StormFront: The Good News of God (Gospel and Our Culture)

Rating:
Summary: Get the whole story...
Review: Finally, a resource to clarify "missional" ideas in a way that helps ordinary people grasp the significance of the storm we are in. The authors do an excellent job of charting a course that is faithful to God and inviting to all who want to participate in the grand mission of God.
As the pastor of a new church in a new community, I continue to wrestle with the implications of this book: "The church is a witness to the world, in the world, of God's coming reign in Christ over the powers of the world" (91). The book is a valuable resource for all who are tired of "paint-by-numbers" approaches to the church. "Stormfront" is a book for all who long to discover God's alternative to consumer-driven models of ministry. Buy it. Read it. Share it with your friends. Discuss it. Live it, believe it and so be a participant in the "Missio Dei."

Rating:
Summary: Get the whole story...
Review: Finally, a resource to clarify "missional" ideas in a way that helps ordinary people grasp the significance of the storm we are in. The authors do an excellent job of charting a course that is faithful to God and inviting to all who want to participate in the grand mission of God.
As the pastor of a new church in a new community, I continue to wrestle with the implications of this book: "The church is a witness to the world, in the world, of God's coming reign in Christ over the powers of the world" (91). The book is a valuable resource for all who are tired of "paint-by-numbers" approaches to the church. "Stormfront" is a book for all who long to discover God's alternative to consumer-driven models of ministry. Buy it. Read it. Share it with your friends. Discuss it. Live it, believe it and so be a participant in the "Missio Dei."

Rating:
Summary: The Gospel Storms Forward
Review: In yet another excellent volume in the Gospel and Our Culture Series, the authors of Stormfront lay out a wonderful summation of the gospel. Noting the ways in which the gospel has been reduced in our consumer society, the authors of this book present the many elements of the good news of God's kingdom in all its riches and fullness. Against the accomadated, compromised presentations of the gospel that pervade the consumer church in America, the authors show that the gospel is a dynamic, countercultural force in the world which has been made a reality in the apocalyptic inbreaking of the kingdom of God in the cross and resurrection of Jesus.

The gospel is not, as the authors show, primarily concerned with individuals and their eternal destiny, but rather with the reign of God breaking into the world in Christ which exposes and triumphs over sin and recreates the world in God's eschatological newness.

Much of their discussion centers on recovering how the gospel addresses the principalities and powers. They show clearly how the gospel is not first about individualistic, soulish concerns, but centers on God's victory over the powers in the cross and resurrection.

All throughout, this book breaths new life into the gospel message that has been so greatly reduced in America's consumer society. Highly recommended.

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Summary: Unpacking the gospel in all of its richness and depth
Review: What is the gospel? A seemingly simple question, but deep down, one that requires us to examine the very foundation of our Christian faith. StormFront: The Good News of God sets out to answer this very question, what is the gospel? StormFront is the latest book in the Gospel and Our Culture Series, which seeks to help the church more faithfully engage North American culture with the gospel. Other volumes have included The Missional Church, and The Continuing Conversion of the Church.
The title is meant to evoke the image of two masses of hot and cold air running into each other and creating a violent storm. One of these air masses is the Kingdom of God, the other is the Kingdom of this World. The church finds itself at the intersection, caught in the clash between these two forces. It is in this "dynamic and tumultuous" intersection where God engages our world.
The authors claim that many North American Christians act as if the gospel were a small ocean breeze, rather than a raging storm. The North American gospel, they argue, primarily centers on how God can meet my needs and how God can fulfill my desires. It has little sense of God's greater purposes in this world. They contend a Biblical understanding of the gospel looks a lot different. The gospel concerns God's activity to redeem the whole creation. The gospel isn't about me getting what I want. The gospel invites us to enter, receive, and participate in God's Reign, initiated by Jesus' life, death and resurrection. This gospel should radically reorient our lives.
Through the book's five chapters it examines our dominant understanding of the gospel, God's intentions on earth as found in the Old and New Testaments, the role of spiritual powers, the place of discipleship, and the practices that help us embody the gospel. The section connecting the gospel in the New Testament to the Old Testament is particularly helpful.
Few books accomplish what they set out to do. Impressively, StormFront does effectively answer the question: What is the gospel? And beyond that, on the practical level, it issues a significant challenge both for individuals and the church to participate more fully in God's purposes on earth.
Although this book is targeted to lay-readers, it is a dense and difficult read. It contains a great deal of theological language that can be at times hard to sift through. But for those willing to take the time and effort, they will find their understanding of the gospel deepened, and their faith commitments inspired and challenged.