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Reviews and Endorsements
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[Endorsement]
- “Shawn Brace offers a refreshingly candid reflection on his journey of discovering how Christian mission and discipleship are inextricably bound up with ordinary life, the joy of mutual relationships, the pursuit of justice, and learning—simply yet profoundly—to love one another well. One need not share all of Brace’s assumptions and convictions to benefit from the stories and insights he offers because the book itself reflects the open posture of missional church that he proposes.”
—Nicholas Zork, PhD, Minister for Worship and the Arts, Church of the Advent Hope, New York City
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[Endorsement]
- “In a time where so many things seem to either be changing too fast or stuck in the past, Shawn Brace brings a biblical, fresh and intentional perspective to the ecclesiology conversation. I can’t wait to recommend this book to every pastor in our field. Adventist to the core and incredibly timely—pick this book up!”
—Roger Hernandez, Ministerial and Evangelism Director, Southern Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
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[Endorsement]
- “The Table I Long For traces Brace’s journey as he leads his congregation away from program and performance to people and community. The main stage of the book is not a church building, but homes, parties, barbeques, recovery groups and coffee shops. Brace weaves experiences of joy, meals, broken hearts, addiction and local life into the story of God’s continuous action in the world. He paints a beautiful picture of what it might look like when Christians commit to be a faithful, loving presence in our local communities. He does not shy away from the missteps of the project, or his own mistakes, pulling the veil back to reveal a pastoral heart ignited by love for people.”
—Andreas Beccai, Lead Pastor, Walla Walla University Church
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[Endorsement]
- “Shawn Brace’s The Table I Long For is the ‘must read’ book of the year for anyone interested in the church and its mission—especially in our secular age. Shawn writes with clarity, conviction and a depth that keeps you engaged page by page. He challenges our assumptions about church and takes us back to the Bible over and over again with an invitation to settle no more for what is, but to pursue with holy abandon, what can be. I could not recommend this book enough. Two thumbs way up from me.”
—Marcos Torres, Pastor, Perth, Australia
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[Endorsement]
- “Shawn Brace provides Christians with a stirring call to spread the gospel through an invitation to live life together, creating new communities that include those on the margins and allow us to work together for the good of the Kingdom of God. His writing brings together practical theology, personal revelations and pastoral experience. The intimate nature of his story-telling and analysis allows the reader to process the challenge of his argument without feeling defensive or overwhelmed. It’s encouraging to have such a welcoming vision of discipleship and discipling provided in this accessible way.”
—Lisa Clark Diller, PhD, Chair of the History Department, Southern Adventist University
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[Endorsement]
- “This doesn’t feel like just another book on church growth. Shawn Brace draws on his rich experience in pastoral ministry to help us reimagine what church could look like in a post-pandemic age. Real-life stories intertwined with robust yet relevant theology make this a simultaneously accessible and thought-provoking read.”
—Kevin Wilson, Pastor, TikTok Influencer
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[ Bookshelf Review ]
- Shawn Brace was restless in his ministry, his church and even some aspects of his faith. Having spent years as a Seventh-day Adventist pastor in the north-eastern United States, he explored options for relocation, further study and church-planting, but nothing was seeming to work out. The Table I Long For is his story of re-finding his passion for ministry, re-founding his local church, revitalising his faith and finally even enrolling in an unexpected opportunity for further education.
Presented as a personal story, The Table I Long For has a narrative momentum that carries the reader through the theological reflections about the nature of the church and mission in our communities today.
And this is a key focus of Pastor Brace’s progression, intentionally moving from maintaining a church to engaging with his community, moving from programs to people. This leads to inevitable challenges when seeking to interact meaningfully with people who do not have the same lifestyle habits, faith and practices, and we share in the experiences of wrestling with these questions with Shawn and his family.
The Table I Long For draws its title from a poem-like reading that affirms the goodness of sharing our lives, eating, praying and serving together as a model of church. But this is also a personal memoir, including sharing some of Pastor Brace’s experience of undertaking a 12-step program for greater emotional health. This level of honest self-reflection and openness to personal growth is refreshing and serves as an example of what it means to take responsibility for our wellbeing as a foundation for greater service to God and the people around us.
Touching on many of the urgent challenges for the church and its mission in an increasingly secular culture, The Table I Long For brings together a variety of sources of inspiration and some gentle critiques of our traditional approaches to church and evangelism. It also offers questions for addressing some of these same issues in our own churches and communities. By necessity, it is an unfinished story and not all the questions are resolved, but our attention is directed again to Jesus and the mission He has given each of us to love people, serve our communities and share the hope He has given us. Along the way, this journey will likely also change and renew your experience of faith and church.
—Nathan Brown, book editor, Signs Publishing
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[Endorsement]
- “The Table I Long For is beautifully written, compelling and biblical. It doesn’t just talk about mission, it demonstrates it through stories and personal experience. Inspiring and practical, this book could forever change the way you approach your life and church. Although there’s a point or two I could dispute with Shawn, the book gave me a deep breath of fresh mission air that we all so desperately need.”
—Gary Krause, Director, Office of Adventist Mission, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
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[Endorsement]
- “If you are a member of any church, this book will mess with your head in the best and most necessary kind of way. The fact is, the church in the West is in a state of emergency. We are standing on quicksand in a culture that finds what we’re doing and how we’re doing it completely irrelevant. Shawn Brace’s journey is a hopeful new direction that has the potential not only to save the Western church from extinction but to transform it into a positive force to be reckoned with. But this new way of being the church just happens to be the old way by which the apostles turned the world upside down. Brace yourself, because The Table I Long For will no doubt challenge some of your most deeply held assumptions about what it means to be a Christian on mission for Christ in the world.”
—Ty Gibson, Author, Director/Speaker, Light Bearers Ministry
