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Mustard Seed vs. McWorld
A guide for helping Christians understand the rapid-fire global changes in society and grasp God's perspective of working through the seemingly insignificant to effect lasting change.
256 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1999
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
February 7, 2020
Tom Sine belongs to a rare breed of thinkers who dares to take seriously Jesus' teaching of the kingdom of God. He applies his futurist's foresight to what the world can be like if enough Christians start taking the Lord's call to be the salt of the earth and mustard seeds of faith. Too often, we have given ourselves the excuse that we can remain where we are in our secular vocation and continue to do the Lord's work just as faithfully. Without debunking this approach absolutely (as it certainly works for some), Sine gives us the pause by pointing out that in practice that has easily become for many Christians a safe cover for building our own empires while leaving a mere pittance of time, energy, money and other resources for the Kingdom of God. Sunday is a day where we give a polite nod to the revolutinary message of Jesus but the rest of the workaday week is business as usual! The Bible has some strong words for such a subterfuge!
Yet, this book is not simply a book of diagnosis or indictment but a concrete proposal for implementing a 'mustard seed' program(s) that takes seriously the issues of poverty, social injustice, fragmentation of society, environmental pollution and other contemporary ills that come with McWorld - the world of globalization - and poses a challenge to Christians who will take up the call courageously to revamp their whole way of life in the light of Jesus' call of discipleship. It is one of those rare Christian resources that do not delve merely in abstractions and generalities but is committed to working out the brass tags of what it means to be Christ's followers in the 21st century. This is a brilliant exercise in what Walter Brueggemann calls 'hopeful imagination' that will call into question the status quo, bundled with lots of helpful data and practical strategies that will usher in the new millenium. One has to ready himself for the challenge as he opens this book.
Yet, this book is not simply a book of diagnosis or indictment but a concrete proposal for implementing a 'mustard seed' program(s) that takes seriously the issues of poverty, social injustice, fragmentation of society, environmental pollution and other contemporary ills that come with McWorld - the world of globalization - and poses a challenge to Christians who will take up the call courageously to revamp their whole way of life in the light of Jesus' call of discipleship. It is one of those rare Christian resources that do not delve merely in abstractions and generalities but is committed to working out the brass tags of what it means to be Christ's followers in the 21st century. This is a brilliant exercise in what Walter Brueggemann calls 'hopeful imagination' that will call into question the status quo, bundled with lots of helpful data and practical strategies that will usher in the new millenium. One has to ready himself for the challenge as he opens this book.
January 5, 2015
I felt so different about the first and second halves of this book that I want to split them up for the review.
Part 1, A Crisis of Foresight, was about discerning the future and taking it seriously. A major focus was on how Christian culture has failed to anticipate the impact on values and behavior that the new global economy and explosion of commercialism has had on society. I didn’t get much out of this – it seemed like another way to motivate readers, but you could get the same results by responding in a Godly way to present realities. I feel that bringing in such a focus on discerning the future is suspect. However, this section does include the most material on what McWorld is and the dangers it entails.
Part 2, A Crisis of Vision, summarizes how the church has adopted the secular values of McWorld rather than Godly values. It calls on churches and Christians to back up, look at the Bible, and understand what it really means to follow in Jesus’s footsteps and promote the Kingdom of God. Sine calls out the Enlightenment-era separation between spiritual and material.
Part 3, A Crisis of Creativity, gives pratical ideas on how we can creatively reinvent our lives and mission to fit God’s vision and get away from the world’s rat race. I found parts 2 and 3 to be much more interesting and helpful than part 1, and think the book could have been improved by taking the “future-looking” material out of the first part and them splitting Part 2 between parts 1 and 3. However, Sine is a futurist, and this is what he does, so I can’t really expect that he would see it the same way I do.
