Liberty Alum Turns Notes on Biblical Church Structure Into Published Book

John Hoogeveen never planned on writing a book. All he wanted to do was sort through his beliefs on what the Bible taught about church structure following conflicting conversations and experiences in various ministry settings. 

However as he penned his thoughts on biblical church structure and reckoned with unbiblical behavior in the church, Hoogeveen’s ideas grew from a bullet-point list to a  published book.   

His new book, titled “Awakening the Sleeping Giant: The Church Re-Discovered,” compares the structure of the North American church to the New Testament church to explain common issues encountered by today’s churches. It offers ways the church can practically apply biblical teachings to reflect a more biblical church model.

Hoogeveen, a Liberty alum, and his family served as missionaries in Puerto Rico for six years. As they interacted with the church in a different culture, they began to realize that some of their American methods of ministry, church planting and evangelism were not working. 

“Up until we moved out of the mainland United States, we only understood church in the context of what North America understands church as,” Hoogeveen said. “When we started engaging with Christians in the islands, we started recognizing some pretty major differences.”

Hoogeveen began to question the discipleship models in use and whether they are truly applicable in every context. 

“This couple year-long conversation started [with] questions being asked [like], ‘Hey, is this the best way to do it?’ ‘Is that the best way to do it?’ ‘Should we figure out how to do both?’” Hoogeveen said. 

On a flight back to Puerto Rico, Hoogeveen found himself wrestling with two recent phone calls from his pastor and a fellow missionary. Both had shared their ideas for what the church should look like, but Hoogeveen felt that something was missing. 

So, the Lord told him to write, he said. By the time the plane landed, he had written two pages of bullet points and some sentences about what the church should look like with support  from scripture.

“I had no intention of ever writing anything to publish when I was on the airplane,” Hoogeveen said. “It was purely for me to figure out what our ministry needed to look like.”

As time went on, he would revisit his notes, read them over and write more in an effort to sort out his thoughts. Two pages eventually grew to nine and on from there. 

At the same time, Hoogeveen was working on his master’s degree in global studies at Liberty. He wrote his final paper on church structure, expecting nothing out of it other than a grade. His professor, however, told Hoogeveen that every church in American needed to read his paper. 

“At first, I took it as a really reaffirming complement,” Hoogeveen said. “The more I sat on it, the more I was like, ‘If he’s really serious, how do I do that?’” 

The answer: self-publishing. As he prepared his paper for publishing, Hoogeveen found himself adding more and more to his work, and it eventually became a book. 

Two incidents led Hoogeveen to actually publish the book, he said. First, a church fired him from his role as a youth pastor for teaching and applying this biblical model of the church. The second incident was his local church serving alcohol at concerts it hosted.

“I can’t stay quiet about these events anymore,” Hoogeveen said. “I have to publish.”

Writing comes easily to Hoogeveen, but the editing process challenged him, he said.

“You have somebody else reading through what you wrote and what I believe the Lord had given me to write,” Hoogeveen said. “There’s some emotional stuff to that.”

However, the most rewarding part of publishing a book is when people start talking about it with you, Hoogeveen said.

“The whole purpose of writing is to get it in people’s hands,” Hoogeveen said. “I don’t care if people buy it. I care if people read it.”

Hoogeveen is currently working on his PhD in communications with an emphasis on media and culture through Liberty Online. He also does academic mentoring for online high school students and is collaborating with one of them on a book about the principles of success. According to Hoogeveen, he has no interest in returning to a pastoral role; rather, he desires to minister to others daily outside of a professional ministry setting. 

As he reflected on his journey of authoring “Awakening the Sleeping Giant,” Hoogeveen emphasized the importance of experiencing life in another country long-term, particularly for people who want to work in a global context.

“Most things the American church does are unique to America,” Hoogeveen said. “We think we are the perfect model of how things should be, but we are pretty much the opposite.”

Farmer is the web and social media manager. Follow her on Twitter.