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Christianity for the Rest of Us: How the Neighborhood Church Is Transforming the Faith

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Anyone who feels that only evangelical megachurches are capable of increasing in membership should pick up a copy of Dr. Butler-Bass' most recent book. "Christianity for the Rest of Us" This book, which contains the results of her seminal sociological study of exploring vitality in mainline congregations, disproves the commonly held theory that the mainline church is either dead or on life support. Throughout the book, Dr. Butler-Bass sheds valuable insight on why some moderate to progressive mainline churches are indeed thriving. She dedicates chapters to explore the common characteristics such as hospitality, social justice, and worship that she discovered in these mainline churches that are growing and expanding.

I'll cut straight to the chase: If you are associated with, interested in, a member of, a leader of, responsible for, or curious about the grouping of denominations and church bodies known as "the mainline" you simply must read this book.

It is not an apology for mainline decline and it is not an attack on other faith traditions (such as fundamentalists and evangelical expressions of church); rather, it describes a relatively new development (one little noticed because it is occurring in a context--the neighborhood denominational church--that is not thought worthy of exploration) that moves the church beyond its often dull status quo toward an exciting, transformative future.

How does this happen? Certainly not by attacking or mimicking others. Instead, the churches included in Bass's lively account of her on-the-ground research find their best selves by exploring both their local history and the grand sweep of Christian tradition. She has found a pattern in these explorations that she describes as 10 "signposts of vitality"--such as hospitality, theological reflection, discernment, and justice.

The mainline may not have the numbers it once had, but it is not because of the churches profiled in this book or the others like them. Join them and "the rest of us" in the effort to create churches where head and heart, past and present, and self and community can find life together.

Diana Butler Bass' book offers hope to neighborhood churches everywhere and points the way toward healthy, vibrant, faithful Christian community. As a young adult, I yearn for a Christianity that is rooted in tradition, yet filled with the Spirit of the living God --- a Christianity that is aware and responsive to the needs, concerns and hopes of this aching planet. Diana shares real stories from real churches all around the country seeking to live the gospel way of life --- feeding, forgiving, healing, reconciling and transforming.

For three years Diana studied centrist and progressive churches and discovered many that are "flourishing, and they are doing so without resorting to mimicking the mega-church, evangelical style." Paraphrasing one commentator, it may just be that the church so many are yearning for is just around the corner. God grants us wisdom and courage through the words of this fellow pilgrim. Here's a glimpse inside Diana's book,

"On my journey, I traveled with those who are more comfortable in the wilderness, people who were willing to explore the new terrain around them. Yet they did not travel alone. I found that in the breakdown of old villages, Christians are forming a different sort of village in congregations cross the country. Not spiritual gated communities or protected rural villages. Rather, their new kind of village is a pilgrim community embarked on a journey of rediscovering Christianity, where people can forge new faith ties in a frightening and fragmented world. For those I met, change was not always easy, and their churches were not perfect. But they embodied courage, creativity, and imagination. And risk. In reaching toward a new kind of Christianity (which is, as I hope will become obvious, actually an old kind of Christianity), they serve as a living guidebook for spiritual nomads who are seeking to find wisdom's way." Christianity for the Rest of Us, pg. 25

In her first book, Diana Butler Bass told us how her personal spiritual pilgrimage coincided with the spiritual journeys of the Episcopal Churches she attended. Apparently, both of those journeys convinced her that the "mainline" churches still have vitality when many (including members of the mainline churches themselves) believed they were dying. Her next books hypothesized about what was contributing to the vitality in those churches and her recommendations for introducing "intentional practices" into those congregations who were struggling. This book is both a broad and an indepth study of what is working in these historic, traditional churches that makes it possible for them to spiritually compete with the megachurches and fundamentalist evangelical churches that are getting all of the attention from the secular press. Her research identifies nine different "intentional practices" of these churches that make it possible for them to be instrumental in the transformation of individuals toward deeper trust in God, faith founded values, and faith driven behavior. (Many of the nine "intentional practices" can be equated with the Natural Church Development categories). As she always has, Bass tells wonderful stories about the things she observed or reports the details of interviews she and others conducted to give anecdotal credance to the big conclusions she draws. Here is a book that will give confidence to the "mainline" pastors and parishioners who are wringing their hands about the future of their congregations. It will help them identify what is going on in their own places of worship that is fulfilling the missions of the Christian Church and point to practices they are not doing that would bring new life to their parishes. The only regret I have is that we needed Ms. Bass' book thirty years ago, but, as she herself points out, it is not too late for a resurgence of Christian Churches whose strength is their roots in the long history of the Church in the West.

