Being the Church: An Eastern Orthodox Understanding of Church Growth
Ebook
Overview
If the divine liturgy really is as beautiful as we claim, wouldn’t more people attend? Wouldn’t the church grow? Driven by our desire for growth, we count, we analyze, we make charts, and we strategize, but often with few discernible results. That is probably the result of focusing on secondary aspects of church life. As we know, the very existence of a church is a gift of God’s presence and not the result of any particular actions taken by human beings. For that reason, church is primarily about being something rather than doing or achieving something. So the growth of the church is not reflected in ever-increasing numbers, dollars, and activities, but rather in steadily growing conformity to the divine ideal. So in order to evaluate ecclesial growth, we will first have to ask what the church is supposed to be. One answer to that question is captured in the four marks of the church given in the creed: Oneness, Holiness, Catholicity, and Apostolicity. These four characteristics serve as a matrix or framework within which we can focus on the primary aspects of ecclesial being and help it grow and become what it was intended to be.
“The church is much, much more than it appears to be to the
world. It is even much more than it usually perceives itself to be.
Like many if not most of Dr. Rommen’s writings, this book is
magnificent. One need not be a member of the Orthodox Church to
revel in it.
—David J. Hesselgrave, Author of Paradigms in Conflict
and Planting Churches Cross-Culturally
“Edward Rommen boldly articulates an Orthodox vision for the nature
of the church as the center from which all ecclesial thinking and
practice must emanate. However, Being the
Church will challenge and stimulate readers of all church
traditions to deeper reflection on what it indeed means
to be the church and to abandon superficial measures of
ministry success.”
—Craig Ott, Professor of Mission and Intercultural Studies, Trinity
Evangelical Divinity School
“Rommen offers missiological insights grounded in the Eucharistic
ecclesiology of the Eastern Orthodox Church. He shows how
‘being’ the church, and not simply ‘doing’ church, determines its
life, potential, and mission. The book invites contemporary
church-growth leaders to shake off their fascination with
numbers, ‘how-to’ manuals, and the ‘bigger-is-better’ mentality
towards church growth. Rommen explains why that approach is
misconceived and calls for a major sea change in the way we think
about ‘being’ the church. He reminds us of the words of Jesus
that the path to the kingdom is ‘narrow’ and only a ‘few will find
it.’”
—Bradley Nassif, Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies,
North Park University Chicago
Product Details
- Title : Being the Church: An Eastern Orthodox Understanding of Church Growth
- Author: Rommen, Edward
- Publisher: Cascade Books
- Publication Date: 2017
- ISBN: 9781498293167