9Marks has been slowly releasing a series of pamphlets in the “Church Questions” series. Each short book aims to answer in a few pages key questions about the life and theology of the church. The two I received for review are both short enough that I’m going to cover them together in one review rather than posting two reviews, each of which would run the risk of being longer than the text in question…
The first is How Can I Grow in Hospitality? by Keri Folmar. This short book explores exactly what the title promises–what “hospitality” is and how to grow in it. Calling us to remember that God has been hospitable to us in bringing us Home with Him through Christ, we should extend the same openness to others. Between the theological reflections Folmar offers a handful of specific tips. Overall, this is a thoughtful and careful text. Its main limitation is that it is focused on people who 1) have a place from which to be hospitable; many Christians rent small enough spaces or are poor enough that the kind of hospitality discussed here doesn’t work. There are of course still obligations on us to be hospitable, but it’s going to look different if you’re a college student or raising a family below the poverty line; and 2) live in cultures where the kind of hospitality described here is appropriate; again, there needs to be some flexibility here as to what this looks like (which Folmar notes).
The second is What Is a Church? by Matthew Emadi. To spoil the beginning, a church is:
- “a group of Christians
- who assemble as an earthly embassy of Christ’s heavenly kingdom
- to affirm one another as his citizens through the ordinances;
- to proclaim the good news and commands of Christ the King; and
- to display God’s own holiness and love through a unified and diverse people in all the world,
- following the teaching and example of the elders.”
The rest of the booklet expands on these six points. Because this is a booklet, and a place to begin rather than a place to end. For example, the Reformers’ three aspects of the church (preach the Gospel, rightly administer the sacraments, administer church discipline) aren’t really at odds with these six, but more work is needed to align the two approaches. (Again, that’s not necessary in a short book like this.)
Overall, these are both excellent little additions to the series, and are worth handing out to friends and congregants.
Dr. Coyle Neal is co-host of the City of Man Podcast an Amazon Associate (which is linked in this blog), and an Associate Professor of Political Science at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, MO
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In