THE HOUSE THAT JESUS BUILT
By Dale Ralph Davis
Christian Focus. 64 pages. £3.99
ISBN 1 84550 226 3
This is a short book to give to visitors who may come to your church. In a very friendly, succinct and even fun way, it explains both the gospel and what it is to be a Christian and belong to a church shaped by a Reformation approach to Scripture.
It is a kind of brochure-cum-browser which enables people to make an informed choice about whether or not yours might be the church in which to settle. It briefly and helpfully covers, ‘What our church believes’, ‘What our church is’, and ‘How Christians live’. It closes with ‘The Matter that Matters’ — not first of all coming to church, but how we respond to the Lord Jesus Christ. Throughout there is a heavy emphasis on God’s amazing grace. God welcomes real sinners. We are not a perfect church but a group of sinners. The brief explanations of the gospel are miniature masterpieces which caused my heart to leap with thankfulness to God as I read them.
The re-emergence of heavy shepherds
What would you think if you received a letter from your church leaders that read like this? ‘Are church members …