Maximum Gospel Impact: A Review of Radical Together by David Platt (Multnomah Books, 2011)

Radical Together by David Platt (Multnomah Books, 2011) is a stand-alone sequel to his first book Radical which created tidal waves with the call to each Christian to take back his or her faith from the American Dream. It met with mixed reaction from the Christian world. The sequel, Radical Together, shows how individuals can unite together as God intended them to do in order to create maximum gospel impact. This second book will likely meet the same reception from American Christianity. Those whom are comfortably chasing the American dream while reinventing the gospel to suit their individual situations will likely dislike this book as much as the first. Those whom understand that God’s mission is global in scope will welcome this book as a much needed revival wind. 

When I started the book, in all honesty, I did not expect much. Radical was awesome and I expected this to be more of the same information rehashed and repackaged in a new cover with a new target—focused on the group as opposed to the individual. I was wrong. David Platt immediately grabs the reader’s attention with his well written, easy to understand style and solid biblical exegesis. Once again he leads the open-minded person to wonder, “How did I miss that simple point in all the times I’ve read that passage.”  

Radical Together focuses more on the church as a group entity and brings to light many of the issues which cause us to stumble over our own feet and inadvertently prevent God’s people from accomplishing God’s purpose. Platt organizes the book around six of these premises. One of the worst enemies of Christians can be good things in the church. The gospel that saves us from work saves us to work. The Word does the work. Building the right church depends on using all the wrong people. We are living—and longing—for the end of the world. We are selfless followers of a self-centered God.

Throughout the book, the author takes each principle and expounds it with real life examples, colorful illustrations, and supporting Scripture references. The style is easy to read and understand yet at the same time somber and challenging. Each principle brings the reader face-to-face with a very real decision: Do I agree that the church belongs to Christ and exists for a global purpose? Or, will I continue to assert that the church belongs to us exists to serve me?

Radical Together is a must read that will challenge every Christian’s view of the church body in some form or another. Leaders will be forced to examine the direction they are taking the church body in which God has entrusted to their stewardship. Members will be forced to examine the idols of church life in which they hold dear and determine whether or not they will smash these idols in order to allow the church to focus on God’s plan.