Honor

So much of what can be most beautiful about our churches is summed up in that single (and often overlooked) word: honour. Adam Ramsey's book offers compelling insights that will help us all to make our church communities better reflect the love and glory of Jesus. This is vital to the health of our churches, and a vital key to having an impact on the world around us. | Surely one of the most neglected commands in the Western church is the command to outdo one another in showing honour (Romans 12:10). In a culture obsessed with self-love, self-promotion and self-fulfilment, the call to value others above ourselves can sound unreasonably hard and possibly harmful. Adam Ramsey helps us understand why honour among members and leaders is essential for the health of our churches, and how it can be a beautiful witness in our communities. He offers a compelling vision of a prayerful people committed to humble love, thoughtful encouragement and Christ-exalting service. This is a people I want to be part of! I pray this book will be widely read and that the church of Christ will shine more brightly as a result. | I am thrilled to recommend Adam Ramsey's excellent new book. Having worked alongside Adam for close to a decade, I can attest to his exceptional character and unwavering commitment to living out what he writes in this book. In each chapter, Adam explores the true essence of honor within the church, showing us how we rightly honor God and one another through humility, biblical competitiveness and godly leadership. His insights are not just words on pages but a reflection of the honorable man he is. I wholeheartedly recommend Honor as an instructive, convicting and inspiring read that mirrors the wisdom and integrity of its author. | In this work, my friend Adam Ramsey shows us that a culture of honor is God’s design for God’s people. Our churches need this—not only a biblical theology of honor but a biblical experience of it. Creating a culture of honor is a vital way we can carry out Jesus’ command to love one another, and in doing so, communicate to a watching world how the gospel truly changes lives and relationships, to the honor and praise of God. | Honor: what an incredibly misused or ignored word. Depending on your church background, it can evoke a myriad of feelings. And yet, it is not a word we can pretend simply does not exist. We are exhorted by the Scriptures to "outdo one another in showing honour”. Paul’s words beg the question, "how?” And in this wonderfully thoughtful book, my friend Adam guides us toward the answers. With wit and grace, he points us to a better way of being God’s people—together. What a beautiful invitation! | As someone who has been under Adam’s leadership for the past decade, I have witnessed him to be both honouring, and honourable, in the way he loves and serves those around him. What is written in these pages has been lived before it was penned. The book you are holding paints a picture of the relational beauty of God’s kingdom being revealed in the lives of his people. And when his people rightly bestow honour upon one another, we get a glimpse of what the world is meant to be (and one day will be). I urge you to take these words in, and, by the Spirit’s power, to live them out. Your church will be a truer and more beautiful reflection of the kingdom of Jesus because of it. | Adam Ramsey leads Liberti Church on the Gold Coast, Australia and also serves as the director for Acts 29 Asia Pacific. The author of several books, including Truth on Fire and Truly, Truly, I Say to You, his favorite parts of life include being married to Kristina, making memories with their five kids, and preaching good news. Adam is quite serious about joy and an avid practitioner of laughter.