Review: WHAT IS THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH? by Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert

This book answers a very good question . Far too often, we cut new Christianns loose with little more than a vague admonition to "be good", or more often "don't be bad". It is as if our job is to get them saved, and after that they're somebody else's problem.

The answer my pastor gives is that the church exists to teach lost people how to be saved, and saved people how to live. That's a very good answer, as good as any I've heard and far better than most. DeYoung and Gilbert give a similar answer, though being Calvinisttic it's more complicated than it needs to be.

Teaching saved people how to live is called discipleship, and it's something that's been lacking in evangelicalism. I recommend people learn about it, but not necessarily from this book.