A couple days ago I finished up The Multiplying Church, the latest book from Bob Roberts. I’m trying to get back into the book reviewing loop, and this is a good volume to get me started, because I found a lot to like. As of this moment, I’m conferring a prestigious award on The Multiplying Church. It earns this blog’s highly sought-after Best Church Planting Book award, 2008 edition. (Can’t tell you how many PR reps from Leadership Network, Crossway, Baker Books, etc., come knocking on our door, begging me to consider their authors for this award…OK, I kid.)

But I am serious about the excellence of Roberts’ contribution.

As someone who reads a lot of church planting literature, I’ve grown accustomed to hearing a lot of the same things in the vein of “missional” thinking, leadership development, and what it takes to succeed as a church planter. Roberts has clearly grown accustomed to hearing a lot of the same things as well—and he thinks some of it is hokey. I’m with him.

Critique is not the main thrust of this book, but as Roberts explains what he believes it will take for a genuine “church planting movement” to emerge, he knocks down some of the prevailing thought on church planting from the Western perspective. One great distinction he makes is that the primary need today isn’t for more entreprenurial, tough, visionary dudes who will go beat the odds and plant a new church. (Crazy, eh.) Rather, communities and nations will be saturated with the gospel as we see the re-emergence of sacrificial, gospel-loving churches that are constantly sending people out to plant churches.

In brief, we don’t need one more risk-loving, culturally-engaged dude who gravitates to church planting because it is the extreme sport of church (I am one of those guys). We need thousands of churches who will act as incubators and senders of church planting teams. Ultimately, church planting and the gospel has faltered because the vast majority of churches fail to mobilize people and send them out to plant the gospel.

Got carried away there—but all that to say, I deeply appreciate Roberts’ love for both the young, penniless, driven church planter (again, that’s me) AND the usually-dysfunctional, nevertheless beautiful churches who should be working in tandem with them. This is one of a number of great insights that Roberts offers, and I came away feeling that I was hearing from a guy who has achieved a remarkably holistic perspective in the wild, cluttered, and currently sexy world of church planting.

Roberts describes himself as a visionary, high-energy dude, and that is expressed in the shotgun approach he takes to his subject matter. Don’t expect careful, sequential discussion. But look for refreshing perspectives from a guy who sees the world with a wide-angle lens and passionately wants to see the gospel grow through every avenue available.

The Multiplying Church is highly recommended.