Rediscovering God's Church - Derek Prince

Published by Derek Prince Ministries International/Whitaker House: New Kensington, PA, USA, 2006.

In terms of theology, this is a brilliant and helpful book. Prince looks at what the bible says about the church, including its leadership structure, and presents what he believes it shows in clear detail, with numerous verses to support his view. As Prince himself states in terms of intention: "If we are going to build the real church, we will have to work very hard to get down to the biblical bedrock. We must remove layers of assumptions, traditions, and erroneous teaching to lay a pure foundation. That is what I hope this book will help to accomplish." (page 167). Of course, any opinion should be taken back to the Bible, but Prince does make this easier with his references.

I enjoy Prince's theology, which - like my own - tries to take the Bible at face-value as often as possible (genre allowing). This means that, in terms of a New Testament understanding of church, Prince accepts that signs and wonders should be a part of the picture: "Once, a preacher was speaking on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. At the end of his message, a lady came up to him and said, "Brother, we don't have these gifts in our church." He said, "Well, they have them in the church of Jesus Christ. Which is your church?" (page 28) But Prince also takes the time to consider why things like this may not be as common in some churches: "You have probably heard the complaint, "Lord, the signs don't follow!" The answer is that they are promised only to those who go! [in Mark 16:15-17] You may also have heard the saying that it is difficult to follow a parked car. A large part of the body of Christ is a parked car, parked on the church parking lot with no vision beyond it." (page 175) Statements like this are good challenges to modern Western believers.

A good chunk of the book simply describes the New Testament ministries and gifting and what they look like - including what the New Testament qualifications for church leadership are. This means that this book is a helpful resource for those, like myself, who are in church leadership and looking to make sure they are following God's principles in how they do things.

Work a read in that context. Interesting in a Christian context.

Completed 15 January 2024.

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