This left the church about 19 centuries ago. It was unpredictable, unlike the modern church service” (p. The meetings of the early church were those of “every-member functioning, spontaneity, freedom, vibrancy, and open participation. Why this concern after 20 centuries of church life? A. He claims that “at no time did Luther (or any of the other mainstream Reformers) demonstrate a desire to return to the practices of the first-century church” (p. Augustine, Roman Catholic popes, Luther, Calvin, the Puritans, Methodists, Free Church traditions, revivalists, Pentecostals, and others. The problem lies at the feet of Ignatius, Cyprian, St.
He warns: “If you are a Christian in the institutional church who takes the NT seriously, what you are about to read will force you to have a crisis of conscience” (p. Here’s the major issue: The non-biblical development and practice of the church “stifles the functional Headship of Jesus Christ and hampers the functioning of His Body” (p. This view leads to the provocative title of his book, Pagan Christianity. Shockingly, most of what we do for “church” was lifted directly out of pagan culture in the post-apostolic period (pp.
What we Christians do for Sunday morning church did not come from Jesus Christ, the apostles, or the Scriptures.
We claim that “we do everything by the Word of God! The New Testament is our guide for faith and practice! We live. He has many beefs with the contemporary church We can’t ignore his charges if we want to be a biblical church. They cut to the core of today’s church practices. Then he sets out in 11 riveting chapters to prove his points. Viola “makes an outrageous proposal: That the modern institutional church does not have a Biblical nor historical right to exist” (p. All of God’s people deserve exposure to this radical critique of church practice today. You will either love him or hate his conclusions. Viola takes many of our church practices to the cleaners – successfully, I believe. It would be too painful for this prophetic revision of the doctrine of the church. I don’t expect too many pastors will rush to purchase this one, unless they are fed up with their job, have sought God diligently, and see a radical difference between church function Bible-style and what we do today. It’s a threat for all who believe that any of the following current church practices are based on the Bible: mute Christians when the church gathers, order of worship, the contemporary sermon, church building, the CEO pastor’s function today, Sunday morning costumes, ministers of music, ordained clergy, clergy salaries, tithes, as we know it, the in contemporary view, and Christian education. I have a crisis of conscience after reading this dangerous, but prophetic book. Present Testimony Ministry, 2002 (paper, 304 pages). By Spencer D Gear Book Review : Frank Viola, Pagan Christianity.
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