For decades the idea has been that America's mainline Protestant churches are increasingly irrelevant, replaced by suburban evangelical mega-churches: now CHRISTIANITY FOR THE REST OF US: HOW THE NEIGHBORHOOD CHURCH IS TRANSFORMING THE FAITH comes from a church expert and former NY Times columnist to maintain there's a revolution taking place within the mainline churches across the country. Modern mainline churchgoers who don't use the evangelical approach are growing - and their views represent a wider community interested in religion and politics alike. Her three-year study, funded by the Lilly Endowment, surveys some fifty such churches across six denominations to chart not a decline, but a revolutionary change in the making. CHRISTIANITY FOR THE REST OF US is a guide no church leader can ignore.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

First off, I must say that I loved this book. I actually checked it out of the library but half-way through I knew I needed to own it.

"Christianity for the Rest of Us" is the result of a three year study of emerging mainline churches in the United States. If you are like me, then you probably need "mainline" defined for you. Mainline churches are the "brand-name" churches you see across the country - Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Congregationalists, and Episcopalians. These churches are often more liberal and progressive than their evangelical counterparts (although they may not like these labels). These churches have also been perceived (with some reality behind the perception) to be declining while more conservative and evangelical churches have been growing. The purpose of Bass' study was to visit and explore growing and vital moderate-to-liberal mainline churches. The study included 50 participating congregations but focused on ten.

These churches are filled with people who do not fit into the new evangelical Christian majority in the United States. They are desiring to know God and follow Jesus in our world but are not interested in embracing the evangelical culture of political and religious conservatism and/or fundamentalism. On the other hand, these churches are also not interested in the largely secular religion indicative of many declining mainline churches. For the most part, these churches include a diverse group of people from all ideologies and backgrounds - including some conservatives.

In some ways, this was actually a strange book for me to read. I am not part of a mainline church (or any institutional church for that matter). I have never even attended a mainline church. I know very few people who attend mainline churches. And I grew up in very conservative evangelical churches, in which mainline churches were largely discredited. Yet it is because of all of these statements that I felt the need and desire to read this book. I wanted to see what God is doing in an area I am very unfamiliar with. And in short, I was very excited about what I read - God is certainly doing a lot.

Throughout reading this book, I was struck by how well it complements Gibbs' and Bolger's "Emerging Churches." Whereas "Emerging Churches" focuses on a new breed of churches that have largely come out of the evangelical movement, "Christianity for the Rest of Us" looks at a new type of church coming from the old mainline of Christianity. What is so interesting is that these stories overlap in so many ways! "Emerging Churches" deals with a reaction against the sometimes dead religion that results from fundamental evangelicalism and "Christianity for the Rest of Us" looks at how churches are emerging from the liberal secularism found in some mainline religion. However, both of these "emerging churches" are heading in the same direction. They are both looking to follow Jesus without the trappings of the liberal/conservative divide, apart from the modern focus on reasoned certainty or skepticism, and in a way that is relevant to a new post-Christian culture. Many of the findings of these books are very similar. They even identify some very similar traits in the churches they studied. Is this really one movement of Christians that is being observed? Just in different environments and from different backgrounds? At least in some ways, I think so.

In short, I find all of this very intriguing and encouraging. God is working in a lot of different places. This is good news. God is not confined to any particular "movement" or perspective. He is busy using people to transform others and to influence the world. All are welcome to play a part.

A vitally important study of the vibrant faith that yet remains in the Protestant church in America. I adore the way Diana Butler-Bass writes. As an academically trained sociologist, I also was keenly interested in her methodology as the framework for her participant observation. Frankly, I hope what she chronicles in this book is contagious and infects the Protestatnt church everywhere. The book is written such that it can be enjoyed by all audiences. This is a "journey story," not an antiseptic, academic journal type book. A book written for everyone. Enjoy it! It is definitely the Best Book About American Protestantism I have read in 2006...This is truly a work of art. It will resonate with folks outside the U.S. as well. You go Diana!!!

