Customer Reviews

From the Ground Up: New Testament Foundations for the 21st-Century Church

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This work is tremendously helpful for the present day church planter. With all of the planning, praying, and advice out there, this book provides focus to what really matters. The theology behind every church plant must have the solid foundation built on Scripture and history. As church planter's in France, My team and I will be reading this book every year when we evaluate whether we have inadvertently moved off of our "ecclesiological moorings." Thank you, Scott, for this important and timely book.

Horrell's book is a very short "primer" on the New Testament model for doing church. It is simple in its overtones, well grounded in Scripture, and convicting as we think about how the churches we see today don't necessarily draw all their practices from New Testament teaching. Horrell adequately makes the point that we tend to draw much of what we do from tradition and even an Old Testament way of doing things. I would like to have seen a little less repetition - he makes the main points several times - and more concrete examples of how a return to this vision might play out. There are some, including a fascinating look at how one church does communion, but I would love to see Dr. Horrell apply his prodigious intelligence to the topic of extended application. (I have had Dr. Horrell's class in seminary, and he is very credible with experience internationally, in various church settings, and at the seminary level.) This book, I think, will blow some doors off the reader's understanding and really get him/her thinking. For that, I think it is a brilliant, short "essay" on how we could think differently about how we "do church."

This is a great book that challenges the cultural traditions of today's western churches. Not that all cultural traditions are necessarily bad, but when these traditions become understood and taught by many to be absolute doctrine, we get very close to becoming modern day Pharisees.

Dr. Horrell floats a notiion that our churches of today model the Old Testament temples much more than the early New Testament church. This premise is well supported by many examples. Great work.

Oh, how the world needs the church to function as the body of Christ.

If you want one book to help you understand why the church is out of order, I recommend that you read this book. Too many churches need the book "From the Ground Up". This book uses good researh from the Bible to discuss the standards and order for the local church and for the Universal church of Christ. It is an excellent resource for all believers in Christ. It will set you free while keeping you committed to a strong belief in Christ. Hallelujah!!!

A very confused book! Horrell lays out the biblical description of the church, pokes fun at the monotonus circles the church is moving in, but refuses to make the New Testament description the model for the church. He alleges that God has given the church wide lattitude as to form and structure and seems to twist himself into knots trying not to offend his denomination (with one eye on his job, no doubt). We're probably doing it all wrong, he says, but then adds, who is to say what is right or wrong? Save your money and pass up this book if you are looking for straightforward answers to church dillemas.