By Katy Devereaux
Building Authentic Community, a new book on the church by FGBC moderator Tim Boal, has been released by BMH Books and is available for shipping. The book is being used as a text for the five regional Focus Retreats this year and next.
Do you find fulfillment in your local church? Many Christians in North America do not, and some even hate the church in general because of its cultural form. Building Authentic Community explores the question, “How does Jesus feel about His church?”
Boal probes the decline of modernism and the rise of postmodernism to show why so many Americans are dissatisfied in their local churches. He writes, “One finds again and again in Christian postmodern thought the desire for a greater love for Jesus and a diminishing appreciation for the structures of the church. Relationship and journey are emphasized over rules and destination.”
As Boal explains, the gospel is the means for true relationship in community, and “family” in the Bible can be used as a metaphor for the church. “How about your own local church? Is it all God wants it to be? It can be. Some have found a church home that is a great blessing and from which true Christian love and mission exude.”
Referring to God’s church as “His family,” Boal uses five chapters to show how God creates His family, how the family is formed, how it can follow the Father, how it is established, and how it can reach the world. With worksheets for churches and individuals to measure themselves against biblical standards, Building Authentic Community explains God’s plan for the church.
An experienced pastor, church-planter, and mission executive, Boal is pastor of Penn Valley Grace Brethren Church in Telford, Pennsylvania and the executive director of Grace Brethren North American Missions.
He served as president of the Association of Grace Brethren Ministers for two years and is the moderator of the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches this year. He and his wife Tammy live in Pennsylvania with their three sons, Benjamin, Daniel, and Andrew.
Now available from BMH Books, Building Authentic Community retails for $13.99 and the ISBN number is 0-88469-307-4. To order, call 1-800-348-2756 or log onto www.bmhbooks.com.
