Meahl Memories

A Church Called Tov - Chapter 5: "Creating a Goodness Culture"

After the last chapter listing the false narratives found in a church with a toxic culture, this chapter will delineate the major elements of a church with a culture of tov/goodness.  "Choosing a church is choosing a culture, and the culture we choose will form us into the people we become." (p. 84)

Tov, the Hebrew word for good/goodness, occurs more than 700 times in Scripture. "From the very first page of our Bibles, tov is the Bible's summary term, the "executive virtue," for how God wants us to live.

Some points about to:

• God alone is tov. It's connected to his name, it refers to his acts of salvation, he chases us with it, we can taste and see it. (p. 87-88)
• God's design is tov.  "iTov suggests what is visually pleasing and pleasant, what is desirable, what is of high quality, and what is excellent." That is God's design. For us, that means being people who love, which comes only through a "Spirit-soaked, Spirit-filled, and Spirit-directed live." p. 88
• Tov is active. Jesus went around doing good/tov (Acts 10:38) because he is tov.  The authors state that "the foremost expression of tov is generosity." (p. 90)
• Tov resists evil. "Over and over the Bible teaches us to pursue goodness and turn away from evil." (p. 92)

"Tov is a one-word summary of God's ultimate approval." (p. 93) From Genesis to Revelation, tov is all that matters. "The word gospel could be translated as 'the message of tov.' " (p. 94)

What every church needs to be a tov church is a model of tov, and that is Jesus. If the people in the church imitate Jesus, they can help create a culture of goodness. (p. 96) "We don't create tov churches in our own strength, by grit and determination or by clever programming. Tov churches are the work of God's Spirit set free to create tov..." (p. 96)

The next chapters will spell out seven key elements of a tov culture,