Church Outside the Walls: A Review

In Church Outside the Walls, Raj Samuel seeks to help the reader to break free from what could be considered the traditional conception of church within the evangelical circle.  That being that the church exists to be the center of our world and the end of our identity as Christians.  Instead Samuel is making the case that Christians are called to be faithful in all aspects of our lives and not just when we show up on Sunday and/or Wednesday.  I found this book to be a very easy read as it is, I believe, targeted towards the regular Joe and Sally in the church pew.  The concepts are not academic in nature but he does build his ecclesiology in a sound way.  By that I mean that he uses Scriptural support as well as early church context and thinking in his formulation.  Because of this his conception of church is more in line with a pre-Christendom view than what most churches exemplify in todays world, especially in the West.  One that does not put an emphasis on things such as a building or formal structures in organization.  Instead to a member of the church is to have your identity found in God's kingdom which extends to all areas of one's life.

I thought this was a pretty good book.  I did not learn anything new or find anything that I have not previously read before, but I think that Samuel would be a little more accessible than some other authors who write about the church in similar ways.