Stan Firth’s Book Available at Lulu

Three or four years ago, I was introduced to a small e-book entitled Custom and Command, written in 1996 by Stan Firth. The subtitle describes the author’s intent more clearly: Encouragement from the Scriptures for an unusual new breed of Christians, with some answers for those who might feel critical of them. He uses the phrase, “unstructured church-lifestyle” to describe those of us who have chosen to walk with Jesus and others outside the boundaries of the institutional church (IC).

One thing you will notice about Stan Firth’s approach is his gentle spirit and humble way of putting forth his Scriptural foundation for an unstructured church-lifestyle. He is quick to make room for everyone and he lovingly attempts to disarm those on both sides who may be quick to criticize one another:

Does this mean that centuries of church-goers have been wrong? Not at all – as I shall hope to demonstrate in the next chapter. Does this mean that I have to brand as “heretics” everyone nowadays who goes faithfully to Sunday worship, or that I have to cut myself off from loving fellowship with them? In no way—as the next stage of my booklet will reveal. But it does mean that my “fellow travellers”, and I, should not be branded as heretics either, since we are not, after all, out of harmony with the Scriptures. Those who are associated with the “unstructured church” must not let their good be evil spoken of. They can hold their heads up high and say: “I am walking with the Lord, in the light of His word—within the bounds of Scripture.”

When I first read the book, it was a simple A4-sized booklet (75 pages) in Portable Document Format (PDF) that you could download from John Langford’s website (a dear brother in the south of England) and print on your own printer. I’m not sure if it had ever been published in book form, but that has changed with the advent of on-demand print services like Lulu.

Custom and Command can now be ordered from Lulu for £2.02 in the UK or $3.48 USD, plus shipping costs (significant savings per copy if you order multiples). Here’s the link to Stan Firth’s store on Lulu. I’m really happy to commend this 88-page paperback to you and your IC friends!