In “Open for Business: Getting the Church Back on Solid Ground” (Courier Publishing, 2015), Brett Aiken poses a piercing question for anyone who would take up his cross and follow Christ: In our myriad and increasingly complex ways of “doing church” in America, have we created something that no longer resembles the New Testament church?

Are we so smitten by how we do church that we’ve lost sight of the biblical essentials that would define us as the Body of Christ? If a local church body is growing, is that reason enough to believe it is in tune with God’s purpose? “Just because a church is growing does not make it healthy in the eyes of God,” the author writes. “Weeds grow, too.”

In “Open for Business,” Aiken, with plainspoken clarity, presents the Bible’s clear recipe for building the kingdom of God. The purpose of his book is not a scholarly attempt to reach the reader’s mind, he says, but a spiritual attempt to reach the hearts of those who are willing to ask themselves if they are truly open for business in the eyes of God.

Aiken is the pastor of Temple Baptist Church in Simpsonville and has preached the Gospel of Christ in Central America, South America, Russia, Africa and other parts of the world. He is a graduate of North Greenville University and Liberty Theological Seminary and is the author of a previous book, “Dreaming Your Reality: Seeing God’s Vision Come to Life.” To purchase his book, visit www.barnesandnoble.com/w/open-for-business-brett-aiken.