It has been said, “Sunday mornings are the most segregated time of the week”. This has been said concerning ethnic groups getting together for worship, but I would expand this to age groups as well. We all have heard that church attendance in America (and even in Europe) is in big decline and many churches are losing the influence they once had in their communities. While there are many books that try to explain and rationalize this theory away, the truth remains… Church just isn’t at the top of people’s priority list anymore. Generally the younger believer feels the church is no longer relevant or is not doing a good job meeting “their needs”. The middle generation of believers (Baby Boomers) typically has a hard time grasping and accepting change and the elderly are flat out crying, “Someone stole the church I once loved!”
Gordon MacDonald has addressed this reality in his new book, WHO STOLE MY CHURCH? MacDonald uses a fictional church in the New England states that is going through a transitional period and many of the members are finding this change hard to grasp. The story may be fictional but as Gordon explains in the preface that some of the ideas behind this book were based on actual events he faced in the five churches and forty seven years he served as a pastor. McDonald writes as if the book was his own personal journal as he has a profile of each fictional character at the beginning of each chapter; then goes on to write about an event that involved this person. The gist of the book covers topics that churches struggle in particular such as worship, change, vision, and strategy. Most of this book centers around the church struggling to deal with the direction the fictional church is heading, namely the worship music and a possible name change for the church. As the "boomers" and "builders" wrestle with the fast pace the church is moving they have to come to terms with what the future of this church will be. In response to this Gordon develops a team of church members who meet every Tuesday night (I told you this was a fictional story) to discuss these changes and how, basically, these people need to catch the vision so that the church will thrive in the future. I believe the author does a pretty good job of developing believable characters that represent “people groups” within a church body. Overall I feel the storyline is weak and many of the points the author is trying to make get lost in this story. I feel if maybe McDonald would have done a summary of the points (outside of the story) at the end of each chapter, it would have been a bit more helpful for me. However there are discussion questions at the end of the book that can and are useful for a small or discussion group.
All in all I enjoyed WHO STOLE MY CHURCH. This book was very helpful in bringing to reality that the Church as a whole is changing and that reality does not have to be a bad thing. I really think Gordon McDonald made some great and convincing arguments for change. I also felt that he did an excellent job by not “beating up” the “older generation” for being the way they are. He helped me to understand that there are people in the church body who have traditions and rituals that have been a major part of their Christian walk and they are having a difficult time making the transitions in their churches. He actually gives hope to all parties interested. He writes with a passion for change and yet he is mindful of the generation who will probably be most interested (and needed) in reading this book. I feel WHO STOLE MY CHURCH is a book that should be read by churches across America. Pastors, lay leaders, volunteers, congregational members and young people will all benefit from reading this book.
Reviewed by Jeff Holton
