Texts that Transform: Church and Ministry

Terry L. Johnson

Reviewed by: David J. Koenig

Texts that Transform: Church and Ministry, by Terry L. Johnson. Banner of Truth, 2024. Paperback, 220 pages, $13.00. Reviewed by OP pastor David J. Koenig.

Terry Johnson’s Texts that Transform series seeks to connect Scripture with the Christian life in single-volume introductions to the various aspects of life in Christ. Each chapter aims to take a reading and apply it to the topic under discussion. These volumes are meant for a popular audience and are not difficult to read. They come in the small Banner paperback format familiar to readers of the ever-growing “Puritan Paperbacks” series. In Church and Ministry, Johnson provides a good introduction to the basics of Reformed ecclesiology and worship. This would be an especially useful book to put in the hands of someone who is not familiar with, or is even resistant to, the idea of Reformed worship. This seems to be Johnson’s target audience, so be warned that if you are familiar with and convinced by the basic tenets of Reformed worship, you will likely not find much new material here.

The book consists of eleven chapters. The first two deal with the doctrine of the church and the church’s mission. These chapters provide a good scriptural introduction to what the church is and what it should be about. Chapters 3 and 4 consist of a two-part look at the church’s public ministry: the first dealing with reading and preaching, the second with praying, singing, and partaking. I found these chapters to be the strength of the book. Johnson was very clear about linking song, prayer, and sacrament to the ministry of the Word, which I have found to be a neglected idea in many similar books. Following this are chapters on baptism and the Lord’s Supper. I especially appreciated how Johnson is explicit about the covenantal background of baptism in the inevitable discussion of infant baptism. The chapter dealing with the Lord’s Supper is the longest in the book, and Johnson does an effective job unpacking the practical riches of the Reformed doctrine. Initially I thought the chapter was a little long for a basic introduction, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it was something that the purpose of the book required.

The next two chapters deal with vocation and the minister. The chapter on vocation seems out of place, and I do not believe that the point he was trying to make (serving Christ does not require full-time Christian ministry) requires a full chapter in a book on the church and ministry. The chapter on the ministry covers and external call as well as requirements for ministers, a fine overview.

The book concludes with three chapters on the Christian Sabbath. Johnson structures these three chapters around Mark 2:28–3:5. He begins with an introduction to the Sabbath, continues with a consideration of the Sabbath as it is made for man, then concludes by looking at Christ as the Lord of the Sabbath. Johnson does a good job of explaining a Reformed view of the Christian Sabbath and the fourth commandment. These chapters were helpful in delineating man’s need for rest and the goal of the Sabbath.