Critical Book Review of Ordinary by Tony Merida

Tony Merida. Ordinary: How to Turn the World Upside Down. Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2015. 137 pages. Hardback. 978-1-4336-8416-6. $12.99. 

I recently had the opportunity to sit down and read Ordinary: How to Turn the World Upside Down by Tony Merida. After reading this book, I would like to provide you with a brief summary, constructive critiques, and a word to encourage you to read this book in the immediate future. Don't be confused by the word "critique." Many people who begin to read this blog will place a negative connotation to this word. However, a critical book review seeks to provide the audience with a "critique" concerning the strengths and weaknesses of the author's argument.

Merida's thesis reads, "We need Christians focusing on ordinary Christianity-speaking up for the voiceless, caring for the single mom, restoring the broken, bearing burdens, welcoming the functionally fatherless, and speaking the good news to people on a regular basis in order to change the world" (15). In other words, Merida argues that America needs Christians who are ordinary believers living out their faith. A faith that leads to justice and mercy ministry (3-5). 

To summarize the contents, he begins with the biblical concept of neighbor love. Merida argues that to be ordinary means to live out your faith with "active love" just like Christ (20). This love carries out God's plan for global evangelism, mercy and justice ministry, and extends to our neighbors. Merida moves his argument to the biblical concept of hospitality. He defines hospitality as, "love for strangers" (41). The author develops this concept from Scripture, and provides application for the reader. He targets areas that hinder Christians from practicing biblical hospitality and develops practical ways to show biblical hospitality (48-60).

Merida's next argument opens the reader's eyes to those who are vulnerable, mainly, the fatherless. He provides a biblical exegesis from the Bible to validate his argument, and concludes with thoughts for the reader's heart to be opened to this type of ministry. Merida ties this concept to his thesis when he writes, "Orphan care is not for exceptional Christians, it's for the ordinary ones" (80). Then, the author and his wife write about justice, and urge Christians to speak up for those who have no voice. This chapter provides one with various ideas about how to make their voices heard in society. The Meridas tie this chapter into their thesis when they declare, "God uses ordinary people to speak up for the voiceless, and He gets all the glory from the victories" (93).

The author closes his argument with humility. In other words, being an ordinary Christian is not going to get you a lot of Twitter followers, Facebook friends, or many speaking arrangements. The ordinary Christian life that seeks to honor and glorify God in the areas of justice and mercy ministries will many times be "done without receiving and reward in this life" (107). Merida provides "four ingredients" for humility: Conversion, Scripture, Prayer, and God's glory (108-112).

Merida's book contains many strengths, but I would like to provide you with three of his greatest strengths. First, the author reasons for his position through the writings of Scripture. When Merida argues for his position on orphans, he provides two charts from the Old and New Testaments to walk the reader through his convictions concerning the fatherless. Scripture rightly provides his authoritative source as he builds his argument. Second, Merida's work does not exist as merely theoretical, but inherently practical for the reader. Merida provides many examples and organizations for one to have a starting point for this type of living and ministry. Third, Merida's book will be an encouragement to anyone who reads it because he helps readers understand that they are to live an ordinary, God-honoring, and active life of love. He will encourage followers to be faithful followers in this celebrity pastor and bigger is better American Christianity.

Merida's one weakness is that he spends majority of his argument on the orphan and the fatherless. Yet, he only spends one paragraph on the widow and the elderly (58-59). I would argue that justice and mercy ministry should not be centralized around the fatherless, but rather extended to the widow and elderly (James 3:27). There is a need for the American Christian to stand up and be a voice for the elderly as society seeks to legalize-and some states have legalized-physician assisted suicide. Additionally, Christians should do better at not only opening our homes to the fatherless, but to the widow and those in assisted living facilities. These people are also made in the image of God, and are in need of ordinary Christians showing love to them and being a voice for them. The book seemed to argue more exclusively for the orphan, and perhaps, could have caused the reader to undermine the importance of elderly and widow care.

In light of this small critique, I would highly recommend that you pick this book up for your own personal reading and spiritual development. This book is highly versatile because it will encourage anyone from young adults to the elderly. If you read this book, it will encourage you to display an ordinary Christian life of love, hospitality, care, justice, mercy, and humility. We should all seek to be ordinary Christians in order that God may do extraordinary things through us for his glory.