Book Review: Disciples: Reclaiming Our Identity; Reforming Our Practice by Michael Kinnamon & Jan Linn

This is not a review as such. Rather, I want to provide you with information about what the book is about and why we wrote it.

 The book has 10 chapters organized around the traditional Disciples beliefs about such things as scripture, Communion, baptism, mission, commitment to unity, congregational polity, and clergy leadership. What we try to do is to suggest ways we can put into practice what Disciples have historically believed in all of these areas in fresh and relevant ways. The challenge we believe our denomination faces is how to be both true to our heritage and effective in our practice in this day and time.

 Two chapters, one at the beginning and the other at the end, focus on covenant and issues Disciples face in the 21st century. As we wrote the book it became clear to both of us that the thread running through all the chapters was our commitment to covenant as a church. Covenant is the key to who we are as a church and how we stay together. Without this commitment to covenant, everything we do will be diminished and possibly torn apart.

This is especially true as we look to the future and consider the major challenges all communities of faith face today. Disciples are a diverse people with varying views on many things. The only hope we have for not splintering further as we confront controversial issues is an unwavering commitment to covenant life.

Our goal for this book was and is that it will be a resource for discussion across the life of our denomination, especially in small groups in congregations.