If there are made for TV movies this is a made for NPR book. (And I listen to NPR regularly. I recognize the genre.) Her anecdotes come from people who always laugh with a wry twist of self-deprecation or weep softly in joy over a newfound insight. I get the feeling she goes about her work with contrived naïve innocence. All of her characters are happy, well adjusted, mainline Christians in congregations that may have disagreements but never conflicts. And their spirituality is so above average. Apparently they never have to worry about declining budgets, loss of membership, and minister's health insurance and where to recruit Sunday School teachers. I genuinely wish we could have seen the congregational warts as well so that my real life pastors could draw some real life encouragement for transforming their real life congregations. My friends do not live in Pleasantville.

I wish I could say this book is worthwhile. Unfortunately it fails on very many levels. I wish I could use it in our pastor's development course. I cannot even put it on the suggested reading list, much less use it as a main source book.

The first problem is rather trivial. The subtitle for the book is How the Neighborhood Church is Transforming the Faith. That would be a wonderful study if indeed it is happening. But this is not a study of neighborhood churches. And many of these congregations are simply not transforming the faith. Many of them continue in their gradual decline toward closing the doors. If you are looking for book that will show you how to grow a neighborhood church, this book is not for you. Now on to the important issues.

The research behind this book is not a designed study by any academic or scientific standard. It is a collection of anecdotes from participants of carefully selected, perhaps cherry picked, congregations, assembled to support a particular predetermined premise. All the congregations shared an ethos and catalogue of best practices. Well and good. BB declares them therefore to be vital churches. However there is no investigation of other churches with similar ethos and best practices and whether or not they too are vital. That is to say, after reading the book, I have no idea whether or not implementing these ten sign post practices will turn around a declining congregation to spiritual and numeric growth. A similar subject was undertaken by Thom Rainer in Breakout Churches. Rainer sets criteria for health, identifies congregations that meet the criteria, and then studied their histories, ethos, and best practices. BB finds churches with a certain profile of ethos and best practices and declares them vital. The problem with this approach is that it becomes a celebration of her particular prejudices. And she has many prejudices.

During the course of the book she insults Roman Catholics, Pentecostals, and southern Christians in general.

"I heard quite a few stories from smart, well-educated - and clearly not Pentecostal - churchgoers about supernatural healings." P. 113.

" Memphis, Tennessee, conjures visions of southern religion. These two words, southern religion, evoke images of folks hootin' and hollerin' about God. Eternal damnation and hell. Sweating preachers thundering on about sex, drinking, and Democrats. Southern religion is all heart and fire, the blinding light of Jesus converting sinners to saints in a flash. This is what more reasonable Christians used to ridicule as "enthusiasm."
In Memphis, the Church of the Holy Communion, an Episcopal parish, stands in stark contrast to the fulminations of southern evangelical religion." P. 115.

Far and away the most frequent target of the vinegar is evangelicals generally and evangelical megachurches in particular.

"I immediately think of evangelical megachurches, with their huge congregations complete with doctrinal statements and Republican voting guides. Big yields, yes. But where is wisdom?" P. 147.

"Unlike in evangelical churches - where doctrinal uniformity is considered nonnegotiable - theological diversity shapes the daily life of most mainline churches." P. 146.

"Unlike conservative evangelicals who read the Bible literally, seeking out proof-texts for narrow moral or ethical readings of scripture, the Episcopalians at Redeemer approach the Bible "seriously, but not Literally." P. 188.

"However, there is still a rift in the ways that Christians view art. Some, usually those in evangelical churches, understand art instrumentally. Art is important because it proclaims a message, usually intended to convert people to the faith. ... Other Christian, however, engage art for the sake of mystery instead of a message." P. 213.

Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, and its viewers receive special attention. "Unlike the evangelical Christians who flocked to the film, mainline Protestants more thoughtfully engaged The Passion in its theology and as a spiritual product." P. 230. Anyone who dared to view "The Passion of the Christ" incurs her judgment. She comes close to saying that anyone who went to see "The Passion of the Christ" is an anti-Semite and a consumerist, a willing participant in economic sin.

"That is, of course, what happened with The Passion of the Christ: the primary symbol of Christianity, the cross, was turned into a marketing event." P. 233.

She was unnecessarily insulting to several individuals and their readers. For example she belittled Forty Days of Purpose (twice) and Purpose Driven Church, although several of her congregations described implementing Purpose Driven action items. If these two resources are so counterproductive why have they had such an impact on the lives of so many individuals and congregations. BB spent a whole chapter on the practice of discernment. So what is wrong with asking the purpose of a life or of a congregation? She came close to insulting Billy Graham. One wonders why an author of her talent feels a need do insult people. It may be true that Purpose Driven, etc., are the basics. But she comes off as a university mathematics professor belittling an elementary school teacher for teaching arithmetic to first graders. What purpose does this serve?

