Customer Reviews

Finding Organic Church: A Comprehensive Guide to Starting and Sustaining Authentic Christian Communities

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"Finding Organic Church" is Frank Viola's newest book in his growing library of resources for understanding and operating as the Body of Christ. This book builds upon the work done in the series by detailing how an organic expression of the church is started and can be sustained. It is easy enough to jump right into the discussion with this newest offering, but it will make you hungry for what has come before. Save your pennies, you will want the whole set.

Viola again has done his research on the topic; the chapters are full of quotes and footnotes from other authors. It makes this book an extremely valuable resource for students or potential church planters who have immersed themselves in this discussion. At the same time the writing is friendly and does not read as an academic book. It is both thorough and passionate.

Rather than build a view of church planting around theories, Viola presents principles that he finds in scripture as well as his own church planting experience. His presentation encouraged me to ask questions and to try to understand how I had previously interpreted these passages. He suggests that "most Christians are stuck in the prevailing paradigms that dominate the religious world today." I for one do not want to be a slave to paradigms, but want to be free to discover God's purposes for his beloved bride. This book is helping me in that regard.

Finding Organic Church is presented in four sections:
* Planting the seed - Biblical principles for church planting
* Tilling the ground - answers to questions
* Cultivating the soil - practical steps for beginning
* Pulling the weeds - health and development

Whether you are a student, pastor, church planter or just see yourself as the average, Joe Christian, there is value in this book for you. Even if you don't agree with all of Viola's premises you will be challenged with this discussion and will find great values to hold fast to.

Radical Church Restoration
Finding Organic Church: A Comprehensive Guide to Starting and Sustaining Authentic Christian Communities by Frank Viola
A Book Review by David D. Flowers

Frank Viola says, "The church is a living organism." Many Christians would concur with Viola that the true nature of Christ's church is born out of the soil of His finished work and moves forward in the power of the Holy Spirit. However, as Viola has pointed out in his radical church restoration series, many believers have no problem speaking of the church as organism, but they are quite content to go on practicing the church as an organization.

The series begins with The Untold Story of the New Testament Church: An Extraordinary Guide to Understanding the New Testament Church. Viola relies on some of the best New Testament scholarship to vividly retell the story of the first-century church in Acts. The New Testament comes alive in one sweeping narrative to give us a clear picture of the life and nature of those first Christian communities.

Pagan Christianity? Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices is the second book in the series, but the first to really capture the attention of Christians across the country. Frank Viola and George Barna team up to give their readers a critical examination of the last 1700 years of church history.

Does the institutional church have any biblical and historical right to exist? Viola asks, "Are the practices of the institutional church God-approved developments to the church that the New Testament envisions? Or are they an unhealthy departure from it?"

As I have stated in my review of PC in January 08, this book "may very well be the most important book written on the Christian church in the last two millennia." I still stand by this statement as it speaks a great challenge to the organized church. I believe we have yet to see the full impact of this book. In the coming days, I think you can expect to see it nailed to the door of an organized church near you.

Reimagining Church: Pursuing the Dream of Organic Christianity is the follow-up to the controversial PC. It is in this book that Viola offers a new vision, which is truthfully an old vision, of the church as organism.

RC is a proposal that the church of Jesus Christ mirror the very image of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. If you agreed with PC and it left you clueless as to the alternative of the organized church, RC paints a new picture of a church that looks like the community of the Triune God and can truly be characterized as every-member functioning, familial, and organic.

It is in From Eternity to Here: Rediscovering the Ageless Purpose of God, the fourth book in the series, that Viola takes a step back to show us the bigger picture. It is in this book that he communicates the driving passion behind the work of planting organic churches.

Viola simplifies church life as an act of gathering around Jesus Christ. Yet, much of the Body of Christ has been forced into an institution and she has forgotten God's eternal purpose. She has lost sight of the grand narrative and the great landscape of God's love story. She has been preoccupied and polluted by an ecclesiology that leaves out the ageless purpose of God.

