I recently finished the book "And: The Gathered and Scattered Church." I must first apologize to the good people at Zondervan who sent me the book to review. My only excuse is that ministry life prevented me from completing this on time. Let me begin by saying that I really enjoyed this book. I have found myself caught in the tension of the church being a gathering place or a sending place for some time and had never investigated if the two could co-exist. Most of the people that I have read or heard talk about the subject were in staunch favor of making the hard choice between the two scenarios. I appreciated the view point of both authors in this book and how both of these scenarios are very important. I won't go into their argument here, but you should pick the book up and read it for yourself. I believe this is a good middle ground for us in the church world to consider in shaping the form and function of our churches in light of the mission that God has called us to be about. A book like this gives me hope that the church can both be a special place in the lives of our congregation and also the place where we discover together the mission that God has for us.
Once again, I highly recommend this easy to read and understand book and encourage you to prayerfully think through what they have to say to the local church.