People who have a perspective different from hers and dare to speak it with conviction are thundering partisans. See page 238 and the southern religion quote above for examples.

I am very concerned as well over the makeup of the study group. Of the ten primary congregations eight were all white, one was Latino, and one was multiethnic. The multiethnic congregation had three African American staff members, two of whom are sextons. Do the math. Is this a prejudice or a coincidence? I honestly do not know. But either way I cannot recommend this book to any of our African American pastors.

Butler Bass also seems to misunderstand the place of evangelicals in mainline churches. Generally speaking she does not acknowledge that there are very many evangelical mainline congregations and even more evangelicals in congregations that are not totally evangelical.

"The most troubling division comes from the tensions within the Presbyterian denomination between the church's traditionally more liberal theological constituency and its vocal evangelical minority." P. 146.

One need look only at the Evangelical Presbyterian Church and the upcoming exodus of evangelical congregations in the Presbyterian Church USA to see Butler Bass' misconception of mainline evangelicals. In one PCUSA presbytery 60% of the Sunday morning attendance was in Confessing Churches. Currently the PCUSA has entire presbyteries who wish to leave the denomination as a whole presbytery. The EPC is setting up a provisional presbytery to receive the congregations leaving the PC USA. Some projections estimate that the provisional presbytery will be as large or larger than the original EPC. Similar phenomena are occuring in the Episcopal Church, the Lutheran tradition, and the Methodist tradition. Indeed within a few years the PC USA will cease to be the majority Presbyterian voice in the United States given the current rate of change. That is to say there will be more Presbyterians who are not members of the PCUSA than those who are.

On page 2 BB writes, "Rather, I journeyed with a surprising group of contemporary pilgrims - those folks who gather in mainline Protestant congregations, communities that describe themselves as theologically centrist to liberal-progressive and are part of denominations that trace their lineage back to colonial America. I hung out with brand-name Christians - Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Congregationalists, and Episcopalians, ..." Does BB mean that only centrist to liberal-progressive Christians are mainline? What about centrist to evangelical, those just right of center but still in the center? What about those who are just plain centrist, for whom the evangelical/progressive divide is irrelevant. In the Presbyterian Church, USA I know many a minister who is just plain Presbyterian. Are they not mainline because they do not at least lean towards the progressive side?

On the other hand if mainline is defined as tracing their lineage back to colonial America, and centrist to progressive is a subset of mainline, why exclude the other subsets? One cannot read Presbyterian history in North America without seeing that there has always been tension in our antecedent denominations over this very issue. We have had Old School/New School, Old Light/New Light, Modernist/Fundamentalist, Liberal/Conservative, and now finally evangelical/progressive controversies. What is important to note about these controversies is that despite the formation of some splinter groups the majority of both sides remained in the denomination. Both sides remained mainline. In our current context there will be some splintering, with many congregations leaving the PCUSA and moving to the EPC. There remain many evangelicals who wish to remain in the PCUSA and to work through the difficulties. The Constitutional Presbyterians is such a group. And while many New Wineskins congregations will go to the EPC, many other NWAC congregations will remain in the denomination. Why then exclude such a large and healthy, and historically significant cohort, from the study? If this is progressive inclusiveness we need a different inclusiveness.

BB never addresses the fundamental question regarding mainline churches. Until the 70's American culture required church attendance. To be a good American one also had to be a churchgoer, if not a genuine Christian. Protestant was preferred over Catholic and Orthodox was a genuine peculiarity. Mainline denomination (meaning successor to a northwestern European tradition) was culturally more desirable than Southern Baptist or Pentecostal. Little League was never scheduled on Sunday morning. Mainline churches did not have to go out into the highways and byways and compel them to come in. We relied on our culture to do that for us. That has changed. Now our culture is not only not supportive of Christianity it is at best suspicious of and at times hostile to Christianity. Which means that for the churches to thrive they have to go to the world and interrupt people's lives with the Gospel. Her list of best practices is quite good. But it is not the main issue. If the congregations do not create their own new participants they will all die. Of all the personal anecdotes I read I was struck by how many quotes were from people who had been churched as children. I counted only two people who were adult converts, and one of those came to Christ through an evangelical Bible study, then moved on to one of the cohort congregations. BB rails against evangelicals. But were it not for an evangelical Bible study this young woman would not have become Christian. The study church certainly was not doing any evangelism. And this is the biggest problem with BB's book. It is all about baby boomers who were churched as children, left the church, and now are back. The issue we face now is how to reach people who were never churched. Yes, by all means, the depth discipleship described in the ten signposts is great. But it is almost, though not completely, inner focused. Even the testimony section is not about bearing witness to Christ to non-Christians. She has changed it to bearing testimony within the congregation for the benefit of the congregation.

