Sojourners and Strangers: The Doctrine of the Church

Foundations of Evangelical Theology

by Gregg R. Allison

What is a church? This can be a difficult question to answer and Christians have offered a variety of perspectives. Gregg Allison explores and synthesizes all that Scripture affirms about the new covenant people of God, capturing a full picture of the biblical church. He covers the topics of the church’s identity and characteristics; its growth through purity, unity, and discipline; its offices and leadership structures; its ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper; and its ministries. Here is a rich approach to ecclesiology consisting of sustained doctrinal reflection and wise, practical application.

Genres: Theology, Ecclesiology, Church, Christian, Nonfiction, Religion, Christianity

496 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Gregg R. Allison (PhD, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) is professor of Christian theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is secretary of the Evangelical Theological Society, a book review editor for the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, an elder at Sojourn Community Church, and a theological strategist for Sojourn Network. Allison has taught at several colleges and seminaries, including Western Seminary in Portland, Oregon, and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois, and is the author of numerous books, including Historical Theology: An Introduction to Christian Doctrine, Sojourners and Strangers: The Doctrine of the Church, and Roman Catholic Theology and Practice: An Evangelical Assessment.

Reviews

[Matt Pitts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid, thorough, fairly comprehensive from a Baptist evangelical perspective.

[Ronni Kurtz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this book in 2016, yet I reworked through it a bit slower this year for some class prep on my lectures for ecclesiology. I bumped it from four stars to five after the second reading. Though I have some disagreements here and there, Allison really served readers well with this volume.

[Tim Michiemo · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0 Stars

Gregg Allison’s “Sojourners and Strangers” is a comprehensive systematic presentation of the doctrine of the church. Allison’s book is part of the Foundations of Evangelical Theology series which has multiple solid volumes on different theological doctrines. Allison’s book is a great addition to this series and an excellent foundation for anyone seeking to learn anything about ecclesiology.

The strength of this book is its comprehensiveness and clarity. Allison is a skilled scholar and teacher. And his arguments are clear and well developed. Allison’s breadth of knowledge across philosophy, theology, and history is extensive. And throughout the book we see him drawing from these different disciplines to make his point. Allison also leaves no stone unturned and deals with almost every ecclesiastical topic from church polity to transubstantiation, to mercy ministries, and then some. As well, another strength of Allison’s book is his lengthy Biblical analysis of old and new covenants as the foundation of ecclesiology. Allison understands well that many disagreements in ecclesiology occur because of a misunderstanding of how the church is a new covenant community that fulfills many of the old covenant promises.

But, there are few weaknesses with Allison’s book though that caused me to give him a lower rating. First, is there were a few things that I disagreed on in Allison’s book that I do not believe he argued well. Two of them are his two-tiered view on membership and his view on multisite churches. My quick critique on two-tiered membership is that covenant voting membership should be based upon local church membership, rather than spiritual maturity. Two-tiered membership could dangerously lead to spiritual elitism within a congregation (i.e., a separation between the non-voting members and voting members). My second critique is on Allison’s view on multi-site churches. I agree with his case for greater church cooperation but that does not necessitate shared governance over multiple congregations (or sites). This just smells of Presbyterianism lite to me.

But the greatest problem I had with Allison’s book is his writing style. I do not know if it is me, but his writing style feels like a theologically advanced undergrad paper. I know that might sound bad, but Allison’s arguments are well thought out, well-argued, and clear, but his writing is just too structured and systematic – almost like he is following a template. His writing simply did not grip me.

But overall, I would highly recommend this book, especially as a reference book for pastors, elders, and students. If I were to teach a class on church doctrine, I would not hesitate to use this as the main textbook. Even though Allison’s writing style is overly systematic and structured, the core of this book is extremely helpful to anyone who will pick it up.

[Ben Chubb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always impressed when an author can take content that can easily be written as a textbook and make it personal and inspiring. Just an elite writer who encourages while informing. Will use this as a resource for a long time.

[Michael Stilley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for Dr. Allison's Syst. Theo 3 class.

[Marc Cortez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Allison has produced a valuable book that would be a tremendous resource for anyone seeking to understand ecclesiology in general or a conservative, Baptist ecclesiology in particular. Allison writes clearly, engages other perspectives fairly, and presents a compelling case that the church is a fundamentally important topic that all Christians should reflect on carefully and often. I strongly recommend it as an excellent addition to your library.

If you'd like to hear more about the book, check out my full review here.

