What is Total Church?
Total Church is a book co-authored by Steve Timmis and Tim Chester. Steve and Tim are both responsible for creating the Porterbrook Training which
arose from their missional theology and church planting experiences with The Crowded House
see Book Summary & Comments at the end of this post from IVP
The Conference
Total Church Workbook
The Total Church Conference in Cape Town in March 2010 has come and gone! The co author, Steve Timmis, was with us and opened with a Bible teaching session and five other sessions on topics stemming from the book.
Click on the workbook on the left for a PDF version.
Click on the conference talks below to hear the mp3 audio or right click and ‘Save link as …’ to download them.
- Talk 1 – Deut 19
- Talk 2 – Is your church Gospel centred?
- Talk 2 – Q&A
- Talk 3 – The call to be risk takers
- Talk 4 – How important is community in God’s purposes?
- Talk 4 – Q&A
- Talk 5 – Developing leaders on the road
- Talk 5 – Q&A
- Talk 6 – Life in a Gospel community
- Talk 6 – Q&A
Extras
IVP Book Summary and Comments
How does your church measure up?
Total Church pleads for two key principles for church and mission. First, the gospel as content: being word-centred (for the gospel is truth) and being mission-centred (for the gospel is truth to be proclaimed). Secondly, the community as context: sharing our lives as Christians and offering a place of belonging to unbelievers.
Authors Tim Chester and Steve Timmis apply these principles to church planting, evangelism, apologetics, social involvement, leadership, discipleship, pastoral care, world mission and notions of success. They critique current trends within the church, arguing that emerging church movements are strong on community but weak on truth, while conservative evangelicalism is strong on truth but weak on community. Their call is a call for the best of both.
This is a timely and provocative book which deserves to be read and applied in many contexts.
Comments
“In an age of ambiguity and apathy for the church, Total Church accurately and insightfully identifies the local church as a gospel community on mission with Jesus.”
—Mark Driscoll, Founding Pastor, Mars Hill Church, Seattle; President, the Resurgence; President, Acts 29 Church Planting Network
“Challenging, passionate and insightful. Here is a vision of a whole-life, whole-mission ‘Total Church’ that embraces both gospel and community.”
—Chris Stoddart, Director, Reaching The Unchurched Network
“Here is radical, punchy teaching that provokes, stimulates, challenges, and inspires.”
—Vaughan Roberts, Rector, St. Ebbe’s Church, Oxford, England; author, God’s Big Picture
“Total Church digs deep and provides a solid biblical foundation for what it advocates. The argument of the book is very compelling and at the same time very practical.”
—David W. Jones, Senior Minister, Cornerstone Church, Hobart, Tasmania
“Written not by armchair experts but by hands-on practitioners, Total Church explores what it means in practice to be both gospel-centered and community-centered. This would be an excellent book to give to your leaders, and to the wider church membership, to provoke discussion and prompt change.”
—Peter J. Grainger, Senior Minister, Charlotte Chapel, Edinburgh
“Reformed theology and new ways of being church are often regarded as incompatible notions. In this book Tim Chester and Steve Timmis aim to bring the two together in a way that they believe will help church leaders identify ways of relating a conservative theology to the culture, without compromising dearly held principles.”
—John Drane, Freelance Consultant to churches in the UK; Professor of Practical Theology, Fuller Seminary, California
