Review: Word-Centered Church: How Scripture Brings Life and Growth to God's People

Word-Centered Church: How Scripture Brings Life and Growth to God's People by Jonathan Leeman
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I wholeheartedly agree with the title of this book and would enthusiastically defend the proposition. However, for a book with 4 pages of endorsement of the who’s who of the reformed circles, it fell spectacularly flat.

I struggled to remain engaged with Leeman, whose real-life illustrations/testimonies lack depth for the reader to connect with. The subject material is unfortunately boring and I found it a great chore to read. Given that Leeman is the principal author of many of the IX Marks series, I am genuinely curious about its quality.

The one highlight I appreciated from the book (that would live up the endorsements) would be the helpful summary of the storyline of the bible found in pages 45-48.

I cannot recommend this book, and instead would like to refer you to two other outstanding titles: Tim Keller’s Centre Church or Edmund Clowney’s The Church.

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Review: If You Bite & Devour One Another: Biblical Principles for Handling Conflict

If You Bite & Devour One Another: Biblical Principles for Handling Conflict by Alexander Strauch
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Strauch writes in an exciting, engaging and informed manner on a topic that naturally would crush the pastoral heart of the Christian reader. I enjoyed the concise nature of and how accessible/easily comprehensible the text was. His real-life re-enactments, anecdotal illustrations and quotations of notable theologians/practitioners are spot-on, providing clarity and exemplification of the substantives.

I appreciated how the content was grounded in and with constant reference to Scripture; other well-meaning authors who base their material on their wisdom and experience, unfortunately, cannot provide the godly encouragement and direction that God's Word can. I thoroughly enjoyed and was so enriched by this book (that I borrowed from my school library) - I bought one copy to keep on my bookshelf of 6-star books.

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Review: The Peacemaking Pastor: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Church Conflict

The Peacemaking Pastor: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Church Conflict by Alfred Poirier
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

For readers who have read his colleague Ken Sande's The Peacemaker, this book's formatting would be bizarrely similar; they are after all president and chairman of Peacemaker Ministries. I respect Poirier's brave confession that his pastoral ministry "has been shaped by reformation theology and Presbyterian ecclesiology" and therefore cannot claim to write from a "broadly evangelical, much less ecumenical, perspective"(p15). I appreciate how in spite of his clear experience in the field of peacemaking and church conflict resolution, Poirier writes with a refreshing humble stroke of his pen.

Why the book overall is informative, I felt that a heavy dose of brevity would do it much good - cutting maybe 50-100 pages with better editing and removing repetitive content could make it a masterpiece in the church conflict/resolution category. Often I felt that going through the content was a chore and I struggled to remain engaged in the material. Maybe the content would work better in the form of a week-long seminar, but presented in its current textual form, it needs to be made far more concise and captivating.

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