Problem of Wineskins Today

This is an excellent book, and a real ground-breaker when it was first released as "The Problem with Wineskins." What's got me so puzzled is why it's $26 bucks! At that price, only these reviews will be read. If I were you, I'd find a used copy of it to read. BTW, the used copies sold by others here are probably not the 2nd edition, but the first edition published by TOUCH Publications in Houston, Texas (out of print and no longer available). However, I don't think there is much difference between the outrageously priced one and the first edition, which was really a revision of another version of the book released in the UK.

An excellent book, Rev. Snyder is right on time with his analysis. Also, another great book which is most revealing for today in the spiritual realm is that of "Community of the King." Both of these books are must haves for your library and study! BRAVO to this man of God! God's words printed for today!

I got in trouble for reading this book, and for passing it on to others. This book is a revision of Snyder's 1975 The Problem of Wineskins. I read the original one. It was radical then and it's radical now. I handed them out back then. In fact, a church board member of one of the first churches I belonged to in the 80's carried one into a board meeting only to be greeted by the Pastor, "You've been hanging around Chip again, haven't you?" Worth reading again-whether the older version or the new. It will help you think "out of the box" with regard to your faith, church-life, and community.

Snyder distinguishes between the "wine" of the gospel and the "wineskins" (church structures devised by humans for a particular time and place), as well as between the church, the people of God, and the organizations and structures it uses. He suggests that the institutional church has let structures become hindrances rather than aids to the Gospel, and that Christians need to gather in both small and large groups. This will result, he says, in more personal, less institutional interaction, as well as a more Spirit-led, first century-quality dynamic corporate life. He tackles the do-everything role of the pastor, the wastefulness and rigidity of the church building, the importance of preaching the gospel to the poor, and the role of spiritual gifts in creating an organic, Body-of-Christ type of church. This book is a revision of Snyder's 1975 "The Problem of Wineskins," from which a bit of technophobic, doomsday, 70's dystopian paranoia is preserved in the last chapter. Even so, this book does a great job of outlining the way the church should biblically seek to function. I highly recommend it if you are suspicious of non-traditional means of church organization and operation, or, on the other hand, if you are looking for something outside the imposing brick walls of traditional church structure.

I read the first edition of this book when it came out in 1975. I got it by accident--the card I returned to my book club evidently went astray in the mail. When I got this book, not having ordered it, I was intrigued enough that I opened it, being careful not to crack the spine as I intended to return it. I ended up reading the whole book that way. Then I couldn't bring myself to return it. I was hooked.I think this book more than any other (except the Bible) has shaped my understanding of the church--and as a church consultant and a writer/editor specializing in church renewal I have read hundreds of books on the church. It was this book (chapter 3) that first told me that my deep inner longing to minister among the poor was not just some sort of personal idiosyncrasy (or highly individualized call), but an expression of an essential dimension of the biblical gospel.It was this book that showed me for the first time that biblically the primary structure of the church is not to be the large group (congregation) but the small group (house church or cell). It was this book that gave me the vision for church as community more than institution, a vision that has guided my life and ministry for 24 years now. It was this book that began my questioning of the traditional clergy and began to point me to a more biblical model of congregational leadership.If you would rather continue to do church the way you've always done it rather than rediscovering the New Testament principles for doing church, don't read this book; it will scare you. But if you are among those who are looking to find new life for the church today, this is a great starting point--or source of continuing encouragement--for your search.