Product Description

ReJesus asks the following questions:
* What ongoing role does Jesus the Messiah play in shaping the ethos and self understanding of the movement that originated in him?
* How is the Christian religion informed and shaped by the Jesus that we meet in the Gospels?
* How do we assess the continuity required between the life and example of Jesus and the subsequent religion called Christianity?
* In how many ways do we domesticate the radical Revolutionary in order to sustain our religion and religiosity?
* How can a rediscovery of Jesus renew our discipleship, the Christian community, and the ongoing mission of the church?

These questions take us to the core of what the church is all about. Rather than reformation, the authors call their task re-founding the church because it raises the issue of the Church's true Founder or Foundation. This theme is of particular importance at the dawn of the twenty-first century as many attempt to address Christianity's endemic and long trended decline in the West. The authors feel that a spiritual, theological, missional, and existential crisis looms in the West.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #80573 in Books
• Published on: 2008-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 204 pages

Review
For anyone in the missional conversation in even the slightest way, this book addresses what is by far the most important thing about it theologically and practically. -- Dan Kimball, pastor and author, They Like Jesus but Not the Church

Review
Frost and Hirsch tear away false characterizations about Jesus and reveal a wild and radical revolutionary . . . anything but boring. This book is a huge leap in the right direction.

Review
ReJesus will rock your world--and cause you to reJesus your life, reJesus your church, and reJesus your Bible. Expect "reJesus" to become a mantra and a mobilization in the revitalization of Christianity in the 21st century.

Customer Reviews

I needed to read this
Amidst all the latest fads and "movements" within contemporary Christianity in the West, Frost and Hirsch's "ReJesus" is a clarion call to recalibrate our lives to the one that gathered us together and sent us out in the first place - Jesus.

In their own words, "this book is dedicated to the recovery of the absolute centrality of the person of Jesus in defining who we are as well as what we do."

What I appreciate so much about these two authors is that it is clear that the motivation behind their penetrating and sometimes uncomfortable critique of pop-Christianity is stemmed in their deep love for the Church. While this book has a rich bibliography from such theologians as N.T. Wright, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Jaqcues Ellul, and Jurgan Moltmann...both Frost and Hirsch have chosen to step out of the ivory tower of academia and into the streets of everyday existence as they paint a vivid picture of what it means for someone's entire life to be re-focused, re-calibrated, and re-centered on Jesus.

While Frost and Hirsch are both excellent writers and engaging to read, I found this book reading me even after I set it down...it really got deep inside of me.

If you are interested in going beyond a mere admiration of Jesus to a pervasive imitation of Jesus in every area of your life - this book is for you.

As a pastor, but more importantly as a follower of Jesus Christ, this book couldn't have come to me at a more pivotal time. When I first became a follower of Jesus 8 years ago, a friend and mentor reminded me to never forget my first love - Jesus.. Over the years, however, my first love has been smothered by the trappings of comfort, success, and maintaining the status quo. I have devoured books on how to be a better pastor, a better leader, and a better Christian through the latest trends and fads...

This book, however, is unlike those. As the authors of "ReJesus" say, "it is time to recalibrate the church around the person of Jesus rather than around marketing ploys developed for a shallow consumeristic age."

Thanks to both Frost and Hirsch for helping me remember my first love and providing a re-invitation to follow Jesus in every area of my life.

A great read for those trying to live in the ways of Jesus
This morning I finished reading ReJesus: A Wild Messiah for a Missional Church by Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch. To start with, I want to thank Hendrickson Publishers for sending me a copy of this book. It was very kind of you and I pray the best for you and your business.

I figure the best way to do book reviews is to write excerpts from the book that stood out to me. I am not sure what you the reader likes to read, so I will just put parts of this book that I like to read and that caused me to think. The following are excerpts from ReJesus that I hope inspire you to move and to order this book.

"How can we call ourselves Christian unless what we are doing is built squarely on the rock of Jesus and takes it's direct agenda (and direct cues for its organizations and lifestyle) from him." Pg. 65

"Observers should be able to encounter Jesus in and though the life and community of his followers. People observing us aught to be able to discern the elements of Jesus' ways in out ways. If they cannot find authentic signals of the historical Jesus through the life of his people, then as far as we are concerned they have the full right to question out legitimacy." Pg. 79

"Jesus reveals God to us. God does not reveal Jesus to us. We cannot deduce anything about jesus from what we think w know about God; we must deduce everything about Godfrom what we know about Jesus." Pg. 132

"We need to pickle ourselves in the gospels. They must become out primary stories and reference point. There is no truer way to encounter Jesus afresh than prayerfully cycling through the Gospels and asking God to give us fresh insight into the remarkable person we find there. We must give our hearts, minds, souls, to the one around whom history turns." Pg. 162

"To be sure, we do not like gatherings (speaking of church services), of strangers who never meet or know each other outside of Sundays, who sit passively while virtual strangers preach and lead singing, who put up with second rate pseudo-community under the guise of connection with each other, who live different lives from Monday to Saturday than they do on Sunday, whose sole expression of worship is pop-style praise and worship, who rarely laugh together, fight injustice together, eat together, pray together, raise each others Children together, serve the poor together, or share Jesus with those who have not been set free." Pg. 172-173

As you can see, this book is about ReJesusing the church of Christ. It is a challenging look at how we are living out our faith in Jesus in our daily lives. I really liked this book. It is a bit technical, but it will carry you and open your eyes to the Church that Jesus prayed for and died for. I hope you enjoy.

A Much Needed Book
The church is much like a jet airplane. There is an enigmatic power about a jet as it roars across the sky using its power to accomplish its mission, to reach its destination. Now imagine that jet, with all of its power, suddenly void of its instruments, void of its compass. In that scenario, not only does the jet become useless, it becomes dangerous. The church minus Jesus is like the jet minus its instruments. Sadly, this is the state of much of the church today--useless and dangerous. The church, as strange as it may sound, is in need of Jesus. In ReJesus, Michael Frost & Alan Hirsch provide the church with exactly what it needs...Jesus.

In a quick two hundred pages, Frost & Hirsch weave together theory, stories, examples, and diagrams that cause you to think, listen, dream, and pray. Above all, they cause you to question the place of Jesus in your ministry. Is Jesus the center of all that you do? Is he the source of mission? Is he the life of your community, or has Jesus been pushed to the margins in favor of other lords, such as religion or Christ-less theology? Having read previous books by both authors, I'm convinced that this book is the most important because it is about the most important topic of all. For those interested in missional church, this book serves as a welcome reminder that apart from Jesus there is no mission nor church. I will be using this book for years to come as we train leaders and church planters for mission.