Also by this author: Truth on Fire: Gazing at God Until Your Heart Sings, Truly, truly, I say to you: Meditations on the Words of Jesus from the Gospel of John, Faithfully Present: Embracing the Limits of Where and When God Has You, Faithfully Present: Embracing the Limits of Where and When God Has You
Published by Good Book Company on July 1, 2024
Genres: Non-Fiction, Christian Life
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How to be a church whose members and leaders value and encourage each other in humility and with integrity, reflecting Jesus.
A right understanding of honor is vital to healthy churches. It’s a word that’s mentioned hundreds of times throughout the Bible. But what does honor really look like for us in everyday church life? Who should we honor, and how?
Adam Ramsey brings a fresh understanding of true honor in our churches. He paints a vision of an honoring church that captivates your mind and heart―a church that shines brightly in the community because of the way its members value and respect each other and their leaders and, above all else, bring honor to God.
This book is part of the Love Your Church series, which is designed to help individuals and small groups grow in love for their fellow church members and cultivate healthy cultures within their congregations. This book focuses on the concept of honor, and Adam Ramsey explores what this looks like in different contexts, and why it is important for church members and leaders to honor each other and build one another up in love.
Ramsey acknowledges the hang-ups that some people will have with this topic, and he shares examples of how leaders have abused the concept of honor, like by demanding unthinking loyalty from church members or treating their interns like personal servants. However, he defends the concept of honor as valuable and important for the Christian life, regardless of how people have distorted and misused it for personal gain.
He writes about how churches should honor God above all, addresses the importance of being humble and excelling in care for one another, and writes about how the church can provide an honorable witness to the world. He then writes about ways that leaders should honor the people they shepherd, and explores how churches can rightly honor good leaders. This final chapter communicates how important it is for church members to respect their leaders as individual people, rather than treating them like consumable resources, and Ramsey encourages readers to pray for their leaders and to deal with conflict appropriately, instead of spreading rumors or making unfair accusations. I also appreciated the point he made about respecting the pastor’s wife and other family members, instead of treating them like additional, unpaid staff.
Honor: Loving Your Church by Building One Another Up is a solid resource that covers core concepts about honoring and caring for people in the context of the local church. This book is pretty basic, but it expresses important themes in an accessible manner, and Ramsey consistently points the reader to Scripture while also providing contemporary examples for how people can live out these teachings. This would be especially helpful for new believers, and for churches that are studying the basics of Christian community.