Customer Reviews

Who is Your Covering?: A Fresh Look at Leadership, Authority, and Accountability

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As one who has encountered the covering teaching in action I found this book to be a breath of fresh air into the stifling atmosphere that this teaching promotes. The adherents to this teaching may be sincere and well meaning. However, I agree with the author, the covering teaching promotes a ". . . system that is bereft of Biblical support and driven by a spirit of control."
Viola advocates an alternative understanding of Christian leadership. This alternative does not emulate a military style chain of command but instead is modeled on the more scriptural example of the human body. Viola clearly and thoroughly outlines the Biblical basis for this alternative but also provides Biblical answers for those who would question that alternative.
For those of you have had concerns and doubts about the biblical basis for the covering teaching, this book is for you. For those of you who are actively promoting the covering teaching and are not afraid to honestly examine your position in light of the scripture, this book is also for you.

If implemented, the ideas in this book could radically reduce problems in churches such as deception, molestation of children by clergy, unhealthy sectarian barriers, unhealthy dependence on leaders to think for others, unhealthy loading of responsibilities on pastors that should be distributed to ordinary believers.

If you are looking for a book that just bashes "spiritual abuse" or the traditional institutional church, this book is not for you.

If you want to get a balanced view of what biblical leadership should be, this book is excellent food for thought...

Frank Viola has done a spectacular service to the body of Christ here with his book, "Who Is Your Covering," by cutting the cords of traditional misunderstanding that have affected how people percieve that leadership in the church is intended to operate... The greatest misunderstanding of course being that the concept of "church covering" is not taught anywhere in the Bible!

No biblical stone is left unturned in this discussion of how the New Testament defines "leadership." The reader is taken through a study of virtually every passage in the New Testament that pertains to "oversight" in the church. It becomes clear that many of us have fallen prey to devices of human wisdom when it comes to our perceptions about authority and submission and its connection with those who are "official ministers" in our churches.

It would be well, in my opinion, if every pastor, prophet, deacon, elder, evangelist and every lay person read this book! It is most certainly an eye opener. But the grand thing is that Frank only expounds from the original writings what the Bible teaches. There is no "new revelation" here, no "proof texting" and no mis-handling of the context of Scripture. Just an honest examination of the New Testament story and a closer look into the meanings of the Greek words in select passages that deal with the subject of leadership in the church. I personally found myself encouraged and desiring to see the expression of servant ministry that Frank describes so beautifully in this book.

Some readers will be amazed to find that "official" and "positional" or "hierarchical" forms of leadership are NEVER expressed in the New Testament with respect to the Lord's Church. In fact, these are largely a product of romanistic influence on the text and church tradition over the centuries, but were largely unheard of, not to mention unpopular, during the first few centuries of the Church. No doubt this will be a difficult pill for some to swallow, but the medicine is much needed, and as yo momma used to say, "it's good for you!" (grin)

This book is not anti-leadership, but it puts the term "leadership" in its proper, biblical context.

Highly recommended! Especially if you have been subjected to "covering theology" or have been asked by leadership to read other books on the subject (like John Bevere's book called "Under Cover"). I also recommend Watchman Nee's book, "The Normal Christian Church Life."

This book should be a required read for all emerging churches. Viola is ahead of his time in this seminal critique of traditional leadership. What I found refreshing was that it wasn't the same old trite teaching about what leadership should be, "leaders are servants, not controllers." That is obvious and no one would disagree. Instead of stating the obvious, this book probes the root very deep on what leadership is and isn't. Surprisingly, the book makes a compelling case that leadership in the early church was shared by all of the believing community. I believe the emerging church is in danger of falling into the same trap that the Jesus Movement fell into three decades earlier. That is why I feel this book is required reading. Who is Your Covering?, along with Viola's Rethinking the Wineskin and Pagan Christianity, should be on everyone's reading list who is part of the emerging church discussion.

Hats off to Frank Viola for his systematic and comprehensive scholarship in this book regarding the true nature and definitions of leadership in the body of Christ! This is the perfect sequel to his other work, "Rethinking the Wineskins" - it is as a clean cloth wiping 2000 years worth of "clergy dust" from a solid and orthodox understanding of leadership in the early church; dust that has kept many in bondage to false shepherds and instititutions for centuries. Anything BUT anti-authoritarian, Frank's work is one of the nails that has been lacking from the Wittenburg door - until now. Read it with much prayer and you will be pleasantly surprised at its sound presentation and fresh gaze. If you are caught between the vision of the church presented in "Rethinking", and issues regarding authority and submission, this book could help clear your view. It certainly did for me!

It may be quite a startle for many believers to realize that most of our church authority structures are closer akin to corporate America than anything that can be found from the New Testament. Such is one of the themes found in "Who is Your Covering?". The author takes dead aim at the many unscriptural patterns of authority rampant in modern Christendom and contrasts them to the life and simplicity of the Biblical record. He breathes fresh life into the many passages that have commonly been used to support unbiblical leadership models. This book has done serious damage to my 20th century evangelical mindset. All my arguments for supporting what I once thought was Biblical have been completely deflated. Instead, I now have a new appreciation for how this issue of "covering" directly effects the visible, practical headship of Christ in His church.

I thank God for Frank Viola and his heart to see true Christianity restored. Viola is a great read and his style is not offensive or demening to those outside of the house church movement. I myself happen to be still in an instutional church and find Viola to be refreshing and a good writer.

This book dives into what RETHINKING THE WINESKINS begin. Viola looks at the current leadership model (CEO-type professional clergy or "pastors, ministers, or priests") and examines the practice in light of the New Testament model of Jesus in Matthew 20:20-28. He offers clear exposition from the Bible and practical insights from his own experiences in house churches.

I believe its time for us to reexamine leadership in the modern church. I am tired of seeing professionally trained men come to lead churches when we need to return to the biblical model and allow the Holy Spirit to lead His church. While its clear that God desires to have leaders in the Church (Titus 1:5; 1 Peter 5:2-5), we need to ask the question of how many leaders, where should these leaders be chosen from, and who qualifies as a leader in the NT Church?

This book devastates the modern understanding of church leadership. With Biblical scholarship, it shows how the modern pastoral role and denominational system is unscriptural and harmful. And it takes a very fresh look at what leadership and authority were in the first-century church. This is must reading for anyone who has been hurt by the present church authority structures.

This is the fourth Frank Viola book that I have read.
One of the fine points of this book is how the laity/clergy class distinction is not Biblical. As always,Mr. Viola makes his case with Scriptural proof. Mt20:25-28 is one passage.
Mt.23:8-12 stresses humility,service."you are all Brothers."
1Peter5:1-5 is a fitting passage.Verses 2&3 say the following "Shepherd God's flock among you not overseeing out of compulsion,but freely,according to God's will,not for the money,but eagerly,not lording it over those entrusted to you,but being examples to the flock." That's from the HCSB. That doesn't sound like any modern Pastor that I know!
I appreciated his small section on the KJV and why certain greek words were translated the way that they were.
I recommend this book for anyone who wants a Biblical look at what "ecclesia" really means.

"There is only one mediator between God and man... this man Christ Jesus"

Great job using scripture and biblical principle to outline the foundational arguement for the position of the beliver priest under the headship of Christ vs. under the authority of a pastor / priest.