[Mike Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Allison’s strengths are displayed well in this book: his grasp of history and his ability to construct a theological framework for a doctrine are exceptional. On many controversial topics, he does well to survey all of the views, their Scriptural and historical footing, and then provide his own view. This strength is where the book seemed most helpful to me: his approach to church governance, ordinances, egalitarianism, baptism, etc.

I liked his idea of an ontological discussion of the traits of a church, but felt he could have built out the practical implications a little better. That part of the book was less convincing to me.

[Ellie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lengthy and comprehensive, but he did not address tradition enough to convince me.

[Luke Rasmussen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really well written and easy to follow.

[Werner Braun · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sojourners and Strangers ist eine durch und durch gelungene Darstellung der Lehre von der Kirche aus evangelikal-baptistischer Perspektive. Gregg R. Allison verbindet theologische Tiefe mit struktureller Klarheit und einem bemerkenswert fairen Umgang mit anderen konfessionellen Traditionen – sowohl innerhalb als auch außerhalb des Protestantismus.

Besonders stark ist die konsequente Ausrichtung an der Heiligen Schrift als höchste Autorität. Allison legt dar, was die Kirche ihrem Wesen nach ist, bevor er ihre Aufgaben entfaltet – ein methodischer Ansatz, der für Orientierung sorgt. Seine zentrale Definition der Kirche als das durch den Heiligen Geist getaufte, gläubige Volk Gottes, das sich sowohl universal als auch lokal manifestiert, bildet den roten Faden.

Die Beschreibung der Merkmale lokaler Gemeinden – doxologisch, logozentriert, geistgeleitet, bündnisorientiert, bekenntnishaft, missionarisch und eschatologisch – ist nicht nur präzise, sondern auch geistlich ermutigend. Besonders hilfreich sind auch seine praxisnahen Ausführungen zu Leitung, Gemeindezucht und den Sakramenten.

Auch wenn ich an einigen Stellen anders denke als Allison, bleibt das Buch ein ausgesprochen wertvoller Beitrag zur Ekklesiologie. Für alle, die sich intensiver mit dem Wesen und Auftrag der Kirche aus baptistischer Perspektive auseinandersetzen wollen, ist es eine klare Empfehlung – bibeltreu, differenziert und geistlich substanziell.

[Scott Meadows · Rating 5 out of 5]

What is the church, actually: Attending some form of church for my entire life, I have many characteristics of the cultural Christian. Developing friendships, attending those tasty potlucks, singing catchy hymns, and listening to Biblical teaching is only an external view of that which Christ calls His very bride. Systematically walking the reader through the doctrines of ecclesiology (the theology of the Church), I found this textbook for class to quickly become one of my favorite books of the year. There is a vital importance to understanding the plan God has set forth for His people and the ways that He uses His church for their sanctification. Likewise, I found this book an excellent resource for understanding the denominational divisions so many of us are often confused by. What is the church to you?

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for Doctrine of the Church, Spring 2015. Very good.

[Neil Kruger · Rating 5 out of 5]

2021 reads: #08
Rating: 4.5 Stars

Excellent text on the doctrine of the church. Allison does have his own idiosyncrasies and in particular provides a hearty defense for multisite churches. Even though on this point I remain unconvinced, there is much to commend in this book. Allison argues well with clear conviction and treats opposing views appropriately. Part Two (Characteristics of the Church) and Part Five (Ordinances) were very strong. In a series devoted to foundations for evangelical theology with a commitment to the authority of Scripture, it is a delight to read quality evangelical scholarship aimed at strengthening the church.

[Dylan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Greg Allison’s “Sojourners and Strangers” presents a well-articulated and comprehensive picture of the Church. Allison outlines the Church’s identity, character, purity, and ministries. At the same time, Allison’s generosity and historical acumen aid him in presenting invaluable discussions of various positions in each subject (e.g., local church leadership structures, understanding of the Lord’s Supper). Apart from mild disagreement concerning the identity of the Church (Allison holds that the Church is distinct from the Israel of the Old Covenant), Sojourners and Strangers would serve as a helpful foundation in any pastor’s/church leader’s study of the doctrine of the Church.

[Jake Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

An insightful resource on ecclesiology from a contemporary, congregational, Baptist theologian.

I very much appreciated his ontological approach to the subject (especially his incorporation of John Webster’s methodology). Though not as precise as a Webster essay would be, Allison’s work does well in this respect.

