Family Ministry and It's Importance in College Ministry

BOOK REVIEW

TRAINED IN THE FEAR OF GOD
Family Ministry in Theological, Historical, and Practical Perspective
Randy Stinson and Timothy Paul Jones, Editors
Published by Kregel Academic and Professional, 2011

Due to the nature of this book, my review will be different than normal. I feel it is necessary to go into more detail regarding specific issues because of the relevance of the truth this book is able to communicate at this specific time to our culture. Thus, this is not a thorough review of every chapter, though I endorse it with confidence and certainty that every chapter is able to successfully speak to the topic of its focus. Instead, this review is an in-depth look at specific chapters that demand much attention in my ministry context. 

Book Review: The Cost of Discipleship

Dietrich Bonhoeffer's The Cost of Discipleship is like reading a blade into your heart where the more you read the more that blade twists, ripping out every bit of pride and arrogance you may have had. When he says being a Christian means being willing to die a martyr in the name of Christ, he not only wrote it, but lived it.

Not too many weeks ago I was able to visit his church in Wroclaw, Poland, (previously Breslau, Germany) seeing his memorial. It is moving and tragic. There is a twofold reason for saying this. Bonhoeffer's grave was never found. He was executed in 1943 at the command of Himmler just a few days prior to his concentration camp being liberated by the Allies. Secondly, and more of a side note, what was once the church he pastored is now a Catholic parish since 1946 when Breslau once again became a part of Poland.