The Church: God's Pilgrim People

by David Zac Niringiye

In this day when Christians and churches are widely dispersed throughout the world, the ques- tion 'Who is the church?' could easily be dismissed as irrelevant. In this publication, Bishop David Zac Niringiye pleads that as Jesus warned, we should not be in haste to conclude that any community with religious titles or forms and who speaks the right language of 'Lord, Lord . . . ' is authentic church. Taking his cue from Hebrews 11 and 12 the author addresses the motif of 'the people of God', looking first at the ancient people of Israel, beginning with Moses, then the new Israel and the covenant in Christ, born through the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and finally the life of the new community, the church, during the apostolic era. Through this biblical journey it is made clear that as the pilgrim people of God and the new community in Christ we must be marked by faith, love and hope, looking forward to the full consummation of the kingdom of God - justice, peace and joy, fully realized when 'the new heaven and the new earth where righteousness dwells' (2 Peter 3:13) is inaugurated.

216 pages, Paperback

First published November 14, 2014

Reviews

[George · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love the idea, and loved the personal stories, as well as most of the exegesis. I think my main problem with this one wasn't the writing or the overall point, but the structure. I would have been helped by working backwards. Make the claim that the church is a pilgrim church then back it up with chapters of exegesis. This book does it in the reverse order. What kept me turning the page was not so much the claims that were being made, but the personal anecdotes that Niringiye shared. I would have liked a little bit more clarity about the role of doctrine, but I know that Niringiye is trying to paint with the broadest brush possible. I think that is very helpful, but how do we hold to these things and still exclude JW's or Mormons. Of course, there's an appeal to apostolicity, but they would of course have counter claims of apostolicity (as wrong as they might be,) so I again turn to a "doctrine has to be important" position. Not that Niringiye says it isn't but I would have liked him to stress that more and just point out what is essential in faith. On the plus side his focus on place and context was really helpful.