[David Newman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Allison’s book on ecclesiology is a prudent aid for anyone thinking through the different aspects of what a church is and what it should look like, regardless of if you agree with every one of his conclusions. I didn’t—And benefited tremendously from it!

[Daniel Bouchoc · Rating 3 out of 5]

2 Great things about this book:
(1) Covers a lot of ground on ecclesiology introducing key points of the conversation.
(2) There was a good bit of church history included in the discussion (creeds, church fathers, and
so on)

So, why 3 stars?

3 stars not because the book is bad, but because it is just okay.

[Andrew Dionne · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was SO scholastic.

[Zachary Horn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite good. I always find Allison to be very readable and practical .

[Ivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent.

[Grace Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book on ecclesiology by a baptist made me even more of a Presbyterian! Good book nonetheless.

[Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sojourners and Strangers provides a Baptist, elder led congregationalist model for church government. Allison defines the church as "the people of God who have been saved through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ and have been incorporated into his body through baptism with the Holy Spirit." (p. 29).

He begins his study by establishing his methodology as one that holds to the sufficiency of scripture and holds to a moderate discontinuity between Israel and the church, establishing that it is the church of the *new* covenant.

In part 2 of his study, he establishes the biblical vision for his ecclesiology by identifying seven biblical characteristics of the church. The first three concern the church's origin and orientation. They are that the church is doxological, logocentric, and pneumadynamic. In other words the church has as its origin and orientation the praise of the Triune God, the centrality of Christ, and the power of the Spirit. The last four characteristics concern the gathering and sending of the church. They are that the church is covenantal, confessional, missional, and spatio-temporal/eschatalogical. The church is covenantal because it covenants with God and with fellow members. It is confessional because it involves both personal and corporate confessions of faith. It is missional because it is called to engage with the world. That it is spatio-temporal/eschatalogical speaks to the fact that the church is both in the world but is being prepared for the world to come.

In part 3, Allison begins to put motion to his vision for the church by discussing the issues that arise with the growth of the church. The church maintains its identity through growth as it guards its unity and practices discipline.

Part 4 lays the framework for the government of the church. Allison argues that the office of Apostle has ceased and that the contemporary offices for the church are Elder/Pastor/Bishop and deacon. He limits the office of elder to men and sees the office of deacon as open to both men and women. After establishing the headship of Christ over the church and surveying the various types of church government, Allison argues for a congregational model of church governance that is led by plural elders.

I found this section of Allison's work to be helpful. I especially appreciated his cheerful complementarian position in which he argued for male elders, but admonished the church to encourage the women in their midst to pursue every other avenue of ministry open to them. Complementarianism can easily focus on what women can't do, but the best kind of complementarianism seeks to empower women to pursue the practice of their ministry gifts up to the limits provided by scripture. I also agree with his model of plural elder led congregationalism, believing that this is the biblical pattern.

Part 5 covers the ordinances of the church. As a Baptist, Allison argues for credobaptism by immersion biblically, historically, and theologically. He advocates a spiritual presence view of the Lord's Supper in which the Supper is a means of grace for God's people.

Part 6 rounds out the book with a discussion of the ministries of the church. He holds to the type of cautious charismatic position that is popular among many contemporary Calvinist Charismatics. His views are close to those of Wayne Grudem, which is demonstrated by his frequent quoting of Grudem throughout this section on the spiritual gifts. Like Grudem, I found some of his definitions and applications of spiritual gifts to be questionable, especially prophecy and tongues. I found it interesting that he acknowledged that his definition of prophecy (which he takes from Grudem) consciously departs from the historic definition of the church, but he holds it anyway. After discussing spiritual gifts, he goes on to discuss worship, engaging with the non-Christian world, discipleship, and caring for others.

Part 7 provides a short summary chapter in which he concludes the book and holds forth the church as a paradoxical reality of in the world but not of the world with an already-not-yet realization of the glory that is yet to come.

While disagreeing with Allison at several points, I found his survey of ecclesiology to be helpful. This book would be well-used as a textbook for a systematic theology class or for an ecclesiology-specific class. It is also a good refresher for pastors and even more theologically advanced church members to read with discernment to appreciate the church and what it is according to scripture. The missional focus of the book can help reorient Christians to their duties to engage the world with the gospel of Christ.

