To many of you the author will need no introduction. As one of the most influencial pastors in North America, Driscoll has been at the fore of many a debate recently. At the 2006 Desiring God conference (Best Site on the Internet - Desiring God ) Driscoll did his usual preaching of Contextualisation whilst sticking to a Calvinistic Reformed Theology. Piper later in the conference stood up and said something many found confusing along the lines of "What I care about is Doctrine. And Driscoll has sound Doctrine. But I do acknowledge that to many of you the way he presents this may be a 'stumbling block'". Driscoll and his Church, Mars Hill in Seattle have been at the centre of many controversies, debates and even protests. I won't focus on this however, what I will say is that I agree with John Piper (no suprises there). I love Driscoll's Theology, and I greatly appreciate his teaching on the Church. As with any other author everything he writes has to be weighed against Scripture.
The Radical Reformission is Driscoll's first book. His writing style resembles that of his preaching style. When he says his Theology comes from dead guys and his homiletical deployment comes from present-day stand-ups he's not kidding. Using interesting cultural (one of his favourite words) observation Driscoll speaks of his desire to see 'Reformission' sweep over his city of Seattle, and to see other leaders bring 'Reformission' to their localities. What is 'Reformission' I hear you ask?
The name itself gives a couple of major hints. 'Reform' is obviously at the root of the Theology Driscoll expounds week in and week out at Mars Hill. Not just 'Reform', but 'Reformed Theology'. With his favourite authors being Calvin (so much so he's named a son after him), Luther, Wesley, Spurgeon, and other Puritans he would certainly describe himself as a Calvinist. Reformed Theology lies at the heart of a huge movement at the moment, and I'm happy to jump on the bandwagon in the vast majority of cases. The other side of 'Reformission' is of course 'missional Theology'. This is mission to our own culture. This is one of my favourite elements of Driscoll's teaching. Time after time as I listen to him preach to pastors at pastors' conferences he speaks passionately about building a 'City within a City', rekindling some 'City of God' material from Augustine, but mostly reflecting upon Nehemiah and Pauline epistles. For Driscoll, and me, mission does not start with an expensive flight to the third world; mission begins in our homes, our neighbourhoods, our circle of friends, our sports clubs, and our cities.
He stresses how important having a relationship with Jesus that transforms every single element of our lives is to 'Reformission'. Of course he has a raging desire to see people spend time every day in the Word, spend hours a day conversing with our Creator, reading good Theology, allowing the Spirit to minister to us, etc... but that is HOW we get to know Jesus more! He has high expectations of Christians to be disciplined. I say, 'Good!'. This is what allows us to be transformed. He speaks of Jesus impacting the way we do employment, parenting, marriage, food, alcohol, sex, sport, sleeping... you get the idea. Jesus plays a role in everything we do.
This transforming of our lives to Glorify Jesus is attractive to people, and as they're involved in our lives they are often so attracted that they decide to let Christ transform their own lives.
The main debate within the book is how not to fall into the traps of syncretism and sectarianism. 'Syncretism' would be the straying too far into culture and thus compromising Scriptural Truth for the sake of 'relevancy'. 'Sectarianism' would be the seperation of ourselves from culture, to make absolutely sure that our Salvation is not risked by the sin of the world. Of course both are sinful and Driscoll's advice for the Church in these areas is very useful.
This is of course just the tip of the iceberg, and of course Driscoll pushes the limits in some chapters, but this is to be expected. I am also encouraged personally by his desire to see the Pacific North West come to Christ. The past few days have seen him preach alongside Piper, Packer, Ware, Neufeld and others at Willingdon in the Tri-Cities area of Vancouver - a city I have a great deal of passion and hope for. His second book Confessions of a Reformission Rev goes into far more detail over Church structure and growth. I will be reviewing this in the near future.
I would recommend The Radical Reformission to any believer, especially those in leadership or called to leadership. It is a short and readable piece, packed with wisdom, comedy, emotion, passion, and a desire to see people won to Christ. The structure is lacking in places, but this is to be expected from his first book. Especially as scholarly training is something Driscoll has only picked up recently. He does not intend for this to be a scholarly text, and it should not be read this way. It is the writings of a pastor, who is contantly reminding himself to try to remain humble. This makes it a lot more enjoyable to read than 'scholars' holed up in their Ivory Towers. There is no doubt that Driscoll is at the fore of discussion over how to best reflect Christ to this generation, and I am pleased he is.
Enjoyability: 4/5
Theology: 5/5
Structure: 2/5
Relevance: 5/5
Overall: 4/5
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