This book does not use a formatting or storytelling style that I like very much at all. I think the early parts have too much of a focus on the future, and I don’t agree with how he phrases many later parts. But the overall message is so on-point that it makes up a lot for the deficiencies. Sine summarizes it well himself like this:
"The themes of the American dream are accumulating, upscaling, status, power, consumerism, individualism, and self-actualization. The themes of the homecoming future of God are justice for the poor, peace for the nations, the redemption of the people of God, a restoration of community, a renewal of creation, and a celebration of the shalom purposes of God for a people and a world. These are not two version of the same dream. These are totally different dreams. One is born out of an ancient faith. The other is the product of an Enlightenment vision of Western progress."
There are also a lot of positive creative ideas sprinkled throughout the book, many of which are quite outside the box of traditional thinking. For the truth of the overall message and the possibilities sparked by the creative ideas that are shared, the book is well worth a careful read.
Part 1, A Crisis of Foresight, was about discerning the future and taking it seriously. A major focus was on how Christian culture has failed to anticipate the impact on values and behavior that the new global economy and explosion of commercialism has had on society. I didn’t get much out of this – it seemed like another way to motivate readers, but you could get the same results by responding in a Godly way to present realities. I feel that bringing in such a focus on discerning the future is suspect. However, this section does include the most material on what McWorld is and the dangers it entails.
Part 2, A Crisis of Vision, summarizes how the church has adopted the secular values of McWorld rather than Godly values. It calls on churches and Christians to back up, look at the Bible, and understand what it really means to follow in Jesus’s footsteps and promote the Kingdom of God. Sine calls out the Enlightenment-era separation between spiritual and material.
Part 3, A Crisis of Creativity, gives pratical ideas on how we can creatively reinvent our lives and mission to fit God’s vision and get away from the world’s rat race. I found parts 2 and 3 to be much more interesting and helpful than part 1, and think the book could have been improved by taking the “future-looking” material out of the first part and them splitting Part 2 between parts 1 and 3. However, Sine is a futurist, and this is what he does, so I can’t really expect that he would see it the same way I do.
This book does not use a formatting or storytelling style that I like very much at all. I think the early parts have too much of a focus on the future, and I don’t agree with how he phrases many later parts. But the overall message is so on-point that it makes up a lot for the deficiencies. Sine summarizes it well himself like this:
"The themes of the American dream are accumulating, upscaling, status, power, consumerism, individualism, and self-actualization. The themes of the homecoming future of God are justice for the poor, peace for the nations, the redemption of the people of God, a restoration of community, a renewal of creation, and a celebration of the shalom purposes of God for a people and a world. These are not two version of the same dream. These are totally different dreams. One is born out of an ancient faith. The other is the product of an Enlightenment vision of Western progress."
There are also a lot of positive creative ideas sprinkled throughout the book, many of which are quite outside the box of traditional thinking. For the truth of the overall message and the possibilities sparked by the creative ideas that are shared, the book is well worth a careful read.
September 21, 2008
This book published by futurist Tom Sine in 1999 has outstanding references (for example, Ravi Zacharias wrote the foreword). However, it being 2008 at the time of this review, it's already out of date.
April 30, 2010
This is a good book, one that I should have read years ago. It is somewhat dated now, and superseded by "The New Conspirators" (2008). But there many suggestions that are still pertinent to the challenges Christian leaders face today.
June 5, 2007
This is a challenging book sure to smack you upside the head with subversive ideas of how to follow Christ
February 5, 2016
A really good book, especially as it relates to merging your faith directly into your daily life. Sometimes us Christians try to compartmentalize and this book directly attacks that notion.
Read
February 20, 2016Loved it
April 26, 2017
I read this with a discussion group when it first came out and now again. While the examples are obviously dated (it would be cool to see how the initiatives have all fared--or not) his points on how church/Christian community might function in the world are well taken. Sine's intent was to help prepare church leaders for how to lead churches entering the 21st Century in the Western world.
Probably more current books to examine today.
Probably more current books to examine today.
Read
September 28, 2017Excellent
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews