Learning to be Radical Together

David Platt has become known recently for his book Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream. In Radical, Platt writes how that we need to forget the American Dream and remember what God is calling his people to do. God is calling his people to be radical. Now, he is writing about how to be Radical Together. If you've read radical you know that life is not about the nicer car, the nicer house, or the 6 figure salary, it's about doing whatever we can to spread the gospel, and sometimes that looks a bit radical. In Radical Together, Platt writes about how we need to be working together in churches and small groups to be radical for God's mission. The gospel will not be spread if people are not willing to do radical things and we do them as the church. God never called us to live this life alone and he does not want us to help other alone either.

It's only appropriate that I would review this book on the Thursday leading up to Easter. Today is Maundy Thursday. Maundy is related to the word Mandate and is connected to the new command (or mandate) that Jesus gives to his disciples in John 13:34. Radical Together follows that command to love. Platt is calling us to do whatever it takes to show the love of God to people around the world who need help. Just as in Radical, he calls his readers to the radical experiment: To pray for the entire world, to read through the entire Word, to commit our lives to multiplying community, to sacrifice our money for a specific purpose and to give our time in another context.

While I am one to get frustrated by books that seem like they would be just another guilt trip about being a rich american, Radical Together is a great book with a great message. I do believe that this is a book that American churches need to read and implement. Even if the church only did the minimal of what Platt asks in the radical experiment, the world would be a better place. I appreciate what Platt writes in this book and hope that his words are effective in convincing more of the church to rise up and be the church.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”