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Cinderella with amnesia: A restatement in contemporary terms of the Biblical doctrine of the church
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March 22, 2014
This is one of those classic 1970s Christian books that we probably picked up from a church bookstall years ago. I'm sure I read it in the 1980s, and found it quite inspiring. Re-reading it in the last couple of weeks, it feels a bit ponderous, but surprisingly relevant.
The author had noted young people in their droves getting fed up with organised church. So the book is an attempt to show that the church is a lot more than Sunday morning services. He explains the origin of the Greek word, and the confusion that arises when, in English, we use the same word to refer to either a Sunday morning event, a building, a worldwide group of believers, a local body of believers, or an individual congregation. None of this was new to me, but it was clearly expressed. Ignoring the building or Sunday service definitions, he then looks at the purpose of the church, both universal and local, in terms of telling people about Jesus, helping each other grow, building each other up, encouraging each others' gifts, and generally being an extended family.
All of which I agree with entirely. Apparently these aspects of church life were somewhat neglected in the 1970s... and I'm not sure that much has changed, other than the age of those for whom this is relevant; many of us who were teenagers in the 1970s and 1980s are the ones who still look for a broad understanding of church, encompassing all these positive features, while being somewhat cynical about the importance of a structured Sunday gathering.
However, Michael Griffiths makes the assumption that Sunday morning services are vital, and that everything else grows from them. He even criticises students who get involved in CUs and outreaches, but who neglect to attend a local congregation. He made the point that many people found the services irrelevant and boring, but seemed to assume that without them, one could not live as a Christian. I didn't see any logic to this; nowadays many popular Christian writers would disagree with him. I was willing to be convinced, but it didn't happen.
Still, it was an interesting book, if a bit heavy in places, and one which I think is worth reading by anyone wondering what the church is, what it might be, and what it theoretically could be. Three and a half stars might be fairer.
The author had noted young people in their droves getting fed up with organised church. So the book is an attempt to show that the church is a lot more than Sunday morning services. He explains the origin of the Greek word, and the confusion that arises when, in English, we use the same word to refer to either a Sunday morning event, a building, a worldwide group of believers, a local body of believers, or an individual congregation. None of this was new to me, but it was clearly expressed. Ignoring the building or Sunday service definitions, he then looks at the purpose of the church, both universal and local, in terms of telling people about Jesus, helping each other grow, building each other up, encouraging each others' gifts, and generally being an extended family.
All of which I agree with entirely. Apparently these aspects of church life were somewhat neglected in the 1970s... and I'm not sure that much has changed, other than the age of those for whom this is relevant; many of us who were teenagers in the 1970s and 1980s are the ones who still look for a broad understanding of church, encompassing all these positive features, while being somewhat cynical about the importance of a structured Sunday gathering.
However, Michael Griffiths makes the assumption that Sunday morning services are vital, and that everything else grows from them. He even criticises students who get involved in CUs and outreaches, but who neglect to attend a local congregation. He made the point that many people found the services irrelevant and boring, but seemed to assume that without them, one could not live as a Christian. I didn't see any logic to this; nowadays many popular Christian writers would disagree with him. I was willing to be convinced, but it didn't happen.
Still, it was an interesting book, if a bit heavy in places, and one which I think is worth reading by anyone wondering what the church is, what it might be, and what it theoretically could be. Three and a half stars might be fairer.
Displaying 1 of 1 review