Who is the Church

by Cheryl M. Peterson

Many congregations today focus on strategy and purpose—what churches "do"—but Cheryl Peterson submits that mainline churches need to focus instead on "what" or "who" they are—to reclaim a theological, rather than sociological, understanding of themselves. Peterson suggests that we understand the church as a people created by the Spirit to be a community, and that we must claim a narrative method to explore the church''s identity—specifically, the story of the church's origin in the Acts of the Apostles. Finally, here is a way of thinking of church that reconciles the best of competing models of church for the future of mainline Protestant theology.

Genres: Theology, Church

176 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2013

Reviews

[Margaret D'Anieri · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would give this a 3.5 for the ideas about the church’s need to address its identity - but as others have said, its obvious provenance as a PhD dissertation render the writing and the lengthy literature reviews dense. Would love to see her ideas distilled into something written for a more general audience.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

There needs to be more books like this one, starting with the Holy Spirit in creating and guiding the church. I'm looking forward to reading more of Peterson's work.

[Robert D. Cornwall · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cheryl Peterson has written a fair book that could be really helpful. It is a revision of a doctoral dissertation, and has all the marks of a dissertation. I should know, I've done it myself! Peterson's point is simple -- the church doesn't have a growth problem, it has an identity problem.

She writes as one committed to the missional movement in the church. She wishes to enhance the theological foundations for the missional movement by pointing us to the primary role of the Holy Spirit, using the narrative of the Book of Acts as the guide. Now, much of the conversation about the Holy Spirit comes in the final two chapters, with the first four chapters offering preparation. The first chapter focuses on the history of ecclesiology in an American context.

From there she begins to move through three primary ecclesial paradigms. The first is the church as "Word-Event." It is a view linked to Barth, among others. The second paradigm is "church as communion." In this paradigm the inter-trinitarian fellowship becomes the foundation for intercommunion for the church. Finally, she looks at the missional church and the church's engagement with post-Christendom.

Like I said, there is value to be found here. It just needs to shed some of signs of being a dissertation. In addition, as one who recently published a book on spiritual gifts, I'm not sure that her Holy Spirit centered approach is that unique. I would also add, that having started my own ecclesiology visions with Acts, I have recently recognized that we are probably better off moving back to Genesis 12 and the covenant with Abraham as a starting point for the missional effort.

[JD Waggy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is one of the many, many entrances into the conversation "why are people leaving the Church?" I appreciate Peterson's conclusion--that we, the Church, are in an identity crisis such that we don't know how to pitch ourselves to folks to get them to stay. How Peterson defends the argument, however, is pretty weak.

This is a packaged-for-publication dissertation and feels like it, which is never good. By this I mean that Peterson oscillates between a for-the-people writing style and esoteric subject matter, which gives the book itself a bit of an identity crisis. Also, the overview of American history not only assumes that the only part of the Church having trouble is American but also makes a ton of broad statements and observations that don't hold up. As someone with historical training, I got really frustrated with how many lines Peterson was drawing that ignored nuance and, in some cases, facts in order to present the smooth narrative desired.

There are some solid observations about the worship effects of theological systems and about where the Church (or, at least, the American Protestant Church) is wandering, but overall it was too sweeping for me. People are leaving the Church for hundreds of reasons; this book proves my wariness about anyone claiming to have An Answer to getting them to come back.

[Josh Tatum · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book straightforwardly collects, analyzes, and reframes ecclesiology using the Holy Spirit as its main lens. It helpfully challenges ways we think of church. It also has study questions at the end of each chapter.

[Kevin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Clearly a modified dissertation, this is a synthesis of current conversations about ecclesiology. Also committed to the missional church movement--but in a way I found rather unpersuasive.