By J. Timothy Ahlen and J. V. Thomas
One Church, Many Congregations: The Key Church Strategy
Abingdon Press, 1999. 156 pages. $18.00
A United Methodist publishing house asked two Baptists to write a book about
how churches can revolutionize their ministries by becoming one church with
many congregations. Kind of sounds like the beginning of a joke or maybe a
logic puzzle, doesn't it?
In fact, it's the story behind J. Timothy Ahlen and J. V. Thomas's
book One Church, Many Congregations. Ahlen and Thomas wrote their
book in order to explain and help other churches implement what they call the Key
Church Strategy." The Key Church Strategy is an evangelism strategy.
One church starts other congregations primarily composed of a particular ethnic
or cultural group, which may or may not remain a part of the one Key
Church."
The authors spend the first two chapters of the book explaining the biblical
and practical foundations of this idea. The last three chapters explain how
the Key Church Strategy" relates to community ministry and how
Key Church practitioners can best reach out to those who live in mulitihousing," that
is, apartments.
So while the book's title indicates that it's primarily about
multi-site churches, much of the book focuses on community ministry and evangelistic
work in lower-income areas. We're told that churches should start community
outreach missions" and evangelistic meetings that may develop
into churches" that either remain under the umbrella of the Key
Church or eventually become independent, but little is actually said that's
unique to a multi-site church strategy.
Now, apart from the idea that multiple churches can somehow remain one local
church, this is a great idea. Churches should work to cross cultural and ethnic
boundaries for the sake of the gospel. And if we're willing to take the
gospel overseas, we should certainly be willing to do this down the street.
Also, Ahlen and Thomas rightly insist that the goal of such evangelistic labors
should not merely be individual converts, but local churches.
Yet despite the good intentions behind at least some of it, this book is mostly
a jumbled collection of personal anecdotes, strategies for community outreach,
and practical suggestions about how churches can grow by starting lots of new
evangelistic meetings that become churches.
So, rather than criticize the book's handling of Scripture and understanding
of the church, let's just get to the bottom line: should you read this
book? No.
You shouldn't read this book if…
- You're looking for a general introduction to multi-site churches.
For that, try The Multi-Site Church Revolution, reviewed in this
eJournal by John Hammett.
- You're looking for a comprehensive how to" guide for
multi-site churches. For that, try Multi-Site Churches: Guidance for
the Movement's Next Generation, which I review in the present
eJournal.
- You're looking for biblical arguments for or against multi-site churches.
For that, see the pieces by Allison, Greear, Gaines, and Leeman in the present
eJournal.
Does that seem too harsh? I'll make a couple of exceptions:
- You might want to read pages 24-32 of this book if you want to read a somewhat
thoughtful treatment of Scripture by a multi-site advocate. Still, you might
be disappointed by what you find. Baptists Ahlen and Thomas appeal to the
apostles' authority over all the churches to justify the practice of
one church having authority over others. They apparently fail to consider
whether or not there is any difference between an apostle's authority
and the authority of any church leader who has ever lived since. Yet if you
have an insatiable curiosity to see how multi-site advocates handle Scripture,
those nine pages are for you. I'll leave it to you to decide whether
they're worth eighteen dollars.
- You might want to read portions of this book if you are inordinately interested
in the historical roots of the multi-site movement. This book will provide
you a practitioner's perspective on some early examples of multi-site
churches.
I know, hardly a ringing endorsement. You should feel safe in passing this
one by.
Bobby Jamieson is the assistant editor for 9Marks.
May/June 2009
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