The great giveaway
Subtitle: reclaiming the mission of the church from big business, parachurch organizations, psychotherapy, consumer capitalism, and other modern maladies
By: David E. Fitch.
Publisher: Baker Books
Published: 2005
Place of publication: Grand Rapids, MI
Language: eng
Number of pages: 263
Subjects: Evangelicalism -- United States.; Mission of the church -- United States.
Description: Toward an evangelical postmodern ecclesiology.

Has the contemporary evangelical church given away much of what it means to be the body of Christ? Indeed it has, argues David Fitch. The North American church has largely conceded its unique calling by relinquishing traditional church functions and adopting modern methods. As a result, the church's role in spiritual formation, leadership, worship, and other essential functions has become barely distinguishable from other societal institutions.

The Great Giveaway examines the many practices of the church, details how each has been compromised by modernity, and offers suggestions for how the church might recover these practices in a biblically faithful manner.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.
Table of contents: title: Introduction : the great giveaway or toward an evangelical postmodern ecclesiology; title: Our definition of success; title: When going from ten to a thousand members in five years is the sign of a sick church; title: Evangelism; title: Saving souls beyond modernity : how evangelism can save the church and make it "relevant" again; title: Leadership; title: When evangelical pastors end up in moral failure : the missing link between the pastorate and the virtues; title: The production of experience; title: Why worship takes practice : toward a worship that forms truthful minds and faithful experience (not merely reinforces the ones we walked in with); title: The preaching of the Word; title: The myth of expository preaching : why we must do more than wear scrolls on our foreheads; title: Justice (our understanding of); title: Practicing redeemed economics : Christian community in but not of capitalism; title: Spiritual formation; title: The need for more preaching (and penance) in the psychologist's office : or why therapy never should have left the church in the first place; title: Moral education; title: Evangelicals and the training of our children to be good Americans : the example of character education in the public schools; title: Conclusion : let us return to the simple practices.