The Dishonest Church

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Summary: The Yawning Chasm - A Review by C. Avis
Review: When I was a youngster Jack Good was the inspiration behind 50's TV pop music programmes like 'Six Five Special' and 'O Boy!', then essential teenage viewing on flickering black and white TV screens. I was growing up in a church oriented family under a Congregational minister Dad and the surrounding traditional Christianity ethos was absorbed almost unconsciously into my developing life, where it remained unchallenged for over 40 years. Then came Jack Spong, Richard Holloway & Co, and suddenly Christianity woke me up. On a recent visit to The Centre for Progressive Christianity at www.tcpc.org I discovered a flier for 'The Dishonest Church' by Jack Good, who subsequently has proved to be as compelling for me as his 50's namesake, though for rather different reasons!

While many of the proliferating books on progressive Christianity refer to the difference between what most clergy learn through their training and what they communicate to their congregations, the 'church of the gaps' (to misquote Charles Coulson) has not had a book to itself, until now. The author has been an ordained pastor of the United Church of Christ for over 40 years, principally at churches in New York and Illinois. His book was prompted by a combination of concern for the fate of the Christian church and anger at the "..wide gap between the faith of the religious professionals and the faith of those who look to those professionals for leadership."
So much pulpit power is expended to reinforce stale dogma that Christianity is seldom seen as an arena for thoughtful creativity and a search for truths that can never be fully possessed. The result is usually stale, boring churches where the superficial intimacy between pulpit and pew is in reality a yawning chasm, in both senses.

How this situation breeds anxiety and suspicion is dramatically illustrated in the first chapter where an incident is related from an interview between a friend of the author's and the members of a prospective new pastorate. A rather hostile, conservative member asked if the applicant believed in a literal virgin birth, to which the pastor replied that his views on that matter were the same as St Paul. The member nodded approvingly and the interview moved on. The members of that church being ignorant of the fact that Paul never mentioned the birth of Christ may have handed a private 'victory' to the pastor, but demonstrates the tragic ignorance, fear and distrust that threaten the survival of the Christian church.

There are some good descriptive phrases that were new to me. People whose faith sees God in control with ultimate justice prevailing are described as "chaos intolerant" while those who can encompass the reality of cosmic messiness are "chaos tolerant". Both approaches are evident in the writings of the various biblical authors.

While there is plenty of justified criticism of church leadership here, there is much hope also. Reasons for the author's optimism include his belief that, contrary to the assumptions of most church leaders:
- more people now are ready to hear life-relevant spiritual teaching
- church members are more flexible in their scriptural attitudes
- people are being challenged more generally to surrender their superstitions.

Jack Good's ideas, communication skills and practical common sense have produced a stimulating, accessible book that should be compulsory reading for all church leaders. Surely in its truest sense that means everyone in the church.