Traditions, customs, ceremonies, and rites all plague the conscience of most who currently hold to dissenting opinions of modern church practices. For those who indeed seek to reevaluate the data available, a fresh start to 'doing' church almost seems unfathomable. What would one do? What does the scripture suggest a Christian is to do about church practices? Frank Viola suggests that we start by Reimagining Church!

Frank Viola's writing has in part as the voice of the Organic Church movement. Following up his previous book Pagan Christianity, Viola takes this entry and attempts a more constructive dialog while providing answers to the question readers were left with in Pagan Christianity? Viola writes to describe a New Testament church in its infant state while gleaning the beauty that came from it. While conveying the narrative of the beauty Viola observes in his interpretations of the New Testament he believes he is able to discern how the earliest assemblies glorified Christ through their meeting habits.

The book is divided into two major sections. For pragmatic purposes, Viola breaks down Community and Gatherings first. Introducing readers to the various views of the 'Church' itself, he gives fairly accurate explanations of the various paradigms of meetings, mostly focusing on those in the 'organic' strain. With the view of the church itself as a living organism, the foundation Viola operates from is always quick to remind you that they all share a common DNA. With the establishment of the various kinds of meetings made, Viola gives practical advice for typical Church meetings, the Lord's Supper, Gathering Places, and even when and how to interact with believers outside of scheduled meetings. Overall, you are not likely to get a hermeneutic that produces high liturgy or fenced communion tables from the likes of Frank Viola. What you will get is a very different approach to the traditions that this books predecessor establishes as rooted in unbiblical practice. Some would call it a community or organic hermeneutic, but to those who are unfamiliar with it, it will be very challenging.

The second portion of the book is devoted to the ever troublesome topic of Leadership and Accountability. The organic church camp often draws criticism for being rebellious, non-submissive, and divisive. Unfortunately, I am not sure that Viola's work on these topics are going to vindicate those accusations anytime soon, but I do believe they will help formulate a more honest picture of what many see as a biblical approach to such a vital component of church life. Without giving in-depth details of each portion this section covers I will emphasize that leadership and accountability is not a possession of one singular pastor or bishop in Viola's lens. The transference of the previous sections community hermeneutic prevails here as well and we see a re-imagination of leadership, oversight, decision making, spiritual covering, authority and submission, denominational covering, and Apostolic traditions. Essentially, each venture of re-imagination brings with it the delight of seeing an organic community coming together as a church, a collection of believers who all see Christ as head, acknowledge each others vital roles, but establish no hierarchical preeminence amongst each other outside of Christ.

With predictive response to all the questions that will most certainly arise from those who read this book from the institutional camp, and thus decide they wish to pursue alternative trajectories, Frank Viola provides a short but useful chapter that lends insight on where do we go from here? The appendix is also helpful in providing some information in response to the heavily debatable topic of leadership, and he includes objections and responses for your perusal.

Frank Viola relies very heavily on his many years of experience in the organic church culture. His writing style is engaging and his intention if often very clear throughout this book. The question I often found myself asking was "did he really get all that from one verse?" This is not a systematic exposition of each ecclessiological topic ever known to seminarians, but it sure does touch on many hot buttons sure to rub any fundamentalist wrong. Whether you are seeking to learn more and implement organic church practices, or you are looking to read up on Frank Viola to prove those 'organic church' dissenters wrong, this is good place to start.

I personally enjoy listening and reading Frank Viola's materials and visit his website from time to time. I am still interested in purchasing a few of his other books for personal reading pleasure. Those include The Untold Story of the New Testament Church: An Extraordinary Guide to Understanding the New Testament and a new book recently co-authored with Leonard Sweet, Jesus Manifesto: Restoring the Supremacy and Sovereignty of Jesus Christ. This book itself was not a 'easy' read for me. That is likely due to the digging into the references and the mulling over the ideals Viola sets forth. This book is not similar to Pagan Christianity with all of its weighty footnotes and references, but I still dug deep on these topics. Frank remains consistent in his thesis and stands on his soapbox promoting what he calls his dream for the church. Embodied in his philosophy of the church, and in the print of this books cover, Frank Violas writing always screams his desire,

"I have a dream that Jesus Christ will one day be head of his church again. Not in pious rhetoric, but in reality."

Whether I disagree with Frank Viola or not, I enjoyed reading this book because he is always careful to ensure what he says emphasizes his belief of the above. ( )

Challenging read, but wooly argumentation. Viola is as much a "central figure" in his own scheme as the pastors he decries- a perennial dilemma of the anti-authority set. "Get rid of them, and have me" is a subtext he never openly acknowledges.

I agree with many of his propositions, including ending the current "theatre" approach to worship- with bands, "worship leaders", the whole bling of modern church life. ( )

http://isthistheway.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/12/reimagining-church.html ( )

Frank Viola's vervolg op het samen met George Barna geschreven Pagan Christianity concentreert zich op een organisch christendom, ofwel het volledig praktizeren van gemeentezijn als Lichaam van Christus. Viola's hoofdargument tegen de Reformatie is, dat het priesterschap van alle gelovigen wel wordt beleden, maar niet doorgetrokken is naar de praxis van gemeente zijn. Met een aanhoudende scheiding tussen leken en kader, een prominente rol voor de leraar en het uitbouwen van leerstellingen ten aanzien van kerkinrichting, bedieningen, ambten en dergelijke op basis van enkele schriftgedeelten die vaak uit verband gerukt zijn. Reimagining Church bestaat uit twee delen. In het eerste deel staat de gemeenschap en samenkomsten centraal. Wat betekent het om de gemeente als organisme te zien? Wat dragen de huidige diensten en samenkomsten in jouw en mijn kerk of gemeente uit? Wat zegt de Bijbel echt over de maaltijd van de Heer, de plaats om samen te komen? Wat betekent het om gezin van God te vormen? Besef je hoe de goddelijke Drieëenheid exemplarisch moet zijn voor de gemeente? En is nu het Kruis de belangrijkste mijlpaal in Gods plan, of wil Hij meer en nog andere dingen doen met zijn Kerk?

Deel twee adreseert een groot aantal menselijke instituties die, zoals gezegd, vaak een zwakke of helemaal geen basis hebben in de Bijbel zelf. Leiderschap, opzienerschap, besluitvorming, geestelijke dekking, verantwoordelijkheid, wie is nu de baas / eindverantwoordelijke van de kerk? Autoriteit, onderwerping, nut en noodzaak van een denominatie en de betekenis van de apostolische traditie. In een appendix behandelt Frank Viola nog een aantal bezwaren ten aanzien van zijn stellingname over leiderschap, bekende argumenten en leringen die je in allerlei kerken over dit onderwerp tegenkomt.

Viola geeft niet alleen kritiek, staat open voor correctie, waakt voor succesverhalen, maar geeft ook oplossingen en bijbels gefundeerde alternatieven. Zo'n boek laat je als lezer niet koud. Wat je ermee doet, kan weerstand oproepen, mensen wakker schudden en gemeenten letterlijk en figuurlijk hervormen. Met de Bruid van Christus op het oog, staat er ook heel wat op het spel! Ik ben Viola erg dankbaar voor Reimagining Church. Er staan zoveel wijsheden en eye-openers in over gemeentezijn, dat ik dit boek van harte bij je aaanbeveel. ( )