This Little Church Stayed Home: A Faithful Church in Deceptive Times

by Gary Gilley

Publisher:

Evangelical Press

, 2006

Overview

Many churches, riding the faddish waves of our times, have gone “to market,” but not all. Some churches are trying to “stay home,” that is, remain firmly grounded in the Scriptures. Still, the pressures mount, the temptations are repackaged, and the schemes of the world become more and more persuasive.

In This Little Church Stayed Home, Dr. Gilley explores the manifold temptations of conservative churches to sell out to modern trends and innovations, including the present temptation towards mystical theology. Churches toying with “new measures” will be challenged to remain true to the historic doctrines of the Christian faith and to remain faithful to God’s chosen means of converting sinners to himself: the good news of Jesus Christ.

Pastors, seminary students, church leaders, and Christians who want God’s Word to be paramount in their lives will find This Little Church Stayed Home a timely message to a Christian subculture fixated on marketing the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Logos Bible Software edition of This Little Church Stayed Home is designed to encourage and stimulate your study and understanding of postmodernity and the church. Scripture passages link directly to your English translations and to the original language texts, and important doctrinal concepts link to dictionaries, encyclopedias, and a wealth of other resources in your digital library. In addition, you can perform powerful searches by topic and find what other authors, scholars, and theologians have to say about the emerging church.

Key Features

• Analyzes the many challenges facing evangelical Christianity
• Presents a biblical view of the church—what it should be and do

Contents

• Section I: A Postmodern World
  • A Historical Overview
  • Whatever Happened to the Truth?
  • Postmodernity and Society
  • Postmodernity and the Church
  • Confronting Postmodernists
• Section II: The Church's Mandate
  • Building up the Body
  • Church Discipline and Church Growth
  • Love for an Offensive Gospel
• Section III: The Scriptures
  • The Use and Misuse of Scripture
  • The Purpose Driven Life: An Evaluation
  • The Authority and Sufficiency of Scripture
• Section IV: Pressing Challenges
  • The Challenge of Mysticism: Part I
  • The Challenge of Mysticism: Part II
  • The Challenge of the Emergent Church: Part I
  • The Challenge of the Emergent Church: Part II
  • Conclusion

Top Highlights

“To the premodernist, truth is found in revelation. To the modernist, truth can be found in reason and science. To the postmodernist truth is not found (indeed it is not capable of being found), it is created. Absolute truth is a fable. It is possible for me to create my own truth, and for cultures and subcultures to create their truth, but it is not possible to find universal truth that is applicable to all people. Such truth does not exist and should not be sought. Those who claim to possess absolute truth only do so in order to assert power over others.” (Pages 24–25)

“‘One great danger of postmodernity is false conversions and the consequently hollow praise offered to God for saved souls that, in fact, are not saved.” (Page 41)

“So the Enlightenment and modernity teach the ultimate source of authority in the pursuit of truth is human reason; the Bible claims that source is found in the revelation of Scripture—a huge difference that Professor Noll has ignored.” (Page 29)

“Discipline is reserved for those who have chosen to sin, are living an ungodly lifestyle, and are refusing to confess, truly repent and live lives that evidence repentance.” (Page 68)

“Postmodern Christians have reversed this order and now evaluate all truth claims and doctrine by experience.” (Page 43)

Product Details

• Title: This Little Church Stayed Home: A Faithful Church in Deceptive Times
• Author: Gary E. Gilley
• Publisher: Evangelical Press
• Publication Date: 2006
• Pages: 190

About Gary Gilley

Gary E. Gilley has been a pastor at Southern View Chapel in Springfield, Illinois, since 1975. Along with his preaching and teaching ministry, he is also the author and editor of the monthly contemporary theological issues publication Think on These Things. In addition to speaking at various conferences throughout the country and overseas, Dr. Gilley serves on the respective advisory boards of the Illinois Bible Church Mission and the Brazil Gospel Fellowship Mission. He is a graduate of The Moody Bible Institute and Cambridge Graduate School.