The Loveliest Place: The Beauty and Glory of the Church (Union)

After reading the first chapter, I so wanted to share this with my adult Bible study group! I smile the whole time I am reading, & discussing it with my group is truly a joy! All Scriptural based. It is exciting to be reminded of the beauty of God & the church, while experiencing poetic revelation of my relationship with our Lord!

What is so lovely about the church? How beautiful is the bride of Christ? What is the church's unique relationship to God the Father? How does the Holy Spirit help and beautify the church? How is this beautiful place simultaneously the pillar and buttress of the truth? In his book, "The Loveliest Place: The Beauty and Glory of the Church," Dustin Benge answers these questions - and many more - from Scripture.In an age of individualism where people wonder if the church is relevant, Dustin shows us why the church is relevant: she is at the heart of God's eternal plan to unite all things in Christ. It is impossible to read this book honestly and walk away without a deeper love for the bride Christ loved so much He gave Himself up for her. We should love the church because Jesus loved the church. Jesus loves the church.I am confident that believers will be reading this book 100 years from now. I can't recommend it highly enough. If you are a pastor, elder, deacon, Sunday school teacher, Christian, or an unbeliever wondering what the church is really about, you need to read this book. When you read the final page and close it up, you'll be left with one thought: "What a lovely place!"

“The Loveliest Place” has changed me much, for it not only teaches well, but has advanced me into “the next room” in my preaching/teaching and personal holiness journeys.

This is a good book overall, but I think my one star deduction would just be about organization and clarity of thought. Benge covers who the church is, what it does, etc. but the reader kind of has to do the mental math to connect the dots themselves because the chapters are basically arranged as elaborations on short verses or phrases without really an explicit structure as to why they're ordered the way they are or how they fit into an overall argument.

"The Loveliest Place" describes the Church in its best light as the Bride of Christ and in its relationship to the Father and the Spirit. The author does this by looking through different Scriptural passages to show why this is the case. This book would be helpful for the average church member who want to have a better look at what the Church is from the way God sees it. This is not written to be a theological tome that gives a systematic definition of the church and it would be more helpful to digest in smaller nuggets.One comment I would make is that this book portrays the Church in its best light. It is written for people who already see the Church as beautiful and want to find more reasons why it is beautiful. But as this beautification process is still a process, so this book may not be ideal for someone who has been hurt by the church and has experienced its messiness.

The subtitle of The Loveliest Place is "The Beauty and Glory of the Church" and this is a beautiful and glorious book.As with the others in the Union series of books, the cover is attractive and draws the reader in, but that's not what I'm talking about.The writing is almost lyrical in its ability to paint exquisite pictures to represent Biblical truths. Opening the book at random to find an example uncovered this one from the first chapter: "Like a prism that splits light into a myriad of colors, everything in God's creation is a mere reflection of the one radiant beam of glory emanating from God's inherent perfection and holiness." It's a joy to read as deep truths are uncovered from scripture and by quoting theologians throughout the ages. That's part of the beauty of which I speak.Certainly, not surprisingly, the content is full of beauty. The beauty of God. The beauty of the church and her relationship with the triune God. "The relationship between Christ and his bride is so multifaceted that merely one title will not satisfy all its beauty. Numerous rich metaphors throughout Scripture depict this divine exchange."At first, as I read the book, I felt like it was an empty indulgence. The truths being shared were not new to me. They were as old as the scriptures themselves, nay as old as creation itself. Was I really gaining anything by indulging in the beautiful flow of words that tickled my ears (although with gospel truth) and pleased my soul? Was there really anything to be gained?But then, after 5 chapters of wallowing in the beauty of truth, the tone changed; the challenges began. Chapter 6 calls the church to live up to its role as a pillar and buttress of truth. In Chapter 7 the author reminds us that we are to worship God in spirit and in truth, but especially that our worship is to predominately be corporate in nature.The first sentence in chapter 8 marks another, more personal turning: "Faithful leaders beautify the church." Chapter 8 calls pastors to shepherd the flock and chapter 9 calls them to feed the flock.The next two chapters take a step back to the beautiful work of the church in proclaiming the gospel (chapter 10) and practicing the ordinances (or sacraments as some would call them - chapter 11).Finally, chapters 12 and 13 are aimed at me. Yes I'm a part of the church, but I'm not a pastor, I don't administer the ordinances, and I don't often have opportunity to preach the gospel. But in chapter 12, the author turns his attention on me. "A life characterized by Spirit-led walking is continuously concerned with growing in Christlikeness, having our minds saturated with the truth of God's word, having our hearts enraptured in perpetual doxological praise, giving our lives in service to love and help our neighbors, and glorifying the Lord in all things." Is this me? Am I doing these things? Or am I, as the author describes many Christians "coasting through life while expecting to receive the blessings of being part of the bride without doing any of the walking"? As if that message weren't hard enough, chapter 13 promises me persecution.The final chapter brings some hope in the face of these challenges. I am not alone. I am part of the church! And the church is one - one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father. But the author doesn't completely let us off the hook. He reminds us that unity in the church requires hard work and he reminds us of what that work is.The glory of this book is that it is focused on the glory of God as expressed in and through His church, and it challenges us to live up to our calling. As the author says in the Epilogue "This book has essentially served as a visit to the sacred chambers where Christ dwells alone with his church. We have been led into the inner workings of the triune God as he rescues and sanctifies a people and makes them fit for his glory. Here, we are called his friends, his bride, his possession, his children, his house. Here, we can call him our Father, our Friend, our Savior, our Head, our Helper, and our Beautifier. Within these chambers, the church is robed in beauty, arrayed in loveliness, and set upon a path of lifelong adoration, intimate fellowship, selfless service, and gospel proclamation."What a joy to be reminded of eternal truths, to be bathed in beautiful prose, and most of all to be challenged to faithfully walk the path set before us.