Will the Real Church Please Stand Up? 7 False Churches

by Matthew Richard

For churches - like people - looks can be deceiving.

It may be easy to be enticed by what's on the surface, by churches that may be wrongly focused on worldly things apart from Scripture.

In this highly anticipated follow-up to his first book (Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up?; CPH, 2017), author Matthew Richard presents the story of a fictionalized family searching for a new congregation, a new place for the family to worship. At each of seven churches, they find something they like, but come away feeling that something is missing.

Readers will learn how to identify those falsehoods, and how to identify how the real Church presents Christ and His gifts of Word and Sacrament.

Genres: Christian

192 pages, Paperback

Published October 8, 2024

Reviews

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a great book, very straightforward and easy to understand. I think it could be made shorter for its intended audience, but I appreciate that Richard did not specifically pick on any one denomination or church type.

[Benjamin · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I am giving it a 3, but I don't hate it and do recommend it for what it is, but there is a fair bit of nuance to consider. To start with the positives. It does point out the problem with some churches, when they lose focus and some people there are in a popularity contest and are not focused on Christ. He does justly criticize separating the children form the adults during church, and I like the term he uses "age based segregation" and there could be a larger statement related to the American education system in general. He avoids mentioning specific denominations for each church and I see why he did. Of course it was obvious what the last church was, since he is a Lutheran Pastor, you an guess what type of church it is an there are a tons of hints without stating it directly.
Now to some of the criticism. He focuses a whole lot on architecture. So much so I bet he would hate my church even though he would agree with the doctrine. When someone goes to design a church yes, there should be things in mind, but sometimes you have to work with what you have. You could even turn an auditorium style church into a faithful confessional church. He criticizes at one point the setup of a church where you have seats set up in a U shape so from the side you can see people on the other side. He says this distracts form the altar and your focus is drawn to those people across from you. I couldn't disagree more, I have been in churches, especially those with cross configurations, where you have pews on the side facing inward and there was no distraction in that. I do get his point that aspects of architecture can tell you about the focus of the church, but certain things you can't help and I think he focuses too much on it. He does criticize church that focus so much on their denomination and put it and its bureaucrats on a pedestal and idolizing too much the founders and leaders. This criticism is legitimate. However, at the end of the book he makes the opposite mistake. With the church that is obviously meant to be Lutheran, he praises them for never advertising it. However, I am always skeptical of churches that don't advertise their denomination. It makes me think they are hiding something. Denominations are an important way to say what you believe (even though in a perfect world they would not exist, but the fact that there are schisms, they are necessary and it is important to know what you are getting into).

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just as he did so well in his previous book, Rev. Dr. Matthew Richard helps orient people who may be wondering (and perhaps even worrying) about whether or not their church is doing this whole Word and Sacrament ministry situation correctly. His narrative following a fictional family of 4 as they search for a new church home is inviting to the reader and one can certainly find points in common with this family as they visit 8 churches. These churches range from a so-called "mega church" all the way to their final stopping point, a quaint country church. His key point is that a church is not truly a church unless believers are gathering around Christ's Word and Sacraments. Furthermore, true church/real church is not defined by purposes or unifying points he finds or depicts in these false churches such as: great customer service, personal improvements, cultural influence, and even denominational commitment. He gives good food for thought on the balance that can and ought to happen between the 3 estates of family, society, and church and how oftentimes when people struggle with one of these other areas they look for the church to act in place of of these other areas and that is when trouble can occur: ex. turning your church into a monastery type of setting in that you keep your parishonors so busy throughout the week it doesn't give your church a chance to reach out to the community/your activities are primarily for people who are attending already and thus is nurturing life in a sort of fish-bowl setting. On the surface this sounds good and having activities (Bible Studies, Youth Group meeting, etc.) throughout the week isn't bad, but churches ought to balance this with reaching out to the community as well. I would recommend this book to Church Boards and those in Leadership positions. I am a Deaconess in the LCMS and found this very worthwhile and will share this title with our Board of Elders/Pastor. Thank you to Concordia Publishing House for the ability to read this book!

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

An insightful journey through seven false churches and finally one real church, united by the true gifts of Christ.