A Disruptive Gospel: Stories and Strategies for Transforming Your City

by Mac Pier, Bob Doll (Afterword), Timothy J. Keller (Foreword)

Stories Help Readers Impact Their Communities

What would happen in your city if 10 percent more people became vibrant Christians who worked together for the good of the community? Mac Pier knows from firsthand experience that when the gospel invades your city, big things start to happen. For thirty years he's watched and participated in what God has been doing in New York City. Now he shares true stories of transformation to inspire readers who long to see God move in their own communities. He helps readers understand the greatest barriers to the gospel in major cities all over the world, shares hopeful stories of reconciliation, highlights the passion and leadership of millennials advancing the gospel, and offers insight into how to start or join a gospel movement wherever in the world readers find themselves.

Anyone looking for motivation and inspiration to join God where he is working will love these exciting dispatches from the front lines of outreach on five continents. Foreword by Tim Keller.

Genres: Christian, Nonfiction, Theology

240 pages, Paperback

Published November 1, 2016

About the author

Mac Pier is the founder of Movement.org. He helped to birth the Concerts of Prayer Movement in 1988 in New York City. He also co-founded Movement Day in 2010 with Dr Timothy J. Keller. He is the author of nine books including A Disruptive Gospel (Baker Books) and New York Disrupted (Movement Day Publishing). Mac and Marya have been married 40 years and have three children and five grandchildren. Pier has been a Lausanne catalyst since 2013.

Reviews

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mac Pier is the founder and CEO of the New York City Leadership Center. In that capacity he also helped found the inaugural Movement Day conference in New York City (in cooperation with Tim Keller's Redeemer City to City and the Concerts of Prayer Greater New York). The conference was a gathering of missional leaders in New York, to cast vison and strategize together which later helped the Evangelical community have a tangible effect on the city.

In A Disruptive Gospel, Pier  shares his passion for disrupting cities and transforming them with the gospel of Jesus Christ. He tells the story of his ministry in New York City, the formation of the first Movement Day and how the fruit of that endeavor led to an impact on the city through service with organizations like  Cityserve New York. Pier also shares the story of Movement Day Dallas and how it led to initiatives welcoming Millennials into the church and greater racial reconciliation among the churches. After discussing these American cities he examines similar movements around the globe  (places like Manila, Mumbai, Chennai, Dubai, Singapore, Port-au-Prince, Pretoria and Kigali, London, Gothenburg and Berlin).

Several convictions guide Pier's work and analysis. First, following Rodney Stark and Wayne Meeks, he believes cities are strategic centers for mission and the proliferation of the gospel(43-44). Second, the thinking behind the inter-church gatherings like Movement Day stem from a convictions that "the vibrancy of the gospel in any city is proportionate to the depth of relationship and visible unity between [Christian] leaders in that same city"(53). Third, Pier operates on the premise that whenever there is a new move of God, anywhere, God raises up leaders to lead that movement.

This book suffers from the range of cities which Pier  attempts to cover—thirteen  different cities. The book is only 236 pages, so Pier, by necessity,  speaks in broad generalities.  I learned about some cool gatherings around the world of missional leaders, and Pier boils each chapter to a couple of pages of "what [each] story teaches us." But the overall effect is pretty vague. There is not much here in the way of practical strategy.

I  also have questions about Pier's premise that mission and ministry begins with the leaders and influencers, instead of the marginalized, the little and the least. Leadership is valuable, but you can gather Christian and marketplace leaders and still fail to intersect the needs of the poor. When I read here about how New York city leaders endeavored to respond to the needs of Port-Au-Prince through organizations like World Vision (170), I think of the reality on the ground and how well meaning Americans and large organizations often fail to meet the tangible needs of Haitians. (To be fair, Haitian church leaders were also included in their vision casting, and I personally support World Vision for their thoughtful approach to mission and relief work). Pier's approach feels too top down to me. Perhaps this is effective and they are making a real impact, but the sparse details makes me skeptical.

However, I do appreciate the focus on cities and there are initiatives, city-wide actions and missional ventures that are worth getting excited about. I just didn't feel like I got enough of the details. I give this book two-and-a-half stars. ★★½

Note: I received this book from Baker Books in exchange for my honest review.

[Mary Lou · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mac Pier’s new book, A Disruptive Gospel, reads like a personal diary of people and meetings he has had in New York City and in other cities of the world. He works under five main presuppositions: “(1) that the gospel matters, (2) that church unity matters, (3) that cities matter, (4) that millennial leadership matters and (5) that movements matter” (Mac Pier, A Disruptive Gospel, Baker Books, 2016, pp. 20-21). He is a catalyst for movements that transform cities for Christ. His cataloging of the various people that are involved in global urban ministry reminded me of Romans 16, where Paul lists the number of people who were involved in the mission of the early church. It is encouraging to see so many key organizations and leaders working cooperatively in prayer and practical programs to address major needs and multiply the gospel’s impact in each city. As he says, “Sustained gospel movements…require dynamic church planting movements across a variety of Christian traditions; systems for evangelizing and developing indigenous leaders; extraordinary prayer; ministries that help people bring the gospel into their work and that serve the poor…[with] partnership among all these leaders” (Pier, p. 44). Pier’s sweeping generalities and effusive language detracts from the book, but for those who want a snapshot overview of God’s work in parts of the world, his chronical is helpful. Three stars.
Dr. M L Codman-Wilson, Ph.D. 11/3/2016

[Joseph Perry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just finished reading A Disruptive Gospel by Mac Pier.

Wow! Was not expecting that. I anticipated a theological treatise on the the disruptive nature of the gospel. Instead, it was the actual disruption taking place through the emergence of the Gospel in Global Cities of the nations all over the world from over the last several years (book published in 2015). Too many organizations and men and women of God to name that the Holy Spirit has been bringing together to bring heaven to earth in very tangible ways.

My hope for the world’s penetration by the Gospel was already stratospheric, but this is a hope with handles on it.

[Jenni Ho-Huan]

not very deep but certainly exciting! though one has to be careful of the American tendency towards formulas..

[Alyssa]

What’s happening in cities currently. It’s more facts and growth ideas.

[Zachary Hanje · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book highlighting God's work in today's global cities.