Charles W. Colson - Being the Body: A New Call for the Church to Be Light in the Darkness

Scriptural, searching, haunting, humbling, challenging, energizing, down-to-earth, up-to-the-minuteall this and more is true of Being the Body, a radical update of Colsons blockbuster of a decade ago, now even more powerful than it was before. Here is visionary dynamite. Read it thoughtfully, and it will mark you for life.

J. I. PACKER, Professor and best-selling
author of Knowing God

No one can match Colsons unique blend of story-telling, contemporary insight and prophetic vision.

PHILLIP YANCEY, best-selling
author of Soul Survivor

Chuck Colson and Ellen Vaughn have once again given us a compelling and humbling testament to how Gods grace and truth are best embodied when the church truly lives Coram Deobefore the eyes of God. Through numerous stories from the earliest days of Christianity to the present... your heart will be touched and your mind challenged.

RAVI ZACHARIAS, best-selling
author of Jesus Among Other Gods

Chuck Colson is a national treasurenot only that, he is a light for the universal church. The church, as Dr. Colson teaches us again: that embodied presence of Christ active in the world, today as yesterday.

MICHAEL NOVAK, George Frederick Jewett Chair in
Religion, Philosophy, and Public Policy,
American Enterprise Institute

I am profoundly challenged and encouraged. Truly, there has never been a more vital time in history than now for the Body of Christ as individuals and as a community to understand and respond to our high calling, and Im thankful for this book that sounds that calling loud and clear.

STEVEN CURTIS CHAPMAN, multi-platinum,
Grammy and Dove Award-Winning Artist

This passionate and piercing book made me want to stand and cheer! The church must not ignore its clarion call.

LEE STROBEL, best-selling author of The Case for Christ

It is not surprising that the world tries to squeeze the church into its own mold. That the church cooperates so readily is the true cause for alarm. In Being the Body, Colson and Vaughn have given us a clear picture of the way God would mold the church in the image of His Son. Read it and be challenged.

DAVID NEFF, editor, Christianity Today magazine

As America faces a difficult and uncertain future, we all must wonderis the church able to meet the challenge of being a light for Gods love and holiness in a world of growing darkness? Chuck Colson once again proves himself one of our great God and Saviors most influential agents of change as he exhorts the body of Christ to live up to its calling and its destiny.

BILL BRIGHT, Campus Crusade for Christ

In every generation God raises up witnesses who shake the Christian people out of fear and lethargy and recall them to the high adventure of being light in the darkness. With the appearance of Being the Body, we are once again alerted to the truth that Charles Colson is such a witness. Read this book. Live this book.

RICHARD JOHN NEUHAUS, President, Religion and Public Life
A Research and Education Institute

BEING
THE
BODY

CHARLES COLSON
ELLEN VAUGHN

BEING THE BODY

2003 Charles Colson and Ellen Vaughn. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotation in printed reviews, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published by W Publishing Group, A Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc., P.O. Box 141000, Nashville, Tennessee, 37214.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations used in this book are from the New King James Version, copyright 1979, 1980, 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc., Publishers.

Other Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version (NIV), copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.

The King James Version of the Bible (KJV).

Study Guide prepared by T. M. Moore.

ISBN 0-8499-1752-2 (hc)
ISBN 0-8499-4508-9 (sc)

Printed in the United States of America

Soli Deo Gloria

CONTENTS

M ost writers do not retreat to solitary cloisters to ponder great thoughts and then, in glorious moments of illumination, compose timeless prose. No, at least from our perspective, books are the product of a process.

They begin with what we read and study and think about; they are influenced by thinkers and mentors, as well as the trials and joys of personal experience. Gradually, ideas begin to emerge. Some ripen into convictions. And at some point in the process, we even dare to think, This could be a book...

But even at that point, writers dont have the luxury of retreating into solitude. Books get written in the midst of living. Even as you are writing about the church, you walk into a prison cell and meet a man who reflects the true fear of the Lord. This is what we all need, you think. Then there are conversations with all sorts of people, more books read, ideas maturing, drafts written, consultation with theologians, and visits to churches, from South Central Los Angeles to Timisoara, Romania.

And then, most precious of all, are those moments when you sense the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit in forming convictionsand then articulating them.

We spent almost three years in that process for the first release of this book and the better part of a year on this revised edition. And it has indeed been collaborative, not only between the two of us, who have worked together for twenty-three years on many different writing projects, but also with Prison Fellowship colleagues, friends, pastors, and teachers.

There are so many to whom we are much indebted.

The dedication expresses the first order of gratitude. We have sensed over and over Gods anointing on this work, and so we can do no other than to first consecrate this work to Him for His glory.

Then we must thank the group of scholars who contributed to the first inspirations for this work. Foremost among them is Dr. Carl F. H. Henry, Chucks friend and teacher since the earliest days of his Christian life. Carl has taught us through the wealth of his prodigious theological, historical, and sociological knowledge, as well as through the authentic model of his own personal life. His lectures on the church, given to the Prison Fellowship staff, formed a foundation of sorts for this work; his meticulous reading and editing of the manuscript were crucially important. As we write, Carl is in a nursing home, facing severe health challengesbut because of the vitality of his writing and teaching, he remains a powerful influence on modern evangelicalism.

Next is the late Dr. Francis Schaeffer. Schaeffers writings have profoundly affected so many evangelicals. and his writings on truth informed our theme here regarding the church as a pillar of truth in a lost culture.

Father Richard John Neuhaus has also been a tremendous inspiration. He has one of the keenest minds weve ever known. He writes with weight and gritty substance and profound insight. His book Freedom for Ministry was one of our richest sources. We deeply appreciate his help in reviewing portions of this manuscript, and for his contributions in our understanding of the unity of the Body.

In addition, we are indebted to Rev. T. M. Moore, pastor of teaching ministries, Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee, and theological consultant to the Wilberforce Forum and Prison Fellowship. T. M. helped formulate the earliest ideas at this books conception and was of immense help throughout its gestation. We consider T. M. one of the bright lights in evangelical circles.