Mark Driscoll is the co-founder and pastor of Mars Hill Churc h in Seattle. He is joined in the writing of Vintage Church, as he was with Vintage Jesus, by professor and chair of Biblical & Theological Studies at Western Seminary, Dr. Gerry Breshears. The two provide a good team that lay out a biblical understanding of the church.
This easy to read book tackles a number of important issues and misunderstandings regarding the church in modern society. Driscoll and Breshears begin by providing the readers with an understanding of what it means to be a Christian. They explain from a biblical perspective basic theology for Christians before getting into the meat of the church discussion. I was impressed by their approach. First, in layman’s terms they briefly walk with the reader about some basic tenets in Christianity and then use those assumptions, which they so clearly lay out, to support the rest of the book. They cover a lot of important ground regarding the church. Issues like church discipline, preaching, the sacraments, church leadership, technology and the church, and missions are all dealt with in the same thorough easy-to-read manner. Stylistically, Driscoll and Breshears use touches of humor to keep the read an engaging dialogue soundly grounded in the Word. Also, the pages are filled with footnotes that direct the reader to their biblical support. The end result is a thorough work that gives serious thought to the church and its components and the implications for us.
Admittedly, this was my first literary encounter with either Driscoll or Breshears. I am very familiar with Dricoll’s work at Mars Hill and have listened to more than a few of his sermons. I also am familiar with some of the objections with Driscoll (specifically when he reads into biblical material to bring it up to date). That being said, I was a little worried when I began reading this book that some of his ‘modern context’ distortions about the personhood of Christ might be transferred to the church. I was pleasantly pleased with his treatment of the church and the manner in which he used scripture to support his arguments. He did not read into the material for the sake of emphasis. Vintage Church was refreshingly rather straight forward. That isn’t to say that if you do not care for Driscoll that you will fall in love this book. It is still Mark and still his style, he is funny and has a talent of conveying the relevance of history. In this read he maintained the integrity of the church and didn’t stretch scripture to make points. He also restrained himself from the prolific use of shock tactics. It was an easy read with great theology and fantastic use of scripture. Vintage Church is more than worth checking out.
Reviewed by Ben Black