If you're more right-brained and you just can't seem to sit down to read a book on the church, then read From Eternity to Here and have your eyes opened to God's eternal purpose. This book is bound to be a favorite among many readers.

Finding Organic Church: A Comprehensive Guide to Starting and Sustaining Authentic Christian Communities is the final book, and probably the most anticipated, in the radical church restoration series. It is in this book that Viola offers up a practical guide to understanding and implementing organic church life.

Viola writes this book for three different audiences. First, for those who desire to meet organically and would like some practical help. Second, it is written for all those already involved in alternatives to the traditional church (missional, emerging, house church movements, etc.). Third, it has been written for everyone interested in planting churches.

What is an organic church? Viola says,

"By organic church, I mean a church that is born out of spiritual life instead of being constructed by human institutions and held together by religious programs. Organic church life is a grassroots experience that is marked by face-to-face community, every-member functioning, open-participatory meetings (as opposed to pastor-to-pew services), nonhierarchical leadership, and the centrality and supremacy of Jesus Christ as the functional Leader and Head of the gathering" (p. 20).

There are four models of church planting in the New Testament. Viola begins by discussing these models and also addresses the spontaneous expressions of church life that spring up without the work of a church-planter. Viola thoroughly covers the New Testament pattern of church planting and church growth in the first half of the book.

There are four parts to this book. Throughout the first two parts of the book, Viola helps us to rediscover the purpose and function of the itinerant worker. He deals with questions concerning this largely discarded and often controversial role of the itinerant worker. He has even devoted a chapter to the book entitled "Wasn't Paul the Last Apostle?"

He skillfully presents his case for the restoration of traveling church planters (i.e. apostles) and their task in empowering and equipping the church to function organically by the indwelling Christ. Can the New Testament model work today? Viola believes so. And he testifies to experiencing it personally over the last 20 years.

In the third part of the book, Viola discusses how to gather and gives practical steps for beginning to meet organically. Maybe you are presently meeting in an organized church but would like to begin meeting organically. It could be that you have left the institutional church and would like to begin meeting with others who are interested. And there are those who are already meeting in homes but are in need of some guidance. You will find this book a great help in moving forward.

How do you sing without a "leader" to direct you? What about teaching? What about giving? What about evangelism? What does it all look like in this new paradigm? And the most often asked question of all, "What about the children?" Viola addresses these concerns and so much more. He gives practical exercises and suggestions in getting started.

In the final part of the book, Viola discusses the seasons and stages of growth within organic church life. He also mentions the diseases and pitfalls of gathering around Christ. His descriptions of these periods no doubt come from his own personal experiences.

Finally, Viola gives a call out to his readers.

"I believe the need of the hour is for Christian who are called by God to raise up the church as a living, breathing experience. Christians who are broken and tested. Christians who refuse to take shortcuts but who have first lived in an organic expression of body life as brothers and sisters before they ever dare plant a church."

He continues...

"The need of the hour is for such a people to wait on God until they are properly prepared and then sent. And once sent, to plant the church in the same way that all first-century workers did: by equipping it and then abandoning it to the Holy Spirit" (p. 306).

And to those pastors who wish to make the transition, Viola writes...

"As I have said elsewhere, transitioning from an institutional church to an organic church is not cosmetic surgery. It's a complete overhaul" (p. 311).

For pastors, he closes with three steps to take in moving your church to functioning organically. But you're gonna have to get the book to see what those steps call for.

Are you satisfied with shoulder-to-shoulder religion or are you looking for face-to-face community? It's not for those that aren't willing to endure the cross. Are you ready to dive in to an exciting journey of experiencing the indwelling Christ in familial community?

Then take a bold step outside the walls of institutionalized religion and recline at the table with others who hunger for more of Jesus.

If you've read Viola's other books, you've likely had a ton of questions about what to do next. This book shares Frank Viola's insights and experience into discovering church as an organic expression of Christ rather than as a religious institution. This book is helpful for those curious about organic church, but also for those looking to plant or care for an organic church. It includes a lot of perspective into the New Testament approach to church planting and care, specifically relating to Paul's ministry in Ephesus, Rome and other cities, how that was a natural extension of Christ's ministry, and how that ministry continues today in an organic way.

