Forget the Fads: “God’s Word Grows Churches,” Says Author

Feb. 21, 2011 - PRLog -- CHICAGO, IL — People today evaluate churches like they do trendy urban restaurants—“how’s the ambiance?” But the most important thing to consider isn’t the singing or even the children’s programs, it’s how seriously the church treats God’s Word, says Jonathan Leeman, author of Reverberation: How God's Word Brings Light, Freedom, and Action to His People (Moody Publishers).

“Every Christian prioritizes something when looking for a church. And every church leader assumes something is most important. The goal of this book is to help people see that God’s Word is what grows God’s church,” Leeman explains.

Written with both leaders and laymen in mind, Reverberation focuses on how the church hears, responds, discusses, implements and is transformed by the Word, tracing the path of God's Word as it emerges from the preacher's mouth and then reverberates through the life of the church—to music, to prayers, to discipleship, to transformed lives in the world.

Applying a solid mixture of conviction, history and application, Leeman demonstrates how the preaching the Word is vital to a church’s life and mission—and how the ministry of the Word can be woven into the entire fabric of a church’s life.

Page after page, he urges readers to place their full attention back on the Scriptures and challenges pastors not to be distracted by passing fads—making the Word of God the centerpiece of their churches. He traces this single theme like a needle and thread through the different patches of the church’s life.

Church leaders seem to have lost confidence in the ministry of the Word, Leeman warns: “They’re told they need better lay visitation, more dynamic worship, holistic small groups, more participatory decision-making, adequate parking ... and the list goes on. Are any of these things bad? Not at all. Most are fine or even good. The question is, where are we placing our confidence?”

Leeman is the author of The Church and the Surprising Offense of God’s Love, released in 2010. He is director of communications for 9Marks (www.9marks.org), an organization that has its roots in the pastoral work of Mark Dever at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, DC, where Leeman serves as an elder.

“One of the legacies of Mark Dever in my life is to discover that growing as both a Christian and as a pastor means continually growing in the depth of our understanding of the Bible and its power, just like we grow in the depth of our understanding of God and the Gospel,” Leeman says.

He concludes, “We need to fight for faith in God’s Word, particularly in how we approach what’s central in our churches. It’s all too easy to put our faith in the things which more visibly and immediately draw people.”

For review copies or interviews with Jonathan Leeman, contact Janis Backing, publicity manager for Moody Publishers, at 312-329-2108 or janis.backing@moody.edu.

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The mission of Moody Publishers is to educate and edify the Christian and to evangelize the non-Christian by ethically publishing conservative, evangelical Christian literature and other media for all ages around the world.