Vintage Church is classic Mark Driscoll (cowritten with Gary Breshears) - classic systematic evangelical theology delivered in a contemporary, relevant package. What I particularly like about Driscoll is he's unapologetic about defending a historic, biblical, evangelical faith. He is obviously familiar with church history, drawing on major Christian thinkers and coupled with a deep knowledge of Scripture writes with authority.Driscoll grounds the church firmly in Christ and from there discusses matters such as leadership, the sacraments, unity, discipline, love and mission. I particularly found his discussion on missional churches helpful. But what really stands out to me is his argument that multi-campus churches are, in his opinion, the way of the future. He argues for it convincingly without in anyway discarding traditional churches or small congregations. Apart from the last couple of chapters on multi-congregational and missional church, much of his discussion holds no real surprises, at least for anyone familiar with the subject matter. But I would highly recommend this book to anyone who hasn't studied ecclesiology in any depth. Vintage Church can best be explained as a field manual on The Church. Chapters deal exhaustively with various issues associated with what the church is, what the church does, how the church does this or that, why the church does this or that, etc. Each point is well researched and well backed by Scripture with a lot of direct footnotes.Reading this book can be exciting and encouraging, but you need to discern what is official and what is opinion. There are very many great resources, ideas, and theological conclusions in this book and I found myself in agreement with Driscoll and Breshears a majority of the time.Vintage Church is relevant to all age groups and backgrounds and can be an instrumental tool if you are on staff in a church, if you volunteer in a church, if you're looking for a new church, or if you've been burned by a church in the past. This book is supported by great vision and great scholarship. I highly recommend this.
What do You think about Vintage Church: Timeless Truths And Timely Methods (2008)?
I don't like Driscoll's sarcastic humor and pessimism. Probably the only time a read a book by him.
—june3gem
