mgpcpastor's blog

What does Your Church Is Too Safe? (Mark Buchanan, Zondervan Publishers, 2012) promise?
Mark Buchanan wants the regulated security of the church to look more like the majestic glory of the kingdom of God; and has recorded stories of what happens when this goal is put into practice, along with biblical insights which provide a framework to support and direct the effort.
“It’s a book for those who want more from the church and for the church, but not necessarily anything new. It’s a book for those who wish the church to look more like the kingdom.” (pg. 14)

What I liked.
Mature insight.
Accessibly and creatively expressed.
Nuggets of sublimely well crafted prose scattered through a skillfully written book.
Whether it’s babies learning to cry with the accents of their mothers; the differences between travelers and tourists; the value of a village; where your church is on the continuum between Acts and Hebrews; why the church should have a hole in the roof; what happens when two people who live in a relationship the church can’t support want to be part of the church; why some walls need to be broken down and others built; and questions about the comfort of sparrows (and much more), Buchanan invites us turn to the Bible and revel in the fact that security in the kingdom of God on earth enables us to embrace glorious uncertainty as that kingdom interacts with the earth.
I also appreciated the sections which deal with Buchanan’s relationship with the First Nations people of Canada, and the many similarities of their situation with those of the Indigenous Peoples of Australia. Christians can do better than offer another institution, they can live out the witness of a Kingdom where all are equal.
The accounts which are woven together are true, but they are thoughtfully presented in a way which caused this reader to want to draw back to the safety of institutionalism, while at the same time winsomely inviting me to resist that urge and surrender to the values of the kingdom and its majestic glory.

What I’m not sure about.
Whether I’m brave enough to let go of my desire to secure my safety zone in the church, and disassemble the humanly constructed barriers which hinder the church from intersecting freely with the world around it.
After reading Your Church Is Too Safe I’d like to try.
Unreservedly recommended.

In addition to the copy of Your Church Is Too Safe which I’d already ordered, a review copy of the book was provided by Zondervan Publishers Engaging Church Blog as part of the Your Church Is Too Safe blog tour.
Provision of the book did not require the publication of a positive review.