Book Nook: April 2018

Understanding church fellowship

Deathtraps are those things that hinder faith or prevent sinners from coming to faith.  We avoid deathtraps when we are in the Word. The Joy of Gathering Around the Truth is the subtitle to Escaping the Deathtraps and tells us how to escape the deathtraps.

Church fellowship can be a deathtrap when it is misunderstood or misapplied. This book, written by Dr. Terry Schultz, explains church fellowship and answers questions many of us have about fellowship in a series of 21 Bible studies. It is set in a Peruvian village, but it could be anywhere. The studies begin with questions from the congregation. Pastor Pedro uses stories and God’s Word to answer the questions. Sometimes the stories are told by the church members.

The stories are told orally, with pictures, with music, with drama, and with humor. The stories teach biblical doctrines so that, with a clear understanding of doctrine, church fellowship practices are better understood.

Don’t expect to read this book in one sitting. Use it instead for group Bible study, book clubs, personal or family devotions. Read a story—a chapter—a week or even a chapter a day and answer the study questions at the end of each chapter. The questions will help with practical applications. You will have a better understanding of what we believe and how we can share God’s love with our neighbors.

Teaching methods vary, and this book shows you don’t have to sit still in a classroom or lecture hall to study God’s Word. You can laugh; you can dance; you can sing; you can cry; you can even use practical jokes. Telling stories to teach biblical truths worked well and brought joy to the members of this Peruvian church—as it will for you.

Mark Schulz  
      Milton, Wisconsin 

Price: $18.99 nph.net

Author:
Volume 105, Number 4
Issue: April 2018

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