SHAPES OF THE CHURCH TO COME
By Michael Nazir-Ali
Kingsway. £8.99
ISBN 0 85476 8912
How should the church respond to our so-called 'post-modern' post-Christian setting, or how can we Christians face the challenges of witnessing to Christ in 2002?
These are the urgent questions that Michael Nazir-Ali seeks to address in this new book. Nazir-Ali paints with broad brushstrokes, and therefore a lot of ground is covered in few pages. The discussion ranges far and wide over issues such as the form and function of the church in Britain today, the kind of coronation we should expect for our next monarch, the weakness of the church growth approach of targeting churches at sociological niches, the need of biblical ecumenism, the cell church movement and its Catholic counterpart base-ecclesial communities. Not all will agree with his conclusions but Nazir-Ali helps us to think widely about the mission and meaning of the church today.
