Becoming God’s Family: Why the Church Still Matters
Publisher:
, 2025
Digital Logos Edition
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Overview
Does the church still matter in our modern world?
After waves of disillusionment, #churchtoo movements, and political divides, it’s easy to question the value of investing in the church. Yet Carmen Joy Imes offers a profound answer that resonates through the pages of Becoming God’s Family. Exploring the familial and communal identity of the church, Imes traces the thread of God’s presence in the gathered community of faith across the entire Bible. She invites readers into a vision of the church that is rooted deeply in Scripture and speaks directly to the challenges we face today. Imes reminds us of a powerful truth—God delights in the global, intergenerational family He has created.
Through this book, you'll discover that God keeps His promises. When God’s people gather together, God shows up. Whether you’re struggling to reconnect with the church, seeking a constructive vision for its role in our world, or longing to better understand its biblical foundations, this book offers clarity, hope, and encouragement.
What you’ll find in Becoming God’s Family:
Becoming God’s Family is perfect for students and scholars of the Bible, church members looking for renewed purpose, and anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the church's biblical foundation. Step into God’s enduring promise—when we gather as his people, he is always present. Order your copy today and rediscover why the church still matters!
This is a Logos Reader Edition. Learn more.
- Explores the familial and communal identity of the church.
- Traces the thread of God’s presence in the gathered community of faith across the entire Bible.
- Invites readers into a vision of the church that is rooted deeply in Scripture.
- Title: Becoming God’s Family: Why the Church Still Matters
- Author: Carmen Joy Imes
- Publisher: IVP USA
- Print Publication Date: 2025
- Logos Release Date: 2025
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
- Subjects: Spiritual life; Christianity
- Resource ID: LLS:BCMGFMLWCSTMTS
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2025-07-23T20:28:51Z
Dr. Carmen Joy Imes is passionate about helping students and other laypeople engage the Old Testament and discover its relevance for Christian identity and mission. She is best known for her books Bearing God's Name: Why Sinai Still Matters (IVP 2019) and Being God's Image: Why Creation Still Matters (IVP 2023). Imes has appeared on over 100 podcasts and radio shows and releases weekly "Torah Tuesday" videos on her own YouTube channel. She writes for Christianity Today, Politics of Theology, and The Well (InterVarsity). Imes is also a frequent speaker at churches, conferences, and retreats. Before arriving at Biola in 2021, she served as professor of Old Testament at Prairie College in Alberta, Canada. Her academic journey began when Carmen and her husband served as missionaries in the Philippines with SIM International, reaching out to ethnic minorities. Imes loves introducing students to the rich insights of the global church.
Reviews
5 ratings
Steve sanders
11/9/2025
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ This book convicted me about something I didn't realize I was missing Carmen Joy Imes has written an essential book for our fractured times. As churches hemorrhage members and Christians retreat into isolation, "Becoming God's Family" doesn't offer another church growth strategy -- it calls us back to what Scripture actually says about community. What sets this apart: Imes, author of "Bearing God's Name," brings serious biblical scholarship without academic intimidation. Her opening insight floored me: the very first thing declared "not good" in creation was loneliness. We were designed for community from day one, yet modern Christianity has become, as one scholar calls it, "an individual adventure between God and the soul." The biblical reframes are genuinely eye-opening. When Jesus taught "give *us* our daily bread," it's about collective provision: if I have abundance, it's an invitation to ensure others' needs are met. David vs. Goliath wasn't individual heroism but about trusting God's power over foreign gods. She reveals how sibling bonds were the deepest loyalty in ancient culture; when Jesus calls us "brothers and sisters," he's invoking the most powerful family commitment imaginable. What works: Imes doesn't sugarcoat church failures or offer naive solutions. She directly addresses leadership abuse, institutional cover-ups, and our tendency toward echo chambers. Her "messy families" framework acknowledges our humanity while calling us toward God's design. She shows how early church generosity operated completely differently than modern philanthropy—no recognition or honor, just family sharing what they had as if they were actual relatives. The LEGO metaphor sealed it for me -- individual bricks aren't beautiful alone, but together they become something remarkable. As Peter writes, we're "living stones being built into a spiritual house." Alone, we cannot fulfill our purpose. The book challenges basic assumptions: learning isn't the primary goal of worship (calibrating our compass is), and church participation isn't an extracurricular activity for super-Christians—it's the central means by which we participate in God's kingdom. When we don't show up, some of God's gifts intended for others are missing. What to expect: This is conviction, not implementation. Imes makes the biblical case so compellingly that you'll be genuinely challenged (I realized I've been "happy at times to be a loner" and found it bizarre that we have to "make room" to be with God's people), but don't expect detailed how-to guidance. She diagnoses what's broken and paints the vision; practical steps will need to come from other resources. Perfect for anyone frustrated with shallow church culture, Christians questioning why community feels so hard, or readers who want biblical depth about what we're actually called to as believers. Bottom line: In our hyper-individualistic, politically fractured culture, where shopping malls have become our temples, this book calls us back to something essential we've lost. It changed how I read Scripture and convicted me about priorities I didn't realize I had. As Christine Caine says, "All it takes to drift is...nothing." This book won't let you drift. Rating: 5/5 stars - An important read that needs to be followed by practical guides on building church community, but the biblical foundation and conviction it provides are essential.William Knelsen
10/31/2025
A concise and very helpful overview of what it means to be a part of God’s family. This will be a valuable resource as I continue to work my way through the story of the Bible in my preaching each week. Very well done!
