"Everyday Church: mission by being good neighbours" by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis

In their book, “Everyday Church: mission by being good neighbours,” Tim Chester and Steve Timmis explore what it means to be the people of God living in community and on mission in a marginalized society.  In the introduction they write, “above all, we have tried to write a practical book that shows what everyday church and everyday mission might look like on the ground.”  They have accomplished just that!  

Chester and Timmis engage in a dialogue with 1 Peter as they explore what church, community, pastoral care, mission, and evangelism look like in a post-Christian/post-Christendom context.  Then they wrap it up with some great, practical advice on next steps to take in applying what they’ve shown us.  

I highly recommend this book!  It is a must read for anyone even thinking about ministry or church planting in Europe!  I’m serious, if you don’t read this book you are missing a very important perspective on mission!

Below are a few of my highlights from each chapter of the book.  Truth be told, I started out by writing down what I had highlighted in my journal but by the second chapter realized that I was basically just re-writing the book in a format only legible by me.  (BTW, I read the IVP version of the book in case there are subtle differences.)  

Life at the Margins

“We need to do church and mission in the context of everyday life.  We must think of church as a community of people who share life, ordinary life.  And the bedrock of mission will be ordinary life.” 

Everyday Community

“(Christians) are repeatedly called upon to respond to hostility with good works.” 

“We will only attract people through gospel distinctiveness.  We become relevant to our world only by being gospel-centered.”

“Mission must involve not only contact between unbelievers and individual Christians, but between unbelievers and the Christian community.”

“Our approach to mission should involve three elements: (1) building relationships; (2) sharing the gospel message; and (3) including people in community.”

Everyday Pastoral Care

“Think about how Jesus did discipleship and community: around a meal, walking along the road, when reflecting on events... So the context for pastoral care and discipleship is everyday life. “

“If you do not pastor people out of a strong sense of God’s grace, both to you and to them, then you will leave them feeling condemned... If you leave people feeling this way then something has gone horribly wrong in your pastoral care.”

“Sin makes promises.  The gospel exposes those promises as false and points to a God who is bigger and better than anything sin offers.  That is good news.”

Everyday Mission

“Respond to hostility with good deeds.  Live such good lives that people glorify God.”

“It is not simply that ‘ordinary’ Christians live good lives that enable them to invite friends to ‘evangelistic events’.  Our lives are the evangelistic events.  Our life together is the apologetic.  Let us affirm and celebrate ordinary Christians living ordinary life in Christ’s name.”

“You will never attract people to Jesus if you are not excited about Jesus yourself.”

“Our life together as the people of God is a life of poetry and light created by the gospel.  We are called to live a compelling shared life that makes others say, ‘Man! Look at those Christians. I want what they got!’”

Everyday Evangelism

“If we could place people on a range of one to ten depending on their interest in the gospel (with one being no interest and ten being a decision to follow Christ) we would find that lots of evangelism assumes that people are at around eight...but 70% of the population are at one or two.”  “As often as not, our role is to move someone one or two steps along the way rather than get them all the way to number ten in one go.”

Hope at the Margins

“The perspective of Christian hope changes everything.  It changes our attitudes to living on the margins.  It changes our attitudes to our time, money and careers, freeing up resources for mission.”

“The challenge is this: When were you last asked to account for your hope?  Are we living a life that makes no sense without the gospel?”

“Everyday church fills every day.  But it does not necessarily fill it with extra activities.  It is about living ordinary life with gospel intentionality, doing what we already do with other people and with a commitment to speak of Jesus, whether to encourage believers or evangelize unbelievers.”