I'm so glad Sam wrote this book. Many in our day say that they like Jesus, but not the church. But is it possible to belong to the Head without being part of his visible body? Obvious in practical importance, Why Bother With Church? is a wise, basic, and winsome invitation to embrace the riches of communion with Christ’s new society. -- Michael S. Horton (Professor of Theology and Apologetics, Westminster Seminary, California)
Your church is a miracle. If you didn't know that, this book will help you understand why. New believers and old believers with conflicted feelings about the church will especially benefit. Read this excellent book to learn how to love Christ's people better and worship God more. -- Jonathan Leeman (Editorial Director of 9Marks Ministries; author of Reverberation and The Surprising Offense of God’s Love)
We couldn't be more excited about this book. Especially in our day when people look for reasons to reject the church, this book is a necessary encouragement. Sam expertly engages readers with what the Bible says, and brings the truth home through with illustrations that stick with you. We're eager to see church members, ministers, and cross-cultural workers benefit from Why Bother With Church? -- Dave and Gloria Furman (Pastor, Redeemer Church of Dubai and author, The Pastor's Wife)
This is a thoroughly enjoyable book. Brimming with Christ-exalting passion and practical instruction, it ably addresses many questions people are asking about the church. Without minimizing its flaws and deficiencies, Sam helps us see that the church is a miracle of grace, destined for eternal glory as the bride of Christ. Sam Allberry has a God-given gift for presenting potentially complex topics in a way that is biblically faithful, skillfully concise, pastorally wise, and culturally relevant. Why Bother With Church? is the latest example. -- Bob Kauflin (Director of Sovereign Grace Music)
An excellent and hugely important book. Up-to-date, punchy, humorous but penetrating, Sam makes the case that we need to rediscover the huge relevance of the church in our Christian lives. -- Terry Virgo (New Frontiers)
This book about the church is a gift to the church. It's clear, winsome, and needed, reminding us of the great reality of the body of Christ called to live, worship, and minister together in his name until he comes. I'm grateful for this biblical call to remember who we are and what, by God's mercy, we get to be and do as his gathered people. -- Kathleen B. Nielson (Ph.D, Author and Conference Speaker)
The strength of the book is the skill Sam has in answering the questions with brevity, clarity, and thoroughness. … Sam doesn’t brush sin under the rug or cover up the ugliness brought into the church by sinners. He knows that people have been hurt by the church and he is gentle with them. He writes with both doctrinal conviction and pastoral care. -- John Edward Knox
Sam Allberry’s book ends with the question, ‘Why on earth would I not bother with church?’, and by the time you’ve read it, it seems a very reasonable question. One of the Good Book Company’s ‘Questions Christians Ask’ series, this little book is jampacked with what the Bible says about why we should bother with church.Allberry begins by explaining what church is: it’s not a gathering of 2 or 3 believers over a latte, a building or a denomination. It is God’s family. He reminds us that the local church is not a part of the universal church but that it is the church of God in a particular locale. ‘Church is… not a meeting you attend but a body you belong to.’ (p30). He addresses some tricky questions, including ‘Hasn’t the church done more harm than good?’ and ‘Why are there so many denominations?’ and gives very clear answers, which we would do well to be able to articulate, since they seem to come up so often in ministry to prisoners.He also addresses the issue of why we need to belong to a church once we are a believer. Essentially it’s all about needing other believers – people who will encourage and serve us, and whom we can encourage and serve. He says that by refusing to belong to a local church, we are depriving the church of a member of it’s body, along with the particular gifts of that member.Allberry also explains that a small group cannot function as a church because it is not big enough to have a balanced representation of the local community or of spiritual gifts, it doesn’t have the authority to exert church discipline and cannot share the Lord’s supper in a way that demonstrates whole church unity. A small group is just that – a small group of people who belong to the local church. He gives a clear summary of Biblical church leadership and different contemporary leadership styles, but I’ve run out of room and you’ll just have to read it! -- Gillian Pegler (Time for Change Prison Ministries, and co-author of Christianity Explored Prisons edition)
The basic premise is that church is very important for every Christian! The author is concerned for those who profess faith but who distance themselves from church. This may be caused by the consumerism and individualism endemic in society, by poor biblical teaching, or by bad experiences of church life. The answer is to refocus on what the Bible teaches about the church. The book defines what a church is and outlines the characteristics of a good church. It also describes how different types of churches might be run. It gives lots of practical biblical advice on how to be a positive part of a church even with all of its good and bad points. The short section on pages 80–83 on the church as both a human and spiritual organisation is very insightful. -- Paul Spear
