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Mendez Ramon IglesiaRadical

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21 views4 pages

Mendez Ramon IglesiaRadical

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ralexml02
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We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Ramon Mendez

April 28, 2022

Iglesia Radical

“Church is not a meeting you attend or a place you enter.” write pastors Tim

Chester and Steve Timmis. Timmis pastored a healthy and growing “traditional church”,

but as he mentions, he was bothered by the fact that so many non-believers were not

hearing the Gospel and being transformed by the love of Christ. He believed there to be

a more practical way for ministry and ‘church life’ to be carried out within his community.

Chester grew up as the son of a pastor and so, was introduced to many ecclesiological

issues early on in his life. He had many experiences in ministry throughout his university

days that led him to want for the local church to be vibrant and fruitful in Christ’s work.

Together, Timmis and Chester founded a church planting movement in northern

England called The Crowded House. This book is written with the intention to challenge

the conventional thinking of what the church is supposed to be and what it is supposed

to do, outwardly towards the community it is seated in, and also inwardly with its leaders

and members. They probe and examine several problems that arise within the modern

church against the simple but immensely important question, “What does Jesus call us

to?”

The authors state throughout their book that they desire that local churches be

“Gospel-centered” and “community-centered”. Their ideas for community-centered local

church practices are stimulating and in some cases challenging (in a good way), since

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what they present hinges on the idea of lives being transformed by Christ. Their

operating principle is that “The theology that matters is not the theology we profess but

the theology we practice”. They write, “It is our conviction that the principles we outline

can and should be applied to all congregations”. The authors advocate that every child

of God has the ability to evangelize, minister, and do mission work. The authors believe

that congregations should be kept small in size to keep the focus on accountability and

commitment. They believe that the small size of the congregation allows for the

development of a strong culture of discipleship. This encourages and allows leaders to

develop who can eventually lead new, developing churches. The community-centered

church model that the authors present lends itself to an organic growth of communal

hermeneutic and apologetic development within the congregation since the Bible is

actively discussed during sermon times. They believe the family is the model to guide

church life. “‘In Pauline thought the family image occupies the primary role in his

reflection on the nature and mission of the messianic community’”

The concept of “gospel-centeredness” means that churches should operate in a

kind of missional way. The authors write, “We need non-full-time leaders who can model

whole-life, gospel-centered, missional living”. Evangelism and ministry are

accomplished through “life-on-life” interactions. Following what the Apostle Paul said,

“so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with

you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.” (1 Thessalonians 2:8), the authors

promote this missional lifestyle and instill the value of seeing workplaces, homes,

community gatherings, etc. as places of mission work. The authors also value

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ministering to the poor and marginalized, noting that Jesus’ ministry was especially

directed to the less fortunate. They write, “Poverty is also isolation, powerlessness, and

vulnerability… [the poor] need inclusion to replace their exclusion; to replace their

powerlessness they need a place where they matter. They need community, They need

the church”.

This book has several strengths. Chester and Timmis maintain a commitment to

Scripture throughout this book. The authors maintain a mission-centric theology in all of

their ideas and application of Scripture. Their value of evangelism and discipleship is

admirable. They wonderfully present the value of applying John 13:34-35 as the base

for community interactions (“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have

loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my

disciples, if you love one another.”) They take seriously this call to love one another as

Christians, and to do so in practical ways which will directly encourage growth in

holiness and obedience to Christ’s instruction to us to make disciple-making disciples.

Their high value of the Gospel and community was shown in how they present pastoral

care in the The Crowded House ministries. When faced with addiction or psychological

problems, they emphasize loving accountability relationships and include a great deal of

sharing the Word of God with the person in need while still expressing that there is a

place for professional medical intervention when and where it is needed. That is to say

that pastoral care and professional treatment do not need to be thought of as opposing

but rather can be used in conjunction to help those in need.

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We all are passionate about particular aspects of doing Christ’s work because of

the gifts and personal calling He has deposited in us. Chester and Timmis have both

had experiences within their ministerial lives which have thoroughly prepared them to do

Christ’s work in the way they are doing and how they present it in this book . Their

honesty and authentic application of the Great Commandment and Great Commission

gives the church, as a whole, solid encouragement. Their stories and ideas challenge

every church leader to believe in the potential of their congregation to create disciples

and expand the influence of the church outside of its four walls.

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