A Church on Fire - Outgrowing the Ingrown Church by Jack Miller Book Review

How do you exercise hospitality?

Jack Miller’s Outgrowing the Ingrown Church is a book that I think every Christian can benefit from reading, but I would especially recommend it to pastors. In it, Miller applies biblical principles to the problem of churches that are “introverted”, not in the personality sense, but in the strictly inward-looking and ignoring the outsider sense. The tools that Miller prescribes are simple: repentance, prayer and hospitality. The pastor as a pacesetter must lead by example by repenting of his lack of faith that God will build His church.

In ministry, it is way too easy for pastors and church members to spend all of our time devoting ourselves to the maintenance of church structures. Miller’s encouragement to those who are in that position is to go back to the gospel and recount the grace that God has shown each one of us in salvation, and to have God’s glory as our motivation as we help one another grow in the faith and draw those who are far off into the family of God. He gets extremely practical and sets a high standard for pastors, that requires them to depend not on their own gifts and abilities, but the power of the Holy Spirit to live up to all that God requires of His undershepherds in Scripture (1 Tim 3:1-7).

What I really love about this book is how Miller sneaks in autobiographical anecdotes on how he has applied the disciplines of prayer, hospitality and repentance in the church that he pastors. He tells the story about how he killed the church’s prayer meeting, and how God resurrected it. Miller isn’t the hero in his stories, God is, and I deeply admire the way that he constantly reminds the reader of their own need for grace.

If you’re looking for a brand-new book on church growth strategies, this isn’t what you’re looking for. But if you need a shot of inspiration in your local church context, I think you would appreciate this book!