By Matthew Robbins
GENRE: NON-FICTION
PUBLISHER: MOODY PUBLISHERS
PUBLICATION DATE: JULY 1, 2009
It’s trendy these days for Christians to claim to love Jesus and want community with other believers, and at the same time ridicule, insult, and abandon Christ’s bride, the church. In response to these inside attacks from the likes of Leonard Sweet, William P. Young, and George Barna, authors Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck (of Why We’re Not Emergent fame) seek to defend the traditional ideas and practices of the church in their newest book, Why We Love The Church: In Praise of Institutions and Organized Religion.
In the introduction to the book, we learn they are writing to 4 different groups: The Committed (those faithfully attending and involved in a church), The Disgruntled (those who are part of local church, but becoming increasingly frustrated), The Waffling (the uninvolved and quietly dissatisfied), and The Disconnected (Christians or ex-Christians who have already left the church). Obviously the message towards each of these groups is different. Ultimately, though, the book is intended to acknowledge the church’s faults while kindling a new love for our Savior’s bride. Yes, there are improvements that need to be made, and much can be learned from why some people are leaving the church, but ultimately, the church is where Christians exist. If you love Christ, you will love what Christ loves, and Christ loves the church.
As with Why We’re Not Emergent, the authors take turns writing chapters, DeYoung (the pastor) handling the more theological and historical chapters, and Kluck (the sports-writing layman) writing the more observational ones. Much of DeYoung’s chapters consist of summarizing the ideas of “leavers” like Barna and Young. I really appreciate DeYoung’s ability to remain irenic most of the time. He has an ability to disagree with his “opponents” in this book without taking cheap shots at them and gives ample space to communicating the opposing positions fully. He is also very skilled at articulating orthodox doctrine in a fresh way. I think his best chapter was the epilogue where he discusses original sin. The church has all kinds of problems, he argues, because it is full of sinners. Isn’t that kind of the point? How can we expect the church to be perfect when Christ hasn’t returned and we’re all still sinners? He quickly points out that this doesn’t excuse all the problems, but it should help explain some of them and help us be patient with the church’s flaws.
My favorite chapters from Kluck were chapter 8, where he discusses life in his church. I could see many characteristics of my own church, some good, some bad, but that’s life together in the body of Christ. Additionally, Kluck’s short letter to his son really hit me as a new father. It made me love my church and kindled a determination to communicate that love to my children.
Whichever of the 4 groups you currently find yourself in, you should read this book. It’s honest. It doesn’t gloss over the fact that churches mess up. Some do downright strange and ridiculous things on occasion. The book does, however, present biblical, historical, and practical evidence that the church is where the Christian life happens, for better or for worse. Christ loves his bride, and you will love her more after reading this book as well.
