Book: The Connecting Church 2.0

Today’s book review is from Cross-Focused Media and Zondervan Publishing.

What can I say about The Connecting Church 2.0? First, I would observe that the “2.0” is not done as a hype statement but as evidence that Randy Frazee has updated and modified his book The Connecting Church. I will confess to this: I never read that one. In all honesty, I had never heard of Randy Frazee before I was emailed this potential book tour.

So, first, who is Randy Frazee? He is the senior minister at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, Texas. That role was initially Max Lucado’s, and now Lucado and Frazee work together, although the general indication is that Frazee handles most of the work. That being said, sometimes old trees produce strong branches and sometimes they rot, so Frazee must of course stand on his own.

I think he does a good job of doing so in The Connecting Church 2.0. The essence of the work is an emphasis on moving back from our over-corporate mentality in American churches and moving back toward a mentality that connects people to people, and people to Jesus.

His effort is excellent. The problem is well-diagnosed: the American Dream leads to a level of individualism that is absolutely foreign to Biblical Christianity. There must be a definite effort to kick back against that result.

The challenge here is finding the right implementation: it could easily become a program for community to help balance the programs that have substituted for it. At which point we’ll need another program. The loop will not stop.

However, Frazee’s book is a needed corrective on some of our over-building in the American church. While it’s not the magic wand for all issues, it’s a good start, and would be a good discussion starter among Christians.

Apologetic note: I had the notes for a more in-depth review for this book. They’re tucked into the book, which I apparently left somewhere and now both are gone. There were some specific cautions inherent about not over-applying guidance in The Connecting Church 2.0 about obedience: remember, unflinching obedience is due to God, not to any human representative thereof; a few other concerns. All told, though, this is a good book for some practicals on how to shift the direction of entrenched churches toward a better way. I liked it.

 

Disclosure: free book in exchange for the review.