to be a community that seeks to live out the gospel message everyday. We learned so much from it as a group and as individuals, as it challenged us to face various aspects of our lives.
Everyday Church pointed out areas where each of us struggle in missional, relational, and personal senses. We learned what it looks like to truly be living in community and ways we can implement it further.
Overall, this was an excelle ...more
Everyday Church pointed out areas where each of us struggle in missional, relational, and personal senses. We learned what it looks like to truly be living in community and ways we can implement it further.
Overall, this was an excelle ...more

Sometimes books authored by two individuals present a challenge to the reader and can be a bit disjointed. I felt that tension more towards the beginning of this book. I would say by chapter 3, most of this felt resolved and the remainder of the book felt more coherent. Al in all, there were so many thought provoking ideas and challenges. I really loved how 1 Peter runs like a thread through the book and is weaved into every chapter. I would definitely recommend this book for Christians to read,
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Surprisingly thick with theological observations, practical insights, and good exposition, this is a book I was glad to read and recommend it with pleasure. For Christians in the US (and much of the West with a similar mindset) who think the best approach to welcoming people into the gospel is to "get them to come back to church," this book will help you reevaluate that approach in big and small ways.
A convincing presentation of ideas on how followers of Jesus can de-programitize their ministry ...more
A convincing presentation of ideas on how followers of Jesus can de-programitize their ministry ...more

Chester and Timmis really don't need to spend quite so long convincing me that America's culture is now post-Christiandom. They also don't need to convince me that this presents as many opportunities as challenges for Christianity. Once they get past all the statistics used to argue those points, the conversation opens up though, and they bring some great thoughts and perspectives to the table on what it means to be a follower of Christ and live in community with each other in the midst of our i
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They get it. Simple as that.
The church cannot afford to continue functioning like Christendom still exists. We are on the margins. And that is a good thing.
They advocate for putting our efforts into developing attractional communities not attractional events.
There is a lot of unlearning ahead for the church in the West -- particularly America. But Chester and Timmis, on the grounds of I Peter in particular, point us in the way to go.
The church cannot afford to continue functioning like Christendom still exists. We are on the margins. And that is a good thing.
They advocate for putting our efforts into developing attractional communities not attractional events.
There is a lot of unlearning ahead for the church in the West -- particularly America. But Chester and Timmis, on the grounds of I Peter in particular, point us in the way to go.

Fantastic book. A sobering look at the church within the frame of its chronological evolution as well as what its core and unchanging principles are. It's greatest strength lies however, in looking at all that in the context of our day and age, in this 'post-christendom' era where we can't pretend to be a church—we have to actually be it, daily, within and outside of our 'church space'. Biblically grounded and very practical.
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Great thesis of living intentionally in every aspect of your life. Very challenging. Although it’s a short book i think it’s too long. The point is made in the first few chapters and the rest just seems like it’s filling space. Some very good practical points but I would say I enjoyed parts of the book more than the book as a whole.
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