Called to Be Church: The Book of Acts for a New Day

I'm preaching through Acts this summer; this book has been a great help! The context of Acts in the bigger picture of Scripture, the narrative flow of Acts itself, ideas for "so what?" in our world...this volume has helped me more than my other commentaries combined.

With the presence of the "emerging church," it seems as though some are emerging *from* the church. They are disappointed, dissatisfied, and disillusioned with the church, so they don't want to be part of anything called "church." That may mean being part of a Christian fellowship that doesn't call itself a "church," or it could mean not being a member of any organized Christian community. What Robinson and Wall offer is a way for the contemporary church, following the lead of the early church as pictured in the Acts of the Apostles, to emerge into and engage with the twenty-first century. Each chapter looks at a passage from Acts in two parts: Wall's interpretation of the text as scripture and Robinson's engagement with the text as it bears on the life of the contemporary church. From this conversation emerges a call for us to be the church.