Review: Becoming God’s Family: Why the Church Still Matters

Author Carmen Joy Imes takes readers on a theological journey to show the church is still a necessity in today’s culture.

In Becoming God’s Family, Imes doesn’t shy away from controversial and polarizing issues impacting the church as she encourages lament, repentance and the desire not to break fellowship with others among local, global and intergenerational Christians.

Rather than focusing on differences and seeing church as a social club, Imes encourages the reader to consider what the church could be when everyone surrenders themselves under the lordship of Jesus Christ.

Imes starts with giving the Christian reader a firm grip of their identity with God, reminding us “every human being is the image of God.”

She continues her discussion on family by focusing on families and God’s involvement with Abraham, Moses and others throughout the Bible.

“God’s promises are not aimed at helping us reach our personal goals. Instead, God’s promises transcend our personal lives and stretch wide to encompass others we will never even meet,” Imes said.

Imes emphasizes we need each other, and we are not meant to be by ourselves.

She also addresses the dysfunction, division and trauma within the Old and New Testament and ways the church can learn from what God already is showing his people through Scripture.

Imes pulls readers to the teachings of Paul as she highlights the work of Jesus making us one as a community full of people who otherwise had nothing much in common.

Becoming God’s Family is a deep dive into what a solid, theological view from Scripture can do for readers looking to understand what it means to be the body of Christ.

Kendall Lyons, news reporter

Baptist Standard