Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Prepare to be challenged!, 25 Oct 2008
Reimagining Church" by Frank Viola is one of the most inspiring,challenging and inspirational books that I have ever read(after The Bible that is!)Having read some of the reviews on the other (U.S.)
Amazon site, www.amazon.com ,I can only add that it has given me hope for the future knowing that there are others out there who feel the same way!
This book can change your life in ways that you never imagined-it is SO liberating and enlightening.We meet Jesus again and again-not through pre-conceived ideas and traditional thinking but as His friend and as a much loved member of His family.
Frank's sincerity and love of God,his empathy with others and purpose in life shines through his writing.He is practical and non-judgemental in his exploration of what is really means to belong to the "church" that Jesus came to found.
The only way you can understand what is going on is to read it yourself-(I've bought about 20 copies so far to distribute to others-Thats how much I value it)
This book is not an option-you HAVE to read it! For anyone who has been hurt by,or "put off" christianity because of all the dogma and nonsense that is such a large part of so many churches,this book helps you to get through all that-to understand where it has come from, and helps you make up your own mind as to it's importance.
If you have read "Pagan Christianity" you MUST read this-it works well on it's own but carries on where the last one left off.
BE WARNED!!!This is a book that you can't ignore-love it or hate it-you will be challenged!
Thanks Frank.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A book full of challenges & hope!, 24 Feb 2009
As I read this book, I was at the same time relieved, troubled & challenged. Bit of a rollercoaster then! I was hugely relieved to find that it isn't just me thinking that there are big issues with church as we know it, troubled as I realised that it is unlikely that I'd be able to take my whole church (whom I love) on this journey & challenged then to find a way to act on what I'd read.
I'm not an academic & the title was a bit off-putting as I thought it might be a bit heavy, but it's not at all. It was riveting. I was desperate to pick it up each time until I'd finished it. By that point I already had 3 people in the queue to read it after me. I'm actually here to order more copies.
As I read it I was reminded of a group that met in our house when I was in my teens & I thanked God that I had had the opportunity to be part of such a group. Viola describes church as it could be, church as God intended it to be & church as I know from my own experience that it can be.
I do commend it to you if you think about church, "There must be more than this."
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5.0 out of 5 stars
VIOLA LEADS THE STRINGS !, 20 Oct 2009
Many people have had major issues with this book and often with Frank Viola himself. And to be honest, it's not at all surprizing because if you've been a christian for even a short time, there is a more than good chance that "Reimagining church" will have wrecked the ground that we have been standing on for far too long. Things that committed, loving believers will have been taught as cast iron certainties will not simply have doubt poured on them, the words of this book will leave you in a variety of places; either with heels well and truly dug in, clinging to what you have always gone with or shaken & stirred/dazed and confused {take your pick} or ready to sound a clarion call (one way or the other) or ready to drop everything and actively look for and pursue what God wants.
Personally, I think it is an excellent book. In a real sense, the messenger isn't really important, but the message certainly is. In fact, I'd say it was a crucial message and one of the grand things about the messenger is that it comes on the back of 20 years hard experience and reality. This is no theory book. One may end up amazed at how the church could have gotten things so wrong for so many centuries.
I would recommend reading this book with both an open mind and a good Greek dictionary or lexicon. For a subject as potentially life altering as this, it would be a dangerous thing to simply take Frank Viola's word for things, no matter how persuasive he may be. Most writers of just about all shades can sound plausible ! The book {and others of the 'organic church' ilk, for want of a better term} also has the added plus of helping the actual bible come alive, or at least provides an alternative angle of approach to the one so many christians tend to take in the highly organized world of Christendom.
I would even be willing to bet that people who have thus far been critical of christians {and not without good reason, sometimes} or simply not interested in God or Jesus might find this a good read. Such folk may well come away from a book like this thinking "I wish churches were actually like this !!." And they wouldn't be the only ones....
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