Book review: "Why We Love the Church"

There's another movement afoot of critics who contend that in the local church, "Everything must change" or everything will die.  These voices are just the next wave--following the mega-church wave, the Emergents lapped up on the shore and now the "Missional."  Careful.  Your feet may get wet.  Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck bring us a steady and realistic critique of the cynic of today's local church and also a remedy for the stout-hearted and self-aware.

What the cynics are saying
From fiction pieces such as The Shack (William Young), to personal stories such as Dear Church (Sarah Cunningham) to seemingly non-fiction prescriptions like Revolution (George Barna), there are many who focus on the irrelevancy, the hurt and the failures of the visible church in recent days.  What each of the cynics seem to have in common is their willingness to be incredibly in touch with their own pain and "realness" as they take the local church to task for their part in causing or continuing the pain they and their friends are experiencing.  They "Left Church to find Jesus," and some of have developed new ways of doing church such as Leonard Sweet's Gospel According to Starbuck's where he suggests that we can worship just as genuinely (maybe more so) on the golf course as in the pew.  Another thing they all seem to have in common (since at least 1990) is the opinion that if the church doesn't do something something drastic soon it will either implode or explode, ending its presence as we know it in this world.  The mantra?  "Out with the rituals, long, boring sermons, bad worship music, professional pastors (disclosure:  the author of this review is a pastor), doctrines, elder teams, policies, creeds, and political right.  Up with the short sermon delivered by a regular guy (or girl), community renewal, social justice community projects, art-based and freestyle worship time, organic community, political left and words that only communicate love and acceptance, because after all, that's what Jesus would do."

Summary
DeYoung and Kluck boil the contentions down to four key areas:  the missiological, the personal, the historical and the theological.

What is the mission of the church?  DeYoung says, "Missional churches are 'in' these days.  Social action is hot.  Evangelism is regarded as too aggressive (just a sales pitch), modern (cold, logical argumentation), and condescending ('my God is better than yours')" (p. 36).  For some of our missional friends, the purpose of the church "is often reduced to one thing:  community or global transformation" (p. 38).  But, he argues, "the concerns of the New Testament seem to have little to do with explicit community transformation" (p. 39).  It's excellent to do acts of kindness and service which help others, but "What makes the church unique is its commitment, above all else, to knowing and making known Christ, and him crucified" (p. 45).   "What's missing from most of the talk about the kingdom is any doctrine of conversion or regeneration" (p. 48).  And further, his "observation is that as people grow tired of the hearing about the atonement, salvation, the cross, the afterlife, they grow tired of church" (p. 51).

But what about personal hurts that have come from or been overlooked by the church?  To summarize the cynic, they are fed up with the local church's "poor leadership, no vision, [old age], inbred, concerned with appearance over action, comfortable in its misery, out of touch with the times, all about money and too political" (p. 73) ways.  And to be sure, there is much to be disgruntled about in a church that reflects those criticisms.  DeYoung reminds us to listen to the critic and, after prayerfully considering the criticism and the critic, to prayerfully seek the Lord regarding the church's part in the pain.  If we follow Christ however, we also see that the gospel necessarily brings a divide when it is preached faithfully.  DeYoung puts it this way, "In our self-esteem oriented, easily-offended, suffering-averse world, I fear that the church is too eager to be liked" (pp. 80-81).    The 'church is lame' crowd says that the church is boring, outdated, abusive (because Christ calls believers to submit to church authority or hierarchy) and inauthentic.   I believe DeYoung's response to these critics is best summarized like this, "If Christians are interested in a Christianity free from doctrine, demands, and damnation, they aren't just sick of the church and its unflattering quirks;  they're tired of the Christian faith altogether" (p. 87).

DeYoung interacts with historical objections that church-leavers have by contextualizing and explaining the reality of history surrounding the Crusades and slavery.  These chapters are very edifying to anyone and everyone who has had to respond to cynics regarding the history of Christianity;  or history in general.

The book closes with theological dialogue with the cynic.  "The New Testament knows nothing of a churchless Christianity."  Further, one cannot love Christ and hate His bride.  The church has been the vehicle throughout the ages with which God has brought salvation, taught the truth, preserved His Word, and  through which He has manifested the glory of His name.  Through the organized local church we have done great things such as evangelized the world, cared for orphans, housed the homeless, fed the hungry and given to the needy.  And much more must be done.

The local church does have problems.  We hurt each other, forget to consider other people's needs and get caught up in gossip.  Sometimes services are repetitive, predictable or cliche. Some sermons can seem too long or irrelevant.  Church can be a place that produces bad coffee and even worse grounds for judgment:  inactive and apathetic people.  There's plenty of room for constant improvement.

Critique/recommendation
In my life plenty of movements have come and gone.  Various seasons in the life of the church such as the 60s with its Youth For Christ, the 70s with its Contemporary Christian Music; the 80s with its events (such as Billy Graham crusades), the 90s with its Promise Keepers and now the 2000s and 2010s with its Emergents and Missionals.  All these were reactions to needs that the church was not responding to.  We needed youth ministries! We needed acceptance of differing kinds of music!  We needed fresh evangelism!  We needed men to lead in the homes.  And now we need churches to have more "deed" with their "creed."  In my opinion, this book is showing us why the emergents and the missionals will be a lot like the Promise Keeper movement and the parachurch youth ministries of yesteryear.  Will they incite some action in the church?  I think so.  Will they catch on as a new way of doing life or church?  I don't think so.

Church is not supposed to be a nice sermon for fun and the pastor's ego.  The preaching of the Word of God and the glory of His name is the reason we meet.  God uniquely moves when His Word is preached with power.  That's not an archaic idea--that's God's plan for "building His church."  Furthermore, Satan is not the father of poverty who will be combated with the re-distribution of wealth.  He is the Father of Lies who will be combated with the proclamation of the truth:  preaching.

Who should read this book?  Youth Pastors.  Anyone who is so in touch with their own pain that they have used it as an excuse to fall out of touch with the local church.  Anyone who is "bored" with church.  Anyone who thinks "Missional" is the next great movement in the history of the church.  Anyone who has made being disgruntled what they are best at (ask yourself, "What am I NOT disgruntled about?").

Christ loves the local church.  We should too--warts and all.

I know this is way long.  Sorry.  Thanks!