Scot McKnight

ACTS, New Testament Everyday Bible Study by Scot McKnight.
A daily read, or every few days, of reading Acts of the Bible. At the end of each chapter, there is a comment about the verse, suggested further readings, and "Questions for Reflection and Application". A book for a reader's group or for an individual.
I won a complimentary copy from Goodreads. I want to thank the author and publisher, Harper Christian Resources. The opinions are my own.
A 5 star rating. A book to keep on a table near you.

CONTENTS:
General Introduction to the Series...ix
ACTS
Introduction: Reading the Book of Acts
The Mission of Jesus'/ Acts 1:1-14
Missioners in Jesus' Mission/ Acts 1:15-26
The Spirit of the Mission/ Acts 2:1-13
The Gospel of the Mission/ Acts 2:14-41
The Response to the Mission/ Acts 2:42-47
Audience-Sensitive Mission/ Acts 3;1-26
Courage in the Mission/ Acts 4:1-22
Prayers in the Mission/ Acts 4:23-31
Generosity Marks the Mission/ Acts 4:32-5:11
Ups and Downs of Mission/ Acts 5:12-42
Ethnic-Sensitivity in the Mission/ Acts 6:1-7
Martyr for the Mission/ Acts 6:8-15; 7:1-8:3
The Unexpected in the Mission/ Acts 8:4-40
Conversion in the Mission/ Acts 9:1-19
Questions about Converts in the Mission/ Acts 9:19b-31
Ministering like Jesus in the Mission/ Acts 9:32-43
God's Timing in the Mission/ Acts 10:1-23a
Gentiles in the Mission/ Acts 10:23b-11:18
Fellowship in the Mission/ Acts11:19-30
Powers Defeated in the Mission/ Acts 12:1-25
Patterns in the Mission/ Acts 12:25-14:28
Unity in the Mission/ Acts 15:1-35
People in the Mission/ Acts 15:36-16:10
Household Conversions in the Mission/ Acts 16:11-40
Launching the Mission/ Acts 17:1-34
God's Episodes in the Mission/ Acts 18:1-23
The Hub of the Mission/ Acts 18:24-19:41
Travel in the Mission/ Acts 19:1, 21-22; 20:1-16
Witness in the Mission/ Acts 20:17-38
Determination in the Mission/ Acts 21:1-16
Acts in the Mission/ Acts 21:17-36
Witnessing to the Authorites in the Mission/ Acts 21:37-22:29
Apologies and Provocations in the Mission/ Acts 22:30-23:11
Plots and Escapes in the Mission/ Acts 23:12-35
In Court Before Roman Power in Mission/ Acts 24:1-25:12
In Court Before Roman Power in Mission/ Acts 25:13-26:32
Promptings in the Mission/ Acts 27:1-28:13
Mission Accomplished in the Mission/ Acts 28:14-31… (mere)

I resisted buying this book for quite a while because it was written by someone who was involved with a megachurch. I don't trust megachurches at all. I finally relented when someone I trust recommended this book.

This book tells how to spot a toxic church culture and how to spot a good church culture as well as how to create a toxic church culture and how to create a good church culture that won't allow toxicity to grow. The concept applies to all organizations, whether or not they are churches.

Toxic church culture will do some or all of these when evil things are done by those in power: discredit the critics, demonize the critics, spin the story, gaslight the critics, make the perpetrator the victim, silence the truth, suppress the truth, and/or issue a fake apology. "Toxic, flesh-driven cultures breed a lust for power, success, celebrity, control through fear, an emphasis on authority, and demands for loyalty."

A goodness culture will actively create a safe environment by nurturing empathy (resisting narcissism), nurturing grace (resisting fear culture), putting people first (resisting institution creep where the institution is more important than the people in the institution), telling the truth (resisting false narratives & observing Yom Kippur -- group repentance & confession of sins), nurturing justice (resisting loyalty culture), nurturing service (resisting celebrity culture), nurturing Christlikeness (resisting leader/CEO culture where a pastor acts like a businessman.)

I very recently read Charity Detox by Robert Lupton. He encourages churches/non-profits to think like a corporation in judging the effectiveness of their charitable efforts. I'm trying to figure out how to merge these two ideas since Tov is against a business model. I think that measuring the results of a church shouldn't focus on raw numbers. Definitely not on the number of parishioners, the quantity of financial support, and the money spent on programs. I think that it should be human-oriented. You need a list of parishioners or people that the charity had contact with over the course of time. You sit and ponder if each person is in a better position overall now than at previous points in time. If you need to have numbers, you rate them on a scale of 1 to 10 with 5 being no change. If someone is in a worse place in life or unchanged, the organization might have failed that person. If your average and median are less than 5 (if a 1 is bad), your organization is probably failing. But the evaluation needs to be person-centric. I think that these 2 books can be compatible with each other.

I believe that this book can be applied to churches, non-profits, and businesses. Businesses can be personality cults just as much as churches can. (I'm thinking of Apple which is failing post-Steve-Jobs and Microsoft which protects Bill Gates from the fallout of his affairs with employees.) Businesses need to nurture empathy, nurture grace instead of fear, tell the truth, put people first, nurture justice, nurture service, and resist authoritarianism/rule-following. So very many companies need to put people first and profits much lower in priority.

In my personal experience with multiple toxic churches and parachurch organizations, the red flags of toxic culture have been flying loud and proud. For 20 years, I was in a denomination that has made toxic culture its modus operandi, and everything in this book rings so very true. Every sign of a toxic culture was there and none of the signs of a good culture were there.

This book is definitely worth 5 stars. I highly recommend it to everyone, especially anyone who is a member of a church, and even more especially to anyone in a leadership position in a church. If you aren't a Christian, you will probably be annoyed with all of the many references to the Bible, God, Jesus, and examples from churches, but creating a culture of goodness applies to every group of people that wants to prevent their organization from being abusive.… (mere)