So Beautiful: Divine Design for Life and the Church

The prolific Sweet—author of articles, sermons, books—turns his vast knowledge of culture and faith toward what he calls “the secret of life”: an “MRI church where 'M' = Missional, 'R' = Relational, and 'I' = Incarnational.” He digs deep into “MRI theology,” calling it “the only theology worth bothering with” and offering leaders and laypeople a new paradigm for bringing Christ to the world. Sweet outlines the characteristics of each element: missional—”The church is 'sent' to be Jesus”; relational—”Biblical truth... feasts on relationship and revelation”; incarnational—”The Incarnational life strikes it rich by multiple connections with community and context.” Readers will find much to ponder, but they'll have to wade through Sweet's metaphor-heavy, rambling and jumpy writing style, plus his confusing, frequent use of quotation marks around words and phrases as if tweaking their meaning. His vision for following Christ individually and as the church is commendable; his presentation, however, is confounding. (Apr.)