Naked Church

NAKED CHURCH is a handbook on empowering "amateur" Christian leaders to authentically practice the New Testament "one another" verses in home churches each week, with the goal of mutual growth and maturity in Christ. Being "naked" with one another, being known and knowing others, is the starting point for both pastors and lay leaders who want to help fellow believers move out of self-centeredness and immaturity to become forgivers, peacemakers and effective kingdom proclaimers. The emphasis is on practicing genuine hospitality and authentic vulnerability each week: listening rather than lecturing, sharing struggles honestly, and retelling the Great Story of Jesus to one another. The chapters explain how home church leaders can nurture spiritual identity in group members and release one another to grow up in Christ, while mutually ministering their spiritual gifts. The author gives biblical and practical insight from years of experience in leading home churches, tackling such challenges to maturity as anger, victimhood, financial disarray, unresolved marriage conflicts, grief and loss. Real home church should be neither an encounter group nor another Bible study, the author explains, but an ongoing experience that helps us actually do the truth we already know. Jim Reynolds holds a bachelor's and a master of divinity degree from Abilene Christian University (1964, 1967), a doctorate from the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, Calif. (1974), and a law degree from Southern Methodist University (1981). He has been a licensed marriage and family counselor, and has published numerous articles and books, including Secrets of Eden, God and Human Sexuality (1974), The Lepers Among Us (2007), The Lavish Hospitality of God (2009), Why We Don't Shoot the Wounded (2010), and The Unfinished Drama of Scripture (2012). Jim has taught religion, theology, philosophy, and biblical studies at Pepperdine University and the University of Texas, and presently is an adjunct professor at Dallas Christian College. From 1981 to 2007, Jim was a family lawyer and partner with the Whitaker Chalk law firm in Fort Worth, Texas. Since 1984 he has been pastor of Lake Highlands Church in Dallas, Texas. Jim and his wife, Donna, have two children and eight grandchildren.