Review: Flickering Lamps: Christ and His Church

Flickering Lamps, by Henry and Richard Blackaby, tells one of the most inspiring stories of church revitalization you’ll ever read. The book chronicles Henry Blackaby’s experience becoming the pastor of a dying church of less than a dozen people in Saskatchewan, Canada.

Coming from a growing, well-funded church in Downey, California, it made no sense to move 1,700 miles away and take a huge pay cut, just to watch a church die. But God was calling. Blackaby knew without a doubt that God had led his family to this new church. As he and his family obeyed the Lord, God worked powerfully as the church grew and reached people with the good news about Jesus.

Flickering Lamps is much more than just a memoir of Blackaby’s experience in Saskatchewan. In the book, Henry and his son, Richard, sprinkle stories of Faith Baptist Church between biblical exposition about the seven churches Jesus instructs John to write letters to in Revelation 2-3. From those letters, Henry and Richard pulled out principles about Christ’s purpose for His church, plans for His church, presence and His church, power and His church, and pre-eminence and His church.

The book’s stories will encourage pastors involved in revitalization with a powerful vision of what God can do when His people let the Lord renew the church based upon His inspired Word. Henry and Richard’s teaching on the topic will give you a practical handle on some of the most vexing struggles faced by a pastor attempting to revitalize his church.