I've read all of Viola's other books and this is the most practical. It covers just about everything related to organic church, including special sections for people who are looking for an organic church, sections for church planters of all kinds, and sections for pastors and leaders who want to transition from institutional to organic. The section on frequently asked questions is really helpful. This isn't a house church book, it's much more comprehensive and deals with organic expressions of the body of Christ in any place.

This book will undoubtedly come as a much needed resource to all those who are seeking to live out their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ organically outside the religious systems of today. It is unique in that it gives a balanced discourse between the spiritual and the practical side of organic church life. For example, Viola early on lays out the spiritual principle that organic church life is rooted in the Godhead in eternity past where three things were occurring: an exchange of divine life, an exchange of divine fellowship and a divine purpose to enlarge that life and fellowship. It was amazing to see these three elements unfolded and passed down from the Father to Jesus, then to his disciples and eventually to the church in the book of Acts. If a church is not living and being sustained by divine life, then what you would ultimately end up with is something man made. This is what "authentic" means to me: that something is actually `of the spirit' originating in the very life of God through His body. Have you ever hungered for something authentic?

There are other extremely significant spiritual principles laid out in the first few chapters of the book related to the restoration of true apostolic workers, and biblical church planting methods. In a world today with endless missionary/evangelistic methods that have probably touched us all at one point or another, Viola finally comes to draw the line between our ways and God's ways of raising up churches and church planters. Even though I have read the book of Acts and the Epistles many times before, I somehow failed to see/understand the apostolic activities of the 1st century. Something `of old' is being dug up and restored today.

Finally, this book redefines the meaning of the word `practical'. I have never read a book so practical that it even suggests the optimal room temperature for a house church meeting! Believe me, you won't be left stranded with spiritual principles and questions like "How do we do this?" or "How do we start?" Viola gives us a lot of help in actually finding organic church life as the book is so appropriately titled.

One of the lines that impacted me the most occurs in chapter 19 which reads: "If you focus on the church, you will get division. But if you focus on Christ and embrace His cross, you will get the church."

Frank Viola continues his quest to challenge all 'church-goers' to think and rethink what 'church' is! Wow! very well-researched and well-written.... I read a couple books a week, and this - for me - was like a "can't-put-it-down-novel"! Got it last week and finished it over the Labor Day weekend...kudos and well done, my brother! still digesting, and am about to re-read it! thank you for your passion for this foundational work!

Frank Viola is a renowned writer and speaker whose previous books have attracted a great deal of attention, both positive and negative from the Christian Community. Previous books by Viola include Pagan Christianity?: Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices which was co-written with George Barna. Additional books by Viola have included Reimagining Church: Pursuing the Dream of Organic Christianity and From Eternity to Here: Rediscovering the Ageless Purpose of God.

It has been interesting and educational to read through these primary volumes of Viola and to see the traditional ecclesiology (study of the church) not just challenged and deconstructed but an alternative lain down that provides first a Biblically derived and defended perspective and then a culmination in this book of how to practically begin to build an Organic Church.

Appropriately enough, Viola outlines the growth of an Organic Church through the metaphor of a growing plant and divides his approach into four sections.

1. Planting the Seed.
2. Tilling the Ground.
3. Cultivating the Soil.
4. Pulling the Weeds.

Common criticisms of Viola that I've observed in the past usually focus upon the theme that he tears down without building; or that he advocates the "easy path" of walking away from the institutional church rather than the difficult work of reclaiming and restoring. Anyone who reads this book with a degree of objectivity will have to conclude that the path being advocated here is far from easy. The dropping of the walls that preclude sincere fellowship brings about a path that is bittersweet and Viola is not shy in relating from his experience and observation the multitude of pitfalls, difficulties and risk that a path like this invites.

