« Back to Issue 43

God's New Community - New Testament Patterns for Today's Church

Author:	Graham Benyon
Published By:	Inter-Varsity Press (Nottingham)
Pages:	137
Price:	£6.99
ISBN:	1 84474 078 1

Reviewed by Richard Lane.

Graham Benyon is a minister at Avenue Community Church in Leicester. In 2000 he was minister at Rock Baptist Church in Cambridge where he preached a series of sermons on the topic of ‘church’. Subsequently he used these sermons as the basis for teaching on the subject over a period of time during which his thinking evolved. This book is the product of that thinking and teaching.

The book is arranged in nine sections, each of which takes a biblical passage as its inspiration. There then follows a short (12-15 page) exploration of different aspects of being the church in contemporary society: what it means to belong, leadership, family, love, etc. At the end of each section there are questions for either discussion or reflection. The structure of the book makes it a useful tool for groups as well as for individual use.

Given the denomination in which the author ministers, it is no surprise that the theological language and approach are firmly rooted in the traditions of evangelical biblical exegesis. However, he writes with an easy, open style which is neither prescriptive nor narrow. The text is littered with invitations to think about how what is offered might be applied to the reader’s context.

Overall, this is a handy little book which, while not offering ground shaking new visions of what the church might be in the 21st century, does offer ministers a useful reminder of our New Testament roots. Thoroughly immersed in the texts, it is an invitation to regain some of the radical selflessness that by turns shocked and impressed Paul’s contemporary world and which has largely been lost by so much of the church in ours.