Side by Side - by Edward Welch.
Having read some of Ed's previous books, I was looking forward to reading this one. Side by Side is an excellent book to learn how to walk with fellow believers and use our gifts to serve one another in love. Ed's experience in handling these situations comes through clearly in this book.
The book is divided into two main parts: being needy and being needed. The first part guides you in sharing your burdens; the second part guides you in bearing the burdens of others. We benefit from the thinking that the author has done from counseling for over 30 years.
God has given us each other. The church is the display of his glory and manifest wisdom on earth. We walk together. We live life together. This is how we are to be about the biblical mandate of living the "one-another" life.
Part 1, begins in the right place, with us. It talks about why our life is hard and the circumstances that bear on us. Then he goes straight to the heart - "in the heart we find the very essence of who we are". Moves from emotions of the heart to the idols of the heart. Chapter three is excellent on thinking about suffering and our response to it. Its not an in-depth analysis on the subject but focuses on reminding the essentials for the context of this book. He then models scripture and shows why and how we need to cry out for help - first to God and then other people.
Part 2 has tons of nuggets along the way. Like I said before Ed surely seems to have thought through this and done this before. We get to glean and learn from his experience. He has some good examples of how to talk to others. Chapter 9 is all about asking the right questions to get to know others. One thing that I have benefited from (and have been sorely lacking personally) is to see the good in others. Part 2 starts with the basic "moving toward one another" and incrementally grows toward the serious topic of "talking about sin". Two main topics suggested in our walk with others are suffering and sin, suffering being the easier part and sin being the one that needs to be handled with much wisdom, love and care.
This books reads with simple constructs and makes it easy to think as you read along. Some of the content is not new in its "data" value but the "wisdom" is in the way its addressed and applied to this context. I've had many "aha", "why didn't I think of that" and other moments. For a while, I thought every elder should read this book but now I think every Christian should read this book! I'm grateful for this book and its author.
Having read some of Ed's previous books, I was looking forward to reading this one. Side by Side is an excellent book to learn how to walk with fellow believers and use our gifts to serve one another in love. Ed's experience in handling these situations comes through clearly in this book.
The book is divided into two main parts: being needy and being needed. The first part guides you in sharing your burdens; the second part guides you in bearing the burdens of others. We benefit from the thinking that the author has done from counseling for over 30 years.
God has given us each other. The church is the display of his glory and manifest wisdom on earth. We walk together. We live life together. This is how we are to be about the biblical mandate of living the "one-another" life.
Part 1, begins in the right place, with us. It talks about why our life is hard and the circumstances that bear on us. Then he goes straight to the heart - "in the heart we find the very essence of who we are". Moves from emotions of the heart to the idols of the heart. Chapter three is excellent on thinking about suffering and our response to it. Its not an in-depth analysis on the subject but focuses on reminding the essentials for the context of this book. He then models scripture and shows why and how we need to cry out for help - first to God and then other people.
Part 2 has tons of nuggets along the way. Like I said before Ed surely seems to have thought through this and done this before. We get to glean and learn from his experience. He has some good examples of how to talk to others. Chapter 9 is all about asking the right questions to get to know others. One thing that I have benefited from (and have been sorely lacking personally) is to see the good in others. Part 2 starts with the basic "moving toward one another" and incrementally grows toward the serious topic of "talking about sin". Two main topics suggested in our walk with others are suffering and sin, suffering being the easier part and sin being the one that needs to be handled with much wisdom, love and care.
This books reads with simple constructs and makes it easy to think as you read along. Some of the content is not new in its "data" value but the "wisdom" is in the way its addressed and applied to this context. I've had many "aha", "why didn't I think of that" and other moments. For a while, I thought every elder should read this book but now I think every Christian should read this book! I'm grateful for this book and its author.
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