Your Church Is Too Small: Why unity in Christ's mission is vital to the future of the church
Armstrong, John H.
Zondervan, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-3103-2114-9

In Your Church Is Too Small, John Armstrong presents a vision of the unity possible for Christians across social, cultural, racial, and denominational lines. When Jesus’ followers seek unity through participation in the kingdom of God and the mission of Christ, they demonstrate God’s character to a watching world.

“I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.” Too often, these words of Jesus from John 17:20-21 seem like an unreachable ideal. But in Your Church Is Too Small, John Armstrong shows that Jesus’ vision of Christian unity is for all God’s people across social, cultural, racial, and denominational lines.

Endorsements:
“Every once in a while I read a book I wish every Christian I know would read. This is that kind of book. Your Church is too Small is clear, prophetic, practical… and true. If you pray for reformation, renewal and revival in America and the world (and I do daily) this book is the place to put legs on those prayers. You will be shocked, irritated and stirred deeply… and then you’ll rise up and call John Armstrong blessed for having had the courage and call to write it and for me for having the wisdom to commend it to you.” — Steve Brown, President and teacher, Key Life Network, Inc

“If the late Lesslie Newbigin could offer today’s Church an exhortation—a reminder from the past, an assessment of the present, and encouragement for the future—what would the old Bishop say? In what he terms “missional ecumenism,” John Armstrong proposes an answer that confronts readers with the universal shape of Christian identity.” — Chris Castaldo, author, Holy Ground: Walking with Jesus as a Former Catholic

“The Apostle Paul wrote that "maintaining the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" among the followers of Jesus Christ is "hard work" (Eph. 4:3). Few people know that better than John Armstrong. In a day when everything about the contemporary Church militates against oneness, John Armstrong is struggling to break down the walls we've built up so that the world can see Jesus in all His variegated richness, in the fullness of the one Body of Christ. Your Church is Too Small provides the blueprints and marching orders for a new generation of Church-builders (capital C) from among those who are building local churches in all the communions of the Body of Christ.” — T.M. Moore, Dean of the Centurions, Prison Fellowship

“A growing appreciation for Catholicism—the whole church, spread across the whole world—is one of the most hopeful signs emerging within recent evangelicalism. John Armstrong’s astute, heartfelt book provides excellent guidance for the 21st-century evangelical rediscovery of the classical church and its rich tradition.” — Rodney Clapp, author of Tortured Wonders and A Peculiar People

“Dr. Armstrong’s irenic approach should make it easy for Christians, whether Catholic, Orthodox or Protestant, to engage the challenging thesis of the book, while recognizing that there remain points of doctrine between them which will require further clarification. Anyone concerned about either evangelism or Christian unity should read this book, and take seriously its call for both mission and ecumenism.” — Fr. Thomas A. Baima, Provost, University of Saint Mary of the Lake

“Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox Christians who call Jesus Lord are obligated to fulfill His Great Commission and His New Commandment to love one another. Our lack of visible unity and ecumenical charity hinders our mission. John Armstrong’s Your Church Is Too Small is a humble, honest, and open-hearted summons to “re-size” our churches (and our hearts) by taking seriously the prayer Jesus prayed for us on the eve of His Crucifixion. May this encouraging, provocative, and practical book not only be read widely, but also be acted upon out of love for the One who saves us all.” — James M. Kushiner, Executive Editor, Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity

“With attention to his own pilgrimage and growth in ecclesial awareness, John Armstrong explores here the evangelical heart and ecumenical breadth of churchly Christianity. I am encouraged by his explorations and commend this study to all believers who pray and labor for the unity for which our Savior prayed.” — Timothy George, founding dean of Beeson Divinity School of Samford University, senior editor of Christianity Today

“John Armstrong is one of those Evangelical theologians---may their tribe increase and the valley abound with their tents---who know that full obedience to Christ embraces the historical transmission through which we know Him. This book refuses to scale down the bearer of that tradition---the historical church, that is---or reduce the authority of its voice.” — Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon, Senior Editor of Touchstone

“John Armstrong has spent his entire ministry working to build the Church, and he has sometimes paid a dear price for insisting that true believers in every communion must work together to re-assert the unity of Christ's Body. This book is John's story and manifesto for the much-needed work of building bridges, forging alliances, and renewing oneness across all the various expressions of the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's a must for anyone who has grown weary with Christian divisiveness and schism and longs to discover ways of strengthening the bonds that unite us in the Spirit of Christ.” — Chuck Colson