AND (Exponential Series) [Paperback]

I was quite eager to read AND: The Gathered and Scattered Church. AND discusses a question that is important for churches - what are the benefits of an attractional approach (draw people into the church to hear the gospel, find fellowship and build them up as disciples) versus a missional/incarnational approach (sending our people out into the lives of others directly to witness and grow as disciples). The book makes a strong case that the answer is Both-And, not Either-Or.

After a solid introduction, Chapter Two was for me the most powerful section of the book "Starting the AND... wherever you are". The authors jumped right in with a key question: how can you take a church that is strongly attractional, perhaps even inward focused, and help its people better understand what it means to live missionally and to see new avenues for ministry outside the walls of the church. It had some great discussion about how you can reach the same essential core of incarnational communities coming either from a gathered perspective or from a scattered perspective. Those coming from a gathered church might well consider a pilot group of about 10% of the church (a tithe of members) to receive training and support on developing incarnational communities.

One of the tough challenges in the book is really understanding what Halter means by the term 'Incarnational Community'. Is it a small group living missionally, a community ministry team, a home cell group, or something else? Is it something we've seen in a larger church, or something altogether different? I was somewhat disappointed to see this was not covered well in the book - rather the authors referenced their previous book, The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community (Jossey-Bass Leadership Network Series), and a resource called the TK Primer for those who want to develop such communities. While the reason for this is clear, the term is so central to their AND thesis that skimping here didn't help their cause. (It also doesn't help that Amazon reviews here on the Tangible Kingdom are downright scary.)

Chapters 3 and 4 talk about something working against the church (consumerism) and something that done well is essential for the church (spiritual formation, but something broader than traditional spiritual disciplines). Chapter 5 is where things started to go downhill fast for me. Its goal was to discuss the tremendous harmony of gathered and scattered, but the authors get caught up in two scholarly terms coined by Ralph Winter - sodalic and modalic, how there is a need both for outreaching missionary activities and groups, and nurturing and support for those on the inside. Before this the books' style had been easy to read, stressing story and clarity. It's not that material was too hard to understand, but the stark contrast in style and approach were jarring.

Chapter 6 was one I looked forward to since getting excited in chapter two. It was called "Morph: Transitioning from Gathered to Gathered AND Scattered." It implicitly spoke as if you were the senior pastor of the church, and described the need to assess your gifting, calling, along with the capacity of your congregation. This was followed by a caution to be careful about the rate of change. And then... the chapter was over. Maybe this was a bad expectation on my part, but I was sorely hoping this chapter was the one referenced on page 86: "In a later chapter we will unpack a process that every church can use that will move people from consumers to contributors, from fans to faithful followers, and from adherents to apprentices." I had been so pumped when I read that quote, yet after finishing chapter six it felt like they didn't come close to delivering on that promise.

Chapter 7 found me scratching my head. Had I misunderstood the whole aim of the book?? It was a discussion aimed at house churches and other missional communities committed to being scattered and incarnational, and discussed the question of if it was in any way useful to even gather at all in some kind of larger church service? I started to reread the back cover to find out if they were truly trying to propose a harmonious blend of mega-church style incarnational approaches and house-church style incarnational approaches, or were they trying to address the latter community and persuade them that it's ok to actually meet as a larger body without becoming a dead institution. Chapter 8 tried to pull things together and encourage the reader to think about leaving a legacy, living as if you're really dying. It was inspirational but did not address the concerns developed in reading the previous three chapters.

My recommendation after reading the book? (which was a review copy for a blog tour) No pun intended, but I can truly say that BOTH: I was highly disappointed with the book AND: you should definitely read it if you have any kind of interest in bridging the gap or resolving the tension between attractional/gathering and incarnational/scattering approaches to ministry, discipleship and evangelism. How can I say that? Because I'm completely convinced, like I think Halter and Smay are, that both gathering as a large community and loving one another inside the family of God (modality), and living out our faith missionally in the lives of those around us far outside the walls of the church (sodality), are extremely important - and these together reflect the Great Commandment and the Great Commission - we cannot neglect either. The other reason it's important to read this book is because there isn't much out there that tries to bridge the gap. In addition, there is some really excellent material despite the flaws in the book. The book would still be worth getting if you only read the first two chapters.

Missional. For some, that word represents a Spirit-led (and much needed) church shift. For others, a mere fad. For still others, perhaps something more threatening than a fad.

While I don't fall neatly into any of those camps, Hugh Halter and Matt Smay have taken the missional approach and shown how beautifully it compliments a more traditional approach to church, hence the subtitle: "The gathered and scattered church".

This book feels like a healthy balance to the abundance of missional books out there, and it is certainly less intimidating and threatening for those coming from a traditional church background (such as myself). At the core of their approach is the idea that the church needs both those who "go" and those who "make disciples". There are the senders and there are the sent. This is not only a marriage between two types of people in the church, but a union of two approaches to church itself. We gather to equip, to train, to encourage, to build up. Then we scatter to evangelize, to speak, to reach out.

The overabundance of what some would consider missional buzzwords (like "incarnational" and other words my spell checker keeps underlining) may be distracting for some. However, while this book is clearly written by a couple guys immersed in the missional and house church movements, the merits of the book and the approach itself should win out.

For some, this book may be a real paradigm shift. For others, this may simply be an articulation of what community on mission has always looked like and always been about.

It seems everywhere you turn that someone has a different opinion on how we should do church. There are those that say we need to have traditional music and some say modern worship. There are those that we should have Sunday School and those who say that we should have Small Groups. An even bigger divide is those who say we should strive to become a mega church and those who would say the house church or organic church movement is the answer.

In the compelling book, AND, Hugh Halter and Matt Smay pose the thought of not settling for either/or, but AND. What if we were the gathered and scattered church? As Scott Thomas, Director, Acts 29 Network and Global Church Pastor at Mars Hill Church in Seattle stated "AND unites the divided methods with the singular motivation of the gospel and urges the church to focus on the mission of Jesus in the sanctuaries AND in the streets."

Halter and Smay challenge the reader to become missionaries to the community in which they live. They stated "Church is God's people intentionally committing to die together so that others can find his kingdom." Jesus challenged us to take up our cross and follow him. This particular thought caused me to ask myself am I willing to die so that other can find his kingdom. The answer is YES!

AND is a fantastic book! It is a must read for anyone who is ready to step out of mundane religion and into an exciting relationship with God. America is a great mission field and this book will help you to reach your community.