As would be expected from Viola's past works, the writing is strong. Biblical references are plentiful and great pains are taken to place them into context. References to other writers as well abound with care taken to quote them at length and in context as well. Anecdotal stories from Viola's 20 plus years observing, participating and assisting organic churches to grow take things from a purely theoretical perspective and provide credibility to the statements made.

Make no mistake about it. This is a dangerous book. It flies in the face of much of what churches and clergy have assumed to be true about the body of Christ. It flies in the face of traditional hierarchical power structures. It is no easy path. There is little middle ground and as such, as is the case of much of Viola's prior works I expect it will generate no small amount of reaction, both positive and negative.

In terms though, of providing a biblical and hopeful path for the growing segment of Christendom that is observing the mess of institutions built upon the traditions of men, this offers hope that there is more than the occasional breeze of revival and reform to those either trapped within or unwilling to enter rote religion. There is life. There is a return, not to culture and traditions of old, but to the life of pure and undefiled relationship with Christ that can course again in a living organism of relationship, sacrificial love and a willingness to take a risk upon God and one's brothers and sisters in Christ.

This book is life-changing and worth reading again and again.

5 stars.

Bart Breen

Frank Viola has presented for us here a very comprehensive look at organic church and organic church planting. However, I feel that there is much confusion about those terms in the alternative church landscape right now. What does it mean that a church is "organic"? And what does it mean to plant these types of churches?

Frank does a great job in describing both in this new work. He draws from three sources to make his case: the New Testament, church history, and his own 21 years of experience both being in and planting such churches.

I have recently seen than many in the so called "house church movement" are drawing from other sources such as the business world and the internet to make their cases for network marketing the church and rapid church multiplication. This tells me that perhaps there are no other sources to back up these methods.

How about if we get back to the New Testament story and the history of those who have gone before us to find out what "organic church" really is? Viola does exactly that in "Finding Organic Church" and it is a very important contribution to what God is saying to the church today.

I was very excited to read this book. At the very start I was somewhat put off by Viola's view of the Trinity that is at the edge of the envelope to such a degree it almost denies the oneness of God. Secondly, Viola recommends reading his books, seemingly INSTEAD of the Bible in his church services, at least at the start of a new church. That is troubling to me. Is it Church or something else? The Holy Spirit uses the Word to change lives. To seemingly diminish it, especially in a church service, is disturbing. Thirdly, he ignores or misconstrues the Scriptures that obviously establish the role of servant-leadership in the New Testament Church and acts as if Ephesians 4, 1st Peter 5, Hebrews 13 and other like Scriptures do not exist. But he then talks about the role of "apostles" (perhaps like himself) that he seems to allow some authority that the local church would do well to heed. However he doesn't seem to recognize any other leaders in the church. Christ is the Head of the Church but to say that there aren't men whose God called function is to lead His people is a false kind of spirituality. God ordained SERVANT-leadership throughout the Scriptures. Viola uses a technique of stringing together Scripture references, sometimes questionable in his application or interpretation,to seemingly prove whatever point he is trying to make by the sheer number listed, while ignoring others that touch on the same subject and may call his point into question. If he handles Scripture as poorly in his other books as he does in this one, all that he says should be very carefully examined, knowing his method of "scholarship." Finally, he sets about to establish a new orthopraxy that is every bit as constraining as that of which he says we must be free.

All of the elements described in his churches I have seen in traditional churches as well, both good and bad.

There are some good things in the book and I believe Viola's heart is in the right place but that he has fallen victim to some of the things of which he accuses others. I wouldn't buy the book again. Be careful and sensitive to the Holy Spirit, and stay in the Word.

If you want a good book on Organic Church or Simple Church, read Neil Cole.

As someone who left the traditional church structure years ago, I've spent many years accumulating more questions than answers. "Finding Organic Church" gives a tremendous overview of the subject of church planting, formation, and nurturing for the kind of church that we all long for. The book answered so many of my questions in a practical way. This is a tremendous resource for anyone who has a heart for seeing authentic Christian communities raised up in our time.