Why Church? A Basic Introduction

by Scott W. Sunquist

Publisher:

IVP Academic

, 2019

Overview

Is a church just something we create to serve our purposes or to maintain old traditions? Or is the church something more vital, more meaningful, and more powerful?

This can be hard to believe when we look at what happens in any one congregation or denomination. Certainly not all churches act like Jesus in the world, and in fact many churches in the West are dying. When it’s so easy to be confused, frustrated, or simply apathetic about the church, how should we understand its purpose today?

In this appealing introduction to the nature of the local church, set in the context of Christian history and global diversity, historian and missionary Scott Sunquist brings us a portrait of the church in motion. Why Church? clarifies the two primary purposes of the church: worship and witness. Sunquist unpacks what the church is—and ought to be—using five movements of worship:

• come together
• stand to praise God
• kneel to confess
• sit to listen to the Word of God
• go out into the world

Packed with stories and insights from experiences in churches around the world, this book explores issues such as cultural contextualization, the meaning of conversion, worship in both personal and communal aspects, and how mission should combine telling the good news with being good news as a community.

This primer on “what is church?” comes from Fuller Theological Seminary’s renowned church-planting program and is well suited to church leaders and their core teams to read together and share with new attenders as they catch the spirit of the dynamic gathering that is the local church.

Key Features

• Identifies two primary purposes of the church: worship and witness
• Combines elements of theology and church history
• Offers valuable insights into common issues

Contents

• Church: Only Two Purposes
• How Did We Get Here? From the Jesus Movement, to Christendom, to Post-Christendom
• Come
• Stand
• Kneel
• Sit
• Go
• Healthy Body Movement
• Epilogue: What We Did Not Talk About

Praise for the Print Edition

In this deceptively profound book, Scott Sunquist writes, ‘the church was Jesus’ idea’. Local congregations have two grand purposes: to worship and do mission. Utilizing two millennia of church life and contemporary stories from around the world, he weaves a wonderful tapestry of biblical teaching and personal illustration. Only a personally pious and missional historian could write such a book.

—Alec Hill, president emeritus, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship

Rising generations who wonder about the church’s significance today will find Why Church? a compelling and timely book. Scott Sunquist masterfully weaves together clear theological claims with his own experiences along with beautiful illustrations of the global church. Taking on the real challenges we face to live like one body, this book will heighten your imagination by breaking down predominant conceptions of the church as a sterile religious institution. Sunquist increased my curiosity to once again examine the movement from worship to witness as well as the critical nature of our shared Christian identity. As you read, you will experience being invited to come and kneel with communities who are on the go.

—Sharon Galgay Ketcham, author of Reciprocal Church, professor of theology and ministry at Gordon College, MA

In a post-Christendom era, a primer on what the church is all about is sorely needed. Sunquist offers us a book that is fluent and fresh, combining profundity and down-to-earth simplicity, with healthy doses of humor and no-nonsense realism. After reading it, you are very likely to agree with him when he writes: ‘the church is really one of God’s best ideas’.

—Jeremy Begbie, Duke University

Product Details

• Title: Why Church? A Basic Introduction
• Author: Scott W. Sunquist
• Publisher: IVP
• Publication Date: 2019
• Pages: 224
• Resource Type: Introduction
• Topic: Ecclesiology

About Scott W. Sunquist

The Rev. Dr. Scott W. Sunquist is the professor of world christianity. He came to Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in 1995 after teaching and writing at Trinity Theological College in the Republic of Singapore from 1987-1995. Most of Sunquist’s research and writing is in the areas of Asian Christianity, global Christianity, and missiology. He is the editor of A Dictionary of Asian Christianity (Eerdmans 2001) and co-author of A History of the World Christian Movement, Volume I (Orbis Books 2001). Volume II is due out this year. Dr. Sunquist recently published a book with his daughter, Caroline Becker, entitled A History of Presbyterian Missions: 1944-2007 (Geneva Press 2008). His courses at the Seminary are related to mission theology, gospel and culture issues, and world Christianity. Sunquist spends time working with the World Mission Initiative at the Seminary and speaking at mission conferences. Previous to his Seminary teaching, Sunquist worked with Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship for six years in Virginia and Massachusetts, and then studied at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, earning his M.Div. and Princeton Theological Seminary, earning his doctorate. His wife, Nancy, is an elementary school teacher. They are the parents of four grown children. In his spare time Dr. Sunquist plays basketball and enjoys time with his wife and children. To learn more about Sunquist, visit http://www.scottsunquist.net.