The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community (J-B Leadership Network Series) (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Matt Smay (Author)
Key Phrases: missional people, incarnational community, incarnational life, Holy Spirit, Jerusalem Christians, North America (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Written for those who are trying to nurture authentic faith communities and for those who have struggled to retain their faith, The Tangible Kingdom offers theological answers and real-life stories that demonstrate how the best ancient church practices can re-emerge in today's culture, through any church of any size. In this remarkable book, Hugh Halter and Matt Smay "two missional leaders and church planters" outline an innovative model for creating thriving grass-roots faith communities.

From the Inside Flap

According to a recent survey, of the nine in every ten Americans who identify themselves as Christian, only a third of these actually participate in a faith community with any regularity. Many faith seekers have tried different churches, methods, programs, leaders, teachers, and styles only to discover that nothing holds their interest.

Written for those who are trying to nurture authentic faith communities and for those who have struggled to retain their faith, The Tangible Kingdom offers theological answers and real-life stories that demonstrate how the best ancient church practices can re-emerge in today's culture, through any church of any size. In this remarkable book, Hugh Halter and Matt Smay—two missional leaders and church planters—outline an innovative model for creating thriving grass-roots faith communities.

Starting from nothing, Halter and Smay began meeting in homes, coffee shops, and anywhere they could. Their goal wasn't to attract people to worship services, but to be the faithful church in small pockets throughout their city. Based on their experiences, the authors offer some intentional activities and habits of life that can help a faith community make God's kingdom more tangible. Halter and Smay call for churches to take a leap from their safe environments of their buildings and truly enter into the real world—God's reality.

The Tangible Kingdom offers new hope for church leaders, pastors, church planters, and churchgoers who are looking for practical new ways to re-orient their lives to fit God's mission today.

About Leadership Network — The mission of Leadership Network identifies and connects innovative church leaders, providing them with resources in the form of new ideas, people, and tools. Contact Leadership Network at www.leadnet.org.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass (April 14, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470188979
• ISBN-13: 978-0470188972
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #4,084 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Tangible and Intangible Kingdom, April 15, 2008

By	John Zxerce "[e-mail]" (Colorado ^^^) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

As the previous review pointed out, the strength of `The Tangible Kingdom' is the stories. Halter and Smay include some great anecdotes from their own lives as church planters that illustrate their faith and ministry in the context of modern culture. Their care and love for people is evident. Their real-life examples of being missions-minded, invitational, and outward-reaching are personally challenging to me.

With that said, the book also has a few weak points. They get much of their church history backwards. For instance, they claim "People in the Dark Ages tended to be focused on God. They built their churches in the middle of their towns and lived to survive the day and keep God at the center of their worldview." That might be a good description of the Puritans. However, prior to the Enlightenment, Reformation, and Great Awakening, while `religion' and `superstition' were prevalent, God being the center of community just wasn't the case.

Additionally, they go on to champion the Eastern-mindset as having a radically holistic approach to life - and claim `Christianity is completely, entirely, an Eastern faith.' That's a bold statement. If anything, Christianity, born at the crossroads between East and West has had a significant impact on the West, while having a marginal impact on the East. As a result, the ideals, worldview, and mindset that are reflected in the West, more closely align with the core tenants of Christianity. Those would include the world being separate from God, the world being knowable, the sanctity of human life, life having meaning, and life going somewhere as opposed to life being endlessly circular.

However, the part of the book that most concerned me was their understanding of the gospel. The authors claim the gospel isn't the answer of Jesus to the sin-problem of men and women. Rather, it's "[God's] love and acceptance and vision for every human being... God's love for his created humanity." That description of the gospel too easily marginalizes the passion, crucifixion, and substitutionary death of Jesus. In fact, if the gospel is merely about God's love and acceptance of every human being, then why would Jesus have to die? They go on to claim that the gospel isn't just about God's love, it's about love in general - people adopting children, having block parties, and planting trees... "it's all Kingdom, and it's all good news." While Christians are called to love others, that's not the gospel - that's an outworking of the gospel. The good news in the New Testament isn't a message about us, it's a message about Jesus. The authors go on to claim, we should look for ways to "Witness to this gospel by bringing tangible slices of heaven down to life on Earth, and continue to do this until those we're reaching out to acknowledge that our ways are `good news'." Again, the gospel is not a message about me. It's a message about Jesus, who is more than sufficient for a person has the same problem a non-Christian does. It's called sin, and Jesus provides an incredible answer to it - His life. His good news is about Him, not about me trying to be Him.

In short, I wanted the book to be more about its sub-title, "The Posture and Practices of the Ancient Church Now." I was hoping for an understanding of how the Jesus of then is the same today and how His cross can be known now. Instead, the book focused more on general relationships, inter-personal situations, and caring for people in community. Those are good, but how are they uniquely Christian? How do they differ from the community experienced by people from other faith-traditions? In short, the community in the Tangible Kingdom seemed to be both the beginning and the end.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thought-provoking, valuable read., May 17, 2008

By	K. Lorden (Colorado) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is not the book to read if you want to nit-pick on fine theological points. But if you want to be really challenged to think of things in a new way that may be much closer to that of Christ, and if you want to see church in a fresh light, then read this!

I especially love the chapter on Posture. Very convicting to me. We have focused so much on our message that we are oblivious to how it sounds to people. They must see us as their advocate and as humble before they will be open to hear any message. Halter advocates authentic relationship, not salesmanship.

This book could revolutionize churches if taken to heart, and in the mean time can turn individual hearts to be compassionate like Jesus'.

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Radical ideas about living the Christian Faith in our "post everything" culture., April 16, 2008

By	Andrew White (Denver, CO) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As a Christian who has been involved in ministry as a participant or leader over the last 15 years, I have to say that this book has some of the most fresh ideas about reaching the world that I have ever heard. The odd thing is they are not "new" ideas, they are firmly rooted in scripture and an understanding of the way believers and nonbelievers lived in community 2000 years ago. Halter and Smay communicate clearly the message that if the church is going to grow and continue to be a vessel for change in people's lives, it is going to have to change the way that it relates to people in our modern culture.

In reponse to the review above, never once did the authors suggest that adopting a child or having a block party was a substitute for Christ's redemptive work on the cross. This book was not written as a gospel presentation. It was written to Christians and Church leaders who already know the gospel, but don't know how to make that gospel matter to people who have never been to a church and never care to.

I would reccomend this book to any Christian, especially one in a leadership role, who is interested in having a deeper impact on the people in their communities.