Thank you for taking the time to read and review this book. I completely agree with you that more youth workers ought to read and interact with A Weed in the Church. However, I would differ with your final conclusion.

I would suggest that a "scripture is enough" position is the position of a faithful church and all faithful ministers. That's exactly what Jesus, Paul, the Apostles, Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, Spurgeon, and faithful shepherds today argue. The Bible itself boldly claims for believers that Scripture is breathed out by God and will profit the complete work of equipping believers (2 Tim 3:16). And, it says that it is the perfect rule for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3).

In giving some thought and consideration to your review, I found that many of the problems that were noted were not disagreement about what the Bible says or teaches, but whether or not we ought to do what it says. That seems like a very dangerous assertion. To argue that even though the very Word of God would tell us something that we have the right to "be creative thinkers" about it, seems perilously close to exalting my assessment and evaluation of the rightness or wrongness of a method based purely on my own fallen notions. Students need to be engaged. Amen. But, they need to engage God not me or my creativity. He sets the terms of engagement.

The doctrine of the sufficiency (enoughness) of Scripture is at the heart of this discussion. That being the case, if Brown's methodological arguments are off, you need to address them with the Word. Maybe a follow-up review of texts that would argue for the practices we see in student ministries today.

Whether or not we like the possible outcomes or think that others will like them seems like swinging the pendulum all the way over to man's wisdom over God's. If what Mr. Brown argues is what the Bible teaches--and I think it is--, Christians ought to submit to God's Word. Not because of this book, but because God is worthy of it. It sure seems to me that negotiating a better deal just seems like we are too close to endorsing rationalized disobedience.

I'm with you in hoping that conversations will be sparked, but I'm hoping that the fruit of those discussions is more obedience to the Word without qualification or exception. Thank you again for taking your time to write publicly about an important and volatile topic!