Review for "The Gathered AND Scattered Church" by Hugh Halter & Matt Smay, published by Zondervan

The Church in the book of Acts models many wonderful traits for us. They modeled being dependent upon the Holy Spirit AND still being committed to the mission of God.

The modeled worship, ministry (service) evangelism, fellowship and discipleship as well. It's interesting to note they never really focused on only one of these five things but they happened simultaneously as the Church in Acts came together and then went out from their times together.

We are told in Acts 2 that they "gathered" for teaching then "scattered" for ministry. The result of this was the Church was "added to daily." Then the Church began to "multiply." And at one point the word "myriad" is used to describe the number of believers. There was a point where the believers of the Church were described as people who were "turning the world upside down."

These things came about because the Church "gathered" then "scattered." Too often in our 21st century churches our focus in on only one of those things. We are very inward (consumerism) wanting what we want, how we want and when we want.....kind of reminds you of a fast food restaurant, doesn't it?

On the other hand, we can become so consumed with ministry outside the church that we neglect worship, fellowship, discipleship and ministry to one another.

Scattering became a natural response of being gathered. "Gathering AND Scattering" became one.

There is a great section in the book on how to lead a church out of consumerism to becoming a church of "salt & light" in a dark and flavorless world.

The authors made the statement, "Consumerism only exists when it is allowed to exist." This statement reminded me of Zig Ziglar's statement many years ago, "You deserve what you tolerate."

A consumer church can be changed; slowly perhaps but it can be changed. And I think this book will be a great tool to help you make those changes, not only in the church but in your own life.

Another outstanding section of the book was the discussion on "sodalic" and "modalic" structures. The best description of these two forms of structure are: modalic centers around the 99 found sheep while sodalic centers around the one lost sheep. We need both. The shepherd can't pick one over the other.

Consumers lose focus on mission but sometimes we can get so focused on mission we neglect the benefits of gathering. It's not one way or the other. Rather it is "AND." The Church is to be "Gathered AND Scattered."

There are many other things about the book that I liked and was challenged by. The section entitled, "Dying Well" was great as was the challenge to help make others feel as if the survival of the ministry is dependent upon their involvement. Church should not be a spectator sport.

I would highly recommend this book to my friends who lead ministries and encourage them to put it in the hands of their leaders, discuss the book, pray about the ideas presented in this book to see how they might apply to you.

Always In Pursuit!