Having read David Platt's first book Radical and having found it both convicting and challenging, I was intrigued to see how Radical Together would take the principles of living a radical life as an individual and apply them to the church.  I found myself just as convicted and challenged (if not more so) by the time I finished the 129 pages of Platt's second book.

The purpose of Radical Together in Platt's own words is to try to answer one  question.

How can we in the church best unleash the people of god in the Spirit of God with the Word of God for the glory of God in the world?


The book is focused on six ideas (which Platt is quick to point out is not an exhaustive list) that David believes are crucial for the church to consider.  The ideas are:

1. One of the worst enemies of Christians can be good things in the church.
2. The gospel that saves us from work saves us to work.
3. The Word does the work.
4. Building the right church depends on using all the wrong people.
5. We are living - and longing - for the end of the world.
6. We are selfless followers of a self-centered God.

Through the course of examining these 6 ideas, Radical Together touches on topics such as the tendency to try to attract people to our churches through entertainment, the need for clear teaching of the Word, our all too common dependence on "professionals" to do most of the ministry, and the central truth that our God is consumed with the glory of His name.  Over the next couple of weeks, I plan to dig deeper into each of these ideas here on the blog.

If you haven't read Radical Together, I highly recommend it to you.  Just be prepared to have your ideas of how to do church radically challenged.