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I read this book in 2005 as a part of a summer preaching program. Each week, I was assigned one book to read and review. The following may contain ambiguous references to my experiences in that program because these reviews were not originally intended for the general public. However, I believe what I wrote can be helpful to someone who may be interested in this book…

I can see why so many people like John MacAurthur so much. This was an excellent book that clearly and precisely states most of the objections I have to Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Church. This book also pointed out several things that I had not considered before. It seems that the user-friendly church idea has spread in many more ways than he even mentions. Obviously, our brethren try to stay far away from such ideas, but as I read, I kept being reminded of remnants of this philosophy used in the various churches I have been in. Many of those things are not wrong but they are indeed offshoots of this thinking. Even things as close to home as the VBS topic for this summer remind me in some ways of the user-friendly idea. As I prepared the lessons for VBS it struck me that every lesson began with a real problem people face and ended with how we can be happy and “find peace” in Jesus. The whole focus was peace and our happiness. Granted, that’s not at all wrong. But, it’s the same idea that if we show people how Jesus can make their lives peaceful and happy then they’ll be more receptive.

I think we need to be reminded of a lot of the points that MacAurthur makes a lot more often than we generally are. Postmodern ideas, feminism, an extreme emphasis on “racial equality,” and all the philosophies of our culture tend to infiltrate our thinking if we aren’t careful to remind ourselves of why we stand for the things we stand for. As MacAurthur argues, I think this philosophy is beginning to have the same effect. Obviously, it’s not occurring on such a large scale with us as he’s discussing. But, it is a very attractive philosophy. It even has it’s genuine merits. But it has a whole lot of pitfalls.

As I read this book I almost felt like he had made his point and was simply rambling, repeating many of the things he had already said. I am amazed at how much writing he got out of so few points. As a result, the book was tedious to read. There were several great things in it though. His list from the letters to Timothy detailing the purpose of the church was excellent and made his point well that the church isn’t here to give people whatever they want.

His point that becoming “all things to all men” means personal sacrifice and not giving them whatever they want, is a good one. He also sticks very closely to the Biblical text in this book and makes his points from it. His discussions of “the power of God to salvation,” Paul on Mars’ hill, and “I will build my church” were excellent.

However, I must object to his discussion of the sovereignty of God. He takes that to an extreme that the scriptures never reach. I don’t know much about Finney, but it sounds to me like he hit it right on the head about salvation being a choice. I don’t know about what he did with that idea, but he was right about that much. Despite what MacAurthur argues, the fact that salvation is a choice does not make man sovereign and God subjective, and it does not necessarily lead to a market driven approach to church growth. I can see how it can lead to that. But, he misses the fact that when we choose to do things God’s way and choose to allow him to be in control, we are glorifying him so much more than if we simply have no choice in the matter because He is sovereign.

His list at the end of “Marks of an Effective Church” was wonderful. I don’t think he’s listened to himself quite enough, but what he writes is correct. This book was great and very insightful. It reinforced a lot of things that I tend to forget and made me look at things a little bit more perceptively. ( )

I've read this it is a good introduction to current evangelical trends.