It’s been a long time since a RadBlog BookSlice, where I share with you a snippet of something I’m reading. Is it a review? Sort of. Actually it is more of a conversation starter than a rating scale. My hope is that if you’re interested, you’ll read it. If not, then it’s back to Dave Barry or Ziggy Comics or the Betty Crocker Cookbook. I have no idea what you’re reading, but as long as you’re reading something you’ll get no flack from me.

Today’s BookSlice(r) is The Great Giveaway by David E. Fitch. The entire title of the work gives us an overview of what we’re dealing with, specifically Reclaiming the Mission of the Church From

… and Other Modern Maladies.

I’m only about 40 pages in (total of 264 pages including Index) but so far I’m diggin’ it. His thesis states that the church has “given away” its core competencies to para-church, social and cultural institutions (I’m paraphrasing) and should find its way back to having these things within the Body of Christ.

The first chapter is especially interesting to read as I’m finishing up a degree in business, where we talk about profits, numbers, CEOs, leadersip, and the like. The Church has adoopted this corporate culture to describe its own function. This idea is similar to John Piper’s Brothers, We are NOT Professionals.

Equally as fascinating is the attention that Fitch draws to the rampant  in the Evangelical church — which goes hand in hand with a corporate mindset of consumer capitalism. 

A random quote from Fitch:

“…[the] church becomes a place where saved private individuals come to be “fed” intellectually, to serve out of their personal duty to Christ, to get in touch with an individual experience of worship, and to pool their resources as individuals to furhter the mission of getting the gospel out to more individuals.”

Thought provoking.