'GODSPEED' A Book Review

GODSPEED   by Britt Merrick  published by David C. Cook

The author begins the book by stating that what the church in America is missing is a right understanding of ‘mission’. He calls “living at Godspeed” is when we understand our mission, live as sent people of God and thus begin living the Jesus life to those around us.

He does a good job of establishing the biblical basis of us being a sent people, that we are called to join with Jesus on His mission. We are not bystanders but workers with God.

     He says that, “Mission is the single reason why your life’s purpose is different from most of the rest of the world.” That for mission minded people the question is not ‘What should I do?’ but ‘What is God doing?’

     I feel that for many of us to be able to answer that question we must first wait in prayer until we can hear from God and then be able to see what He is doing.

     The author also talks about the need to understand that the goal of the mission or the gospel is not to get people to come to our church service. We must understand that the church is ‘Gods express instrument for ministry and mission,’ and if we realize our identity as the church, and begin to live out that identity that we would ‘shake the world’.

He makes this profound statement that would be deeply unsettling for many Christians, “Because you and I were sent into the world, it follows logic that our most meaningful and fruitful Christian experiences should take place outside the church building.” Yet it seems that we spend so much of our resources and energy on the building.

 The author gives these statistics: “of the 52 parables Jesus told, forty-five of them took place in the market context. Of the 132 public appearances Jesus made, 122 of them occurred in the marketplace….of the forty miracles recorded in the book of Acts, thirty-nine of them occurred in the marketplace.”

     The author also stated that the model for mission is the incarnation of Christ and that model must shape the way we live in the world. He says “When the church does incarnational Christianity instead of religion, mission becomes more practical.”

This book provides the biblical material and challenge that should motivate us to begin moving out of our buildings and into the streets. It will help us realize that we are on mission with God.