[Pig Rieke · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this work, Gregg Allison teaches through the doctrine of the church. Starting with foundational basics in Part I, the author outlines what the church universal is, relationship between Old Covenant and New, and more. In Part II, Allison comprises characteristics of the church ontologically and what local churches do. In Part III, the author discusses unity, purity, and church discipline. In Parts IV and V respectively, the book discusses models of church governance and the ordinances. In Part VI, Allison discusses the giftings given to the church and what the church does before concluding the book. The result is a book that covers a substantial amount of material and regularly shows an awareness of the variety of evangelical positions on issues. For those looking to learn more about ecclesiology, this work will serve them well.

That said, I did have qualms with the book. These would include dispensationalism, an advocacy for multi-site and multi-devices churches (while seeming to contradict this with discussions of church independence, membership, and the ordinances), and a defense of some practices under the label of theological when the arguments are clearly pragmatic. In all of these ways, the book smells of work that was written in a certain historical moment (2012) and even though roughly a decade old, is quickly becoming outdated. The footnotes at times only serve my growing suspicion of this (see Mark Driscoll). While disagreements in ecclesiallogy may seem small at face value, they do impact a congregations (or multiple congregations calling themselves one congregation) in substantial ways and in a weekly basis.

[Jonah Twiddy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Never have I been presented with such a clear and Biblical holistic treatment of the doctrine of the church, and I doubt many other works exist that could offer it as carefully and accurately as Allison does. His book serves as a sort of manual by which local churches and church members may evaluate the congregation of which they are a part to determine its consistency with ecclesiology as it is presented in God's Word, and this sort of evaluation is as challenging as it is rewarding. Allison calls churches everywhere to face those matters they have largely been avoiding (church discipline, care for widows, proper polity, etc.) and reminds all Christians of the beautiful, paradoxical wonder of being a part of the body of Christ.

[Adam Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

A helpful overview of ecclesiology, written from a Reformed congregational Baptist perspective, but fair to other views. Allison presents some things in a fresh way, departing from the traditional and Reformation marks of the church to instead describe the church as Doxological, Logocentric, Pneumadynamic, Covenantal, Confessional, Missional and Spatio-temporal/Eschatological. Later in the book, he moves on to praxis, including covering topics like multi-site churches. My main disappointment was that, despite the imagery-rich title, the book was a little dry. But if you're looking for a textbook on ecclesiology, go ahead and give this a go.

[J Knight · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thorough and biblical overview of the doctrine of the church.

Hits almost all the major topics: theological underpinnings of the church, discipline, ordinances, leadership structures, and ministries.

Written from a baptistic perspective but does a decent job of comparing other traditions/opinions on issues like baptism, women in ministry, and church governance.

Did not find the book exceptionally devotional, it was more detailed than deep I think. This is understandably difficult with a book more intended as a textbook, nevertheless I wanted to be more while I read it.

Overall, good read for someone looking for an overview of ecclesiology.

[Ray Wilkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

An ecclesiological breath of fresh air. I remember several years ago when I was working on my dissertation I was looking at Baptist Ecclesiologies and I became acutely aware why the question, 'do Baptists have an ecclesiology' was a longstanding joke. At the time the largest work on Baptist Ecclesiology was written over 100 years prior (E.C. Dargan) and since then only a handful of small works on the Church had been written and published by Baptists.

Allison's work, although not entirely written as a "Baptist Ecclesiology," is largely Baptistic and thoroughly evangelical. It is a must-have for anyone interested in the Baptist/Free-Church tradition.

[David M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful

If I were to teach an ecclesiology course tomorrow, this would likely be my main text (alongside Bonhoeffer's Life Together, of course). If I were to plant a church, I would likely require my staff to read this book and use it as a springboard for discussions on structure.

This book takes a Scripture-centric approach, first formulating theology and then deriving praxis from there. That's how it ought to be.

Worthy read. Helpful at many points. Well thought through. Clear and fair presentation of various viewpoints. Loved it.

[Luke Seibert · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a robust and thorough examination of the church. I read through the book fairly quickly to get an overview, but I plan on going back and rereading at a slower pace. Although the beginning of the book was a little abstract, the author takes a thorough and practical look at this doctrine. Allison provides a careful analysis of various positions, then biblically argues for his explanation. I found his argumentation quite compelling. This is a highly helpful resource regarding the doctrine of the church.

[Jeremiah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Christians today don’t know how to “church.” They don’t know what they should expect from the church and what the church should expect from you.

This book outlines in very clear terms what the church under Christ is and does. If you want to increase your effectiveness as a church leader or member this is a good start.