The result of this Boomer propensity for navel gazing is a steep decline in worship attendance across the board. I had hoped that this book would help us see ways in which mainline congregations can address this very issue. Unfortunately this is not the case. Of the four Presbyterian congregations in her cohort three were stagnant or in decline. I say this not to pick on Presbyterians. Rather they are the easiest to get data from. So the long term question remains. If I am not replacing my losses in participation how will this congregation's ministry continue? If our ministry is good, but dies, who will take over the needed ministry? Who will host the tent cities?

Butler Bass' real issue is how can a liberal/progressive church survive, and maybe possibly grow numerically as an unanticipated but welcome side effect. If you think that the answer lies along the axis of "it is possible to have our old, traditional worship with a hymnbook and an organ prelude, with a cerebral Enlightenment/Modernist confessional approach to faith," you will be sorely disappointed. The congregations she studied have abandoned those things for the most part. Her ten signposts are all things that were not practiced in mainline Protestant congregations in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries in North America, as she very ably demonstrates. Her answer instead is that to survive as a mainline Protestant congregation you have to start doing the very things that her mainline village church never did. That is to say, to survive as a mainline congregation one must stop being traditionally mainline, or change one's definition of mainline, both of which violate her premise.

On p. 174 BB describes a "mainline" church that is not at all traditional mainline. "Combining elements of jazz, performance art, film clips and video, multimedia reflection, live-camera feed, testimony, readings, silence, contemplative prayer, and journaling, they christened this service The Studio." How is this traditional mainline? Simply because they still put Congregationalist on the marquis? BB never addresses this question. The congregations she describes are no longer "mainline" in practice, only in name and judicatory membership. That is exactly the issue.

Her study congregations are post-modern experientialists who are PC USA or UMC or UCC or Episcopal or Lutheran in name only. This is not necessarily a bad thing. But let's be honest about it. The Presbyterian, Methodist, and Lutheran ministers of the study congregations may be able to describe Reformed, Wesleyan, and Lutheran theology respectively. But she gives no evidence that the members understand or even care about it. And of course, denominational identity was a hallmark of mainline Protestantism. The congregations she worked with are not traditional mainline churches any more. The answer she arrives at is exactly the same answer the "evangelicals" arrived at. Traditional mainline Protestantism, based on northwestern European culture beginning in the early Sixteenth Century and founded on Enlightenment rationalism, no longer is a viable model for Church in post-modern North America.

Butler Bass spent many years as an evangelical, and an eloquent one. She has left that behind and moved into the progressive fold. Well and good. But in leaving the evangelical fold she feels the need to castigate her former colleagues. Martin Luther ultimately affirmed, "I am not!" Perhaps this book is her "I am not" to her evangelical sisters and brothers. I hope that as her service to the church continues the evangelical stage will be her thesis, the progressive phase will be her antithesis, and that she will find somewhere and somehow the peace of a synthesis.

I still have hope. Tonight I start reading Dr. Butler Bass' The Practicing Church.

This is a must-read for layleaders or clergy interested in the renewal and revitalization of mainline churches. Bass gives example after example of churches that have remained true to themselves and have found ways to adapt their ministries to the people and circumstances in which they find themselves in a changing world. Her research is thorough, well-documented, and presented in a compelling manner. This book would be good for discussion groups of laity and clergy.

Diana Butler Bass writes with a style that pulls the reader in. She is clearly a religious realist. Her categorization approach is useful to others, even those who do not have the technical tools to examine their churches formally. If one is honest, one can look at the hospitality (for example) in one's own church and see if it is an effective area of ministry. Looking through these categories allows a problem-oriented approach to be adopted. It may be a little more difficult to build on strengths, but that is because of our enculturation, and not because of this book! I thoroughly enjoyed this book, have recommended it to our pastor, and will read it again to pick up things I may have missed the first time. I came away from this book saying, "We can do these things, and we can grow!"