John Koeshall
10/30/2025
Dr Imes draws deeply on her extensive expertise to reveal God’s intention for a community of believers from Abraham through the New Testament. The reader will benefit from her deep knowledge of scripture and her sharp eye for its development throughout. She has no problem pointing out where later developments fall short of earlier prophetic announcements, helping scripture stand out as a living document able to address us in our context today. She rightly applies scripture’s warnings to readers in both Western and majority world contexts, ably applying insights to both. The one point I would critique is in the organization of the book. Though the chapter titles suggest a thematic approach, inside the chapters she is more or less moving chronologically through the Old Testament and into the New. This makes for such oddities such as Ch 3 — Family Dysfunction containing a subsection about David and Goliath, which isn’t necessarily about family dysfunction (and I didn’t mention it in my summary above), but it needed to be addressed because it’s in 1 Samuel, the book being considered in that chapter. I came away inspired, convicted, pastored, and taught. Imes comforts the mourning and afflicts the comfortable.Anthony Delgado
10/28/2025
Becoming God’s Family: Why the Church Still Matters by Dr. Carmen Joy Imes is, quite simply, a fantastic book. I’m giving it five stars—I absolutely loved it. The family of God is central to our ministry at Palmdale Church, and this book captures that beautifully. It’s really not possible to be a member of the church without understanding membership in both the local body and the universal church—the communion of the saints across all time and space—as participation in the larger family of God. That’s precisely what Carmen deals with here, and I’m really thankful she wrote it. What I almost never encounter is what Dr. Imes does in this book—where you move from biblical theology directly to applied theology. She begins with the grand narrative of Scripture, the story of redemption from Genesis to Revelation, and shows how each part of the Bible fits within that overarching story. She hasn’t taken a detour into systematic theology; instead, she moves within the biblical metanarrative and asks, “Where do we now live this out?” Carmen does that beautifully in this book. As the title suggests, Becoming God’s Family is about becoming God’s family. Imes traces the family motif and adoption theme that runs throughout Scripture. For those who have received Christ, we’ve been given the right to become children of God. God is our Father, and Christ is the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. The book argues that the church is God’s family—local, global, and intergenerational—and that God’s presence has always been intended to dwell among his gathered people, not with isolated individuals. Imes writes for people considering leaving the church, for those who have already left but remain curious, and for pastors and leaders seeking a narrative-driven ecclesiology. She brings the conversation back into the biblical narrative itself, tracing how the story of God’s people begins in Genesis, develops through Israel, is fulfilled in Christ, and culminates in Revelation. There’s truly something in this book for everyone—the faithful churchgoer, the seeker, and those who feel hurt or disenchanted with the church. The low-church ecclesiology that’s so common in many evangelical churches today really needs to take the Scriptures and the biblical narrative of the church as family more seriously. If we did, we could see the church restored rather than diminished. Becoming God’s Family combines biblical theology with pastoral wisdom and cultural awareness, reminding readers that the church is—and always will be—at the center of God’s redemptive plan. Five stars.
Ryan Riley
10/24/2025
If you have struggled with the idea of the Church or your place in it, Dr. Carmen Imes would like a word. Becoming God's Family is a call to renew what God always intended for the Church: to be his family. Dr. Imes does not dismiss all of the bad, difficult, or troubling challenges the Church faces. She leans hard into them, addressing topics such as Christian Nationalism, the role of women, abuse by leaders, and more by sifting through the text of the Bible and examining its stories. Some of her positions may be new for some but have a long history in Biblical studies. She also shares challenges she's faced in her own life with transparency and vulnerability. She acknowledges engaging with the Church as family is a real struggle. I have long felt the same, so this really spoke to me. Until I found resources from Dr. Mike Heiser, the Bible Project, and others, I really struggled to understand the church and why I needed it. I kept going because I felt convicted that I needed it, but I just couldn't make sense of it. Someone with whom I worked once recommended his approach to find a church that fed and grew his family and in which he could serve. I tried taking that approach, and it worked pretty well. I think the goal really should be for us all to move beyond being fed and into service. However, that still seems incomplete. What really resonates about Becoming God's Family is the more complete picture the book provides. I've found bits of "family" from others mentioned above and from my own study preparing lessons for adult Bible study classes. Dr. Imes's other books, Bearing God's Name and Being God's Image, set the stage. Becoming God's Family really brings it all together.
