Mike Root

An analysis of the challenges posed by the traditions of assembly practices, particularly among churches of Christ.

The author exposes the OT-Temple based views of the assembly so frequently found in many churches of Christ and condemns formalism and Sunday-only Christianity. He goes on to describe all of life as worship and seeks to contextualize the assembly in terms of the greater Christian walk.

While there are times when it seems that the author is for fellowship meals, the only explicit practice with which I would take umbrage is the idea of applause as a natural response of happiness. The challenge with applause is less about it being "man based" and more because it is most often used as a sign of appreciation for a performance. Considering that the author ends the chapter with the desire to focus more on people than performance, this commendation of applause seemed quite discordant.

The major detraction of the book is that the author still wants to maintain the "w" word-- worship-- and this is partly why the ideas expressed remain so controversial. He would have done better, having explained how the English word "worship" has become the combination of two entirely separate concepts in Hebrew and Greek (the physical act of prostration + devotion in service), to then dispense with the word and to talk about prostration and service instead. While there is prostration in spirit between the Ascension and Christ's return, there is no other room for true proskuneo during this period, as the NT attests with its absence of evidence of proskuneo between Acts 1 and Revelation. Christians, as the Temple of God, are called to subject their spirits before God continually, and part of that service is indeed the assembly. In attempting to make this clear, we should use terms that clarify rather than continue to confuse.

Otherwise, the theme of the book with the challenges described are rather spot on.… (plus d'informations)