Radical Church: A Call to Rediscover the Radical Roots of the Christian Faith

John Caldwell's first book, Christ, the Cross and the Concrete Jungle, was the story of his childhood and amazing conversion. Now accepted into the ministry of the Free Church of Scotland, John looks at the church and the problems it faces today and finds the answer in a radical return to the roots of the Christian faith. David Robertson (St Peter's Free Church, Dundee and The Solas Centre for Public Christianity) provides the helpful Foreword.

'Each generation requires a fresh evaluation and application of the foundational principles of the gospel. That is what John Caldwell has provided in this book: a recovery of the roots of our Christian faith in God and his Word. Written from the perspective of someone who was radically transformed by grace, John wants us to confront the prevailing culture of our day with nothing less than the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is a message we need to hear.'

• Rev Dr Iain D. Campbell, Minister, Point Free Church, Isle of Lewis; author, and editor of The Monthly Record.

'Instead of calling people from darkness to light, we are inviting people to come and sit in the dark,' summarizes well the concern of this excellent book. The church today is trying to reach the culture by increasingly becoming like the culture rather than pointing people to the Way, the Truth and the Life. Radical Church is a clear call to God's people to return to the Scriptures for God's paradigm for our lives and churches.'

• Dr. Gary Gilley, Pastor of Southern View Chapel, and author of a number of books, including This Little Church Went to Market.

'In this fresh, fast-flowing and very readable narrative, the author reveals how the Western Church has to a considerable degree lost both its relevance and vitality in an increasingly anti- Christian culture. The answer, he passionately believes, is not compromising to culture, but faithfulness to Christ, and he calls the Church back to its biblical roots, with its emphasis on the Cross. A pertinent call to radical, Christ-centred living.'

• Tom Lennie, revival historian, author of Glory in the Glen and Land of Many Revivals.

'In Radical Church, John Caldwell enters the room, names and shames a whole herd of elephants and offers robust solutions for the current crisis facing the broad evangelical movement. He unpacks the concept of radicalism and comes to the conclusion that the agents of change are not to be found in either the effete banalities of post- evangelicalism or the cringe- worthy offerings of the best-selling celebrity evangelicals but in an older, deeper, truly radical philosophy emerging from the teaching of that quintessential radical: Jesus of Nazareth.
This is truly a 95 Theses for contemporary evangelicalism.'

• Rev David Meredith, Mission Director, Free Church of Scotland

Publisher Description

John Caldwell's first book, Christ, the Cross and the Concrete Jungle, was the story of his childhood and amazing conversion. Now accepted into the ministry of the Free Church of Scotland, John looks at the church and the problems it faces today and finds the answer in a radical return to the roots of the Christian faith. David Robertson (St Peter's Free Church, Dundee and The Solas Centre for Public Christianity) provides the helpful Foreword.