A Lover's Quarrel With the Evangelical Church

by Warren Cole Smith

"My name is Warren and I m a recovering evangelical."

With these words, Warren Cole Smith begins his book A Lover s Quarrel with the Evangelical Church.

Since World War II, there has been a flowering of evangelical activity and parachurch organizations. But something troubling has happened in spite of this growth and the political and financial power it has created. Overall church attendance is not growing. Americas high divorce rate is just one of many melancholy cultural indicators. Is it possible that the evangelical movement has not been an antidote for this decline but has actually caused this decline in the health and vigor of the true body of Christ?

Using solid research and original interviews with some of Americas leading Christian thinkers, journalist and editor Warren Smith examines the condition of the evangelical movement, offering an assessment of what s gone wrong as it has grown in power and size and what must be done if it is to be salt and light in a culture in need of redemption. Smith isn t afraid to name the names of many evangelical leaders but it is because he loves the church that he calls her to repentance. He develops the argument that instead of evangelizing and making obedient disciples of Christ, the church has become part of the cultural decline of the West. A Lover s Quarrel is a penetrating look at the current state of theology and practice in the American evangelical movement and offers a helpful, if difficult, way forward.

Genres: Theology, Christian, Christian Living, Nonfiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published May 7, 2009

Reviews

[Kyra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think an apt title for this book would be "Why Megachurches Can Be a Bad Idea." Or, at least, that's where the book seems to conclude. I think Smith has a lot of valid critiques of the modern evangelical church, but I'm not quite sure of their originality? Sometimes it's helpful to hear things you already know, but to a certain extent, I definitely wanted more emphasis on the solutions. For example, one of Smith's problems is "body count evangelism" wherein converting is more emphasized than in-depth discipleship, and it seems like his solution is... more in-depth discipleship. Great. I was just waiting for solutions that seemed to be a little lacking. It's nice that Smith is critiquing as a member of the evangelical movement so it isn't all just an assault, but rather attempting to be helpful, but I found the helpfulness lacking. What do you want us to do about these critiques? Stop reading the "Left Behind" series? Idk, idk. But overall, I think this book makes a lot of important, if not a bit obvious, points, and it's really not too hard of a read.

[G. Mark James · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent if not somewhat dated historical-sociological analysis of the evangelical movement. The chapter on the Christian-Industrial Complex is fantastic and gave me new thoughts on the so-called worship wars.
You can think of this book as somewhat like Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death but applied to evangelicalism. I'd love to see it revised and updated since it was published in 2008.

[Blake · Rating 3 out of 5]

In "A Lover's Quarrel With the Evangelical Church," Warren Cole Smith exposes a long running problem within the church, demonstrating how the church in America got into the mess it is in. He points to the toxicity of the Industrial Complex that has entered the church, pointing out the multiple problems of the megachurch, the compromises within the church when it comes to political involvement, and the failure of the American mega-church to truly be about disciple making. Smith has a lot of thought provoking thoughts for sure. His glaring weakness was his nonsensical section on the premillennial belief system. It was pointless, other than to take a shot at a view that contradicts his own and similarly ignored some critical elements of history. Thankfully, that was a shorter section, though it greatly distracted from the whole message which is very unfortunate. Smith is rightly concerned about the health of the church and his points regarding church planting and discipleship are spot on. It's a fairly good read with some interesting insight. Not a best seller and because of the section on PreMil views, it leaves some to be desired.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found Smith's overall points VERY compelling, and refreshingly free from the dead-horse-beating of what are effectively deconstruction books masquerading as critiques. Smith's point is not, "How do we throw a grenade in this Evangelical thing?" (easy). It's, "How do we save this Evangelical thing?" (hard).
Sadly, there are many spelling and grammatical errors throughout this edition that take away from its credibility as a self-published book (I got the 15th anniversary edition). That shouldn't scare you away from reading the book if you're interested in the topic, but be warned it is very distracting. Regardless of all that, Smith has given me lots of food for thought that I'll be pondering. His credibility comes from his past experience peripheral to church "business," and his current leadership of the great website Ministry Watch. ministrywatch.com

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book incredibly fast considering how long books normally take me. I am skeptical of some of his facts and how they are presented, but for whatever reason I agree with the conclusions he comes to based on those facts. I also really love the solutions he proposes. I wish he could update it for 2017.

[Troy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read a lot of other reviewers say that the insights in this book, while good and well worth hearing, aren't exactly earth shattering. I would agree on both counts.

In order to ween ourselves from the trappings of political power, control, and technology in the context of ministry (things we do not NEED in order to do what ought to be done), and get back to being the community of saints supporting and spurring each other on to true worship and good works that bring cohesion to our life AND our message... the points in this book need to be taken seriously.

The assertions are not earth shattering. Even if you have been disturbed by the quality of the music produced for the Christian market (music can't be "Christian music" until it has a soul to be saved), you've known for some time that there was something wrong with that industry. For more and more people, the mega and super-mega churches seem more and more out of place. Having two or three jumbotrons showing the pastor's face and shots of the band in an 800 seat sanctuary seems like a bit of overkill.

Is all of it necessary? I can concede that you can make that case.

Is all of it hurting our witness, diluting the message of the gospel, and even hindering our capacity to be a loving community? Yes.

[John Kennedy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting insights, but nothing particularly earth-shattering. A tendency to get down on the church and Christians. I do that enough already without needing more fodder.

[John Clayton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Challenging and inspiring read. Well worth the short time invested. As much as I agree with the author's conclusions, the book lacks in depth support for its conclusions.