Book Review: "Christianity for the Rest of Us"

Christianity for the Rest of Us: How the Neighborhood Church Is Transforming the Faith by Diana Butler Bass is the book that is being studied in small groups for Lent at my church. It was one of those books that I bought months ago, but never had managed to read; thus, having a study about it helped me to read it. (Being a bookaholic, I LOVE TO buy books and have too many around that I haven't read YET.)

Diana Butler Bass conducted a three-year study of 50 mainline Protestant churches in the United States that were vibrant and growing churches. She found that these flourishing mainline churches were promoting and mentoring members to a faith that deepens their trust in God's abundant love and strengthens their capacity to love others. These churches are not trying to "make members; rather they are trying to make pilgrims" (73).

She found that "mainline churches decline when they neglect scripture and prayer, discernment and hospitality, contemplation and justice" (45).

Most of the churches Bass visited had had periods of decline and had changed in the last decade (243). "In many cases, change was made inevitable by numerical decline, financial crisis, or neighborhood transition. Spiritual anxiety gripped the community, pushing the congregation to realize that it needed to be different. Whether threatened by spiritual boredom or facing church closure, each congregation has asked two questions that sparked deep change: Who are we? What is God calling us to do? They discovered a renewed sense of identity and a clear purpose in serving the world. They experienced a change of heart that transformed their communal understanding of who God had made them to be" (243).

The book is divided into three parts:
1. What Happened to the Neighborhood Church?
2. Ten Signposts of Renewal
3. From Tourists to Pilgrims

The second section is the longest part with ten chapters devoted to practices or signposts to point "Christians in the right direction, toward the wisdom of God, toward love, toward home" (74). These are Hospitality, Discernment, Healing, Contemplation, Testimony, Diversity, Justice, Worship, Reflection, and Beauty. There are questions to help groups study each chapter at the end of the book.

"From the earliest days of the Christian faith, Jesus' followers, known as people of the Way, were recognized by what they did--practicing hospitality and forgiveness. Too often, contemporary Christianity seems to a religion about belief, a kind of spiritual club that can be joined by agreeing to a statement of faith.

"But emerging Christianity is not about pure doctrine or agreeing with a set of philosophical presuppositions. The kind of Christianity enacted in the congregations where I traveled is more like a recovery group: 'Act as if. . . ' If you act like a Christian by joining in its practices, by following its tracings, you may well become one. Being a Christian is not a one-moment miracle of salvation. It take practice. It is a process of faith and a continuing conversion. And it can be a long walk" (74-75).

This book gave me a lot of hope for the churches in the USA. Studies keep coming out that they are declining, that only the mega-evangelical churches are "succeeding," but this book gives concrete examples of growing and VITAL churches that are communities committing to grow in faith together. I think they take seriously Micah 6:8:

And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.