Scan barcode
nickjonesreadsbooks's review
4.0
A few days ago the Sr. pastor at my church handed me his copy of this book and said, "Here's you another book to read to kind of show you where we're coming from." The elders have been working through this little book (almost a tract really) in order to shore up the Biblical foundations of how they lead our church. It seems that lately many reformed pastors are pulling away from Driscoll because of some of his theology. Some people throw out babies with bath water too. Personally, I found very little to disagree with in these pages. He makes compelling arguments from Scripture on elders, women in ministry, deacons, members, and leadership teams. Many people may be off put by Driscoll's stance--he is complimentarian, allowing for women to be deacons but not elders. Therefore, his stance allows for more involvement in ministry than many traditional churches allow and yet rejects views of Scripture that allow women the role of elder-pastors. I have held similar views for quite some time, so perhaps I liked this book because it validated my understanding of the Bible.
The book also has style. Pastor Driscoll not only gives information, he does so in a well-written, pithy way. So, for a 94 page book you get quite a value.
He does make a few unsupported claims, such as "ideally, any pastor who is full-time should not need to have his wife work outside the home to generate financial provision for the family." He footnotes 1 Timothy 5:8 ("If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever") but this verse says nothing about sole financial responsibility nor the gender of the "anyone." This seems to be a case of a cultural/social bias pushing a theological cart. But, thankfully, it seems that Driscoll has down precious little of this type of claiming in this book. Most often he draws compelling arguments from Scripture. A good resource for churches to think through their leadership structures regardless of whether they buy in or not.
The book also has style. Pastor Driscoll not only gives information, he does so in a well-written, pithy way. So, for a 94 page book you get quite a value.
He does make a few unsupported claims, such as "ideally, any pastor who is full-time should not need to have his wife work outside the home to generate financial provision for the family." He footnotes 1 Timothy 5:8 ("If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever") but this verse says nothing about sole financial responsibility nor the gender of the "anyone." This seems to be a case of a cultural/social bias pushing a theological cart. But, thankfully, it seems that Driscoll has down precious little of this type of claiming in this book. Most often he draws compelling arguments from Scripture. A good resource for churches to think through their leadership structures regardless of whether they buy in or not.
More...