Book Review - Who Stole My Church?

I have had an on again-off again relationship with Gordon MacDonald. As a young associate pastor in the mid-eighties I read his best seller, Ordering Your Private World (which is still in print). A couple of years later I read his book, Renewing Your Spiritual Passion. Although it was twenty-five years ago, I vaguely remember spiritually profiting somewhat from those books, although if I were to re-read them now, I might have a different opinion. However, the fact that he has admitted that he was involved in an extra-marital affair while writing those books kind of soured me on him. I did not read his Rebuilding Your Broken World or anything else by him. (That may be more of a reflection upon my former Phariseeism than his restoration.)

Gordon MacDonald has been a pastor and author for more than forty years. He has also been the president of a couple of well-known parachurch organizations, and is currently an editor at large for the magazine Leadership. He and his wife of almost fifty years live in New Hampshire.

This book first caught my eye a couple of years ago when it came out in hardback. I skimmed it a couple times at the bookstore, but didn’t want to pay the hardback price. However, when I eventually saw it in paperback, I plopped down my money. I am glad I did.

The subtitle of this book is “What to Do When the Church You Love Tries to Enter the 21^st Century.” It is a fictional tale told in the first person. MacDonald writes as a pastor of an imaginary New England congregation of a few hundred people. The church has had a proud history and is part of an unnamed denomination. The sixty-ish “Pastor MacDonald” has been at the church for several years and has overseen the last of a series of changes designed to attract younger people. Not everyone is on board with these changes—especially the aging “boomer” generation. Plus, there are more changes on the horizon. A proposed $150,000 initiative to upgrade the sanctuary’s technology did not get the expected congregational approval. This has brought the change issues to a head. Also being debated is a proposed name change for the church.

The story revolves around a series of Tuesday evening meetings that Pastor MacDonald has with a group of long-time church members in their fifties and sixties. This group shares a common church experience. They remember the same hymns, the evening services, prophecy conferences and “revivals.” They miss the choir and the organ, even the “singing Christmas tree.” They don’t connect with contemporary Christian music and casual church attire. Deep down, Pastor MacDonald feels their pain.

Each chapter details successive meetings of this group of believers, which Pastor MacDonald has dubbed the “Discovery Group.” Before each chapter, he gives us (“from his notes”) a brief biography sketch of different attendees. Some are retired, some self-employed, some widowed, some married, some well off, some not so much. Although one seemingly turns out to be a non-believer, the others are serious about their faith and honor the scriptures.

I especially enjoyed the group’s discussion of hymns—particularly the hymns of Isaac Watts. Until the change that Isaac Watts eventually brought to the church, congregational singing was confined to singing the psalms. This singing was “in a more-or-less monotone form with no instrumental accompaniment, because instruments in a church were considered worldly” (p. 96). Young Isaac Watts found this style of singing stifling. When he complained to his father (who happened to be the pastor), his father, rather than argue, wisely suggested that Watts write some of his own music. What if his father had responded negatively? What if Watts had taken his talents elsewhere, outside the church? What if he had never written, “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” or “I Sing the Mighty Power of God”? “What we have in this little story is an example of the way an older generation needs to respond to the younger generation when it’s time for a change” (p. 96). Isaac Watts’ hymns were the contemporary Christian music of the day. “I’m going to guess that, if Isaac Watts were alive today, he’d be among the very first to say, ‘My songs have had a good long shelf life, but now it’s time for some new writers and new music.’ I don’t think he’d see things the way some of us see them” (p. 97).

As Pastor MacDonald gently guides the group into critical thinking about the issues, he is really helping the readers. I couldn’t help but see myself sitting among the group. I have also felt their pain. Though this book is not an in-depth Bible study, the real MacDonald does use the Bible occasionally to bring the light of Scripture to the issues. He also gives several good history lessons. I found both approaches to be beneficial, as did his fictional discovery group.

This is an entertaining book, which makes it a pretty easy read. If you are over fifty and you have been in church most of your life, you ought to read this book. Discussion questions for each chapter are provided at the end of the book. You may not agree with all of the group’s discoveries, but it will help you see the other side of the issue.

Greg Wilson was raised in a Christian home and was led to the Lord at a young age by his father. He has been in full-time Christian ministry since graduating from Midwestern Baptist College (Pontiac, MI) in 1981. He has been married to Sharon for over 26 years and they have two married daughters and a teenage son. He has been the pastor of the Community Bible Church (Palmyra, PA) since 1998.