After reading so many positive and so few critical reviews on this book I decided to throw down some thoughts. Just felt like this review (My first book review) may be helpful. <\/p>\n
Deep and Wide: Creating Churches that UnChruched People love to Attend by Andy Stanley is a book that is about creating churches that unchurched people love to attend. Obvious I know.<\/p>\n
What I Liked<\/b>
Stanley does a phenomenal job telling the story of how North Point Community Church began. Over the years many have wanted to know what went on between father and son that prompted Andy\u2019s departure. Chapter 1 and 2 chronicle the story well. These two chapters were by far the best of the book. God granted Andy much courage to do the right thing even with the uncertainty that comes with leaving a church like FBC Atlanta. Following those fist two chapters, there was little in the book that I found helpful. However, I did enjoy many of Stanley\u2019s one-liners that He is so well known for. <\/p>\n
What I did Not Like<\/b> Although there is much more that could be commented on I will wrap this up by pointing out Stanley\u2019s apparent disdain for who he calls \u201cChurch People\u201d. I can\u2019t tell if he thinks \u201cChurch people\u201d are unbelievers or believers. Either way, he clearly does not like them or the churches they are a part of. He so strongly reacts to traditional church he grew up in that he throws all of them under the bus. If Andy believes church people are Christians I would ask “Why do you not care for them?”. He seems to think they are purposeless hypocrites. If Stanley believes these \u201cChurch People\u201d are unbelievers it would seems that he would want them to repent and trust in Jesus. That does not appear to be the case. Here are a few quotes to consider.
In chapters 3 and 4 in the book Stanley asks and answers the questions \u201cWhat is the Church?\u201d and \u201cWho is the church for\u201d. To answer these questions he looked at the life and ministry of Jesus to see what kind of people Jesus hung around with. Stanley concludes that the church is the people that hang around Jesus at his (Jesus gatherings). As an example, those who listened in to the Sermon on the Mount were the church, because they were gathered around and with Jesus. Stanley then answers the second question by declaring over and over again that the church is for unchurched people. Here are a few quotes that make this clear.
\u2022 And since people who were nothing like Jesus liked Jesus, people who are nothing like Jesus should like us as well. Loc 58
\u2022 We were just the only church designed from the ground up to capture the imaginations of unchurched people. Let\u2019s face it, if you have the only hot dog stand in town, your hot dogs don\u2019t have to be that good. Loc 64
\u2022 We genuinely want to be a network of churches that unchurched people find irresistible. Loc 89
\u2022 We grade ourselves on how attractive we are to our target audience loc 90
\u2022 We are unapologetically attractional. In our search for common ground with unchurched people, we\u2019ve discovered that, like us, they are consumers. So we leverage their consumer instincts. By the way, if your church has heating and air conditioning, you do too. When you read the Gospels, it\u2019s hard to overlook the fact that Jesus attracted large crowds everywhere he went. He was constantly playing to the consumer instincts of his crowds. Let\u2019s face it: It wasn\u2019t the content of his messages that appealed to the masses. Most of the time they didn\u2019t even understand what he was talking about. Heck, we\u2019re not always sure what he was talking about. People flocked to Jesus because he fed them, healed them, comforted them, and promised them things. Loc 106<\/p>\n
I also found myself shaking my fist at the implications that follow Stanley\u2019s bad definitions. This plays out particularly in Stanley\u2019s view of preaching. Consider this \u201cWe are constantly asking our preachers and teachers: What do you want them to know? What do you want them to do? What can we do to create next steps?\u201d loc 1254. Do you see the problem? It could be stated as follows: What law do you what them to know? What law do you want them to do? What are the laws to keep the laws? This view of preaching contains the faulty presupposition that humans can live out the law if we can just make it simple and practical enough. It is uncanny how similar this idea is to the teaching of the Pharisees. The Pharisees taught and believed that scripture is where to find life Jn 5:39. Jesus corrected them to let them know that the Scriptures are about him, and it is He that gives life. Any view of preaching that has, as its goal, law adherence instead of the Glory of God through the exhalation of Christ is seriously wrong.<\/p>\n
\u2022 I grew up around people who believed the church was for saved people who acted like saved people. I\u2019m all too familiar with that church brand. The catch was that they were the ones who decided what act like a saved person meant. Loc 767
\u2022 Churches designed for saved people are full of hypocrites. Loc 774
\u2022 You pretty much have to be a hypocrite to participate. Transparency and honesty are dangerous in a church created for church people. Loc 775
An unhealthy reaction to his tradtional church background is apparent through the whole book. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
As you can tell I am not one of the readers who loved this book. I found it frustrating, boarder-line unbiblical, and offensive. Although Stanley clearly believes God has done what He has done at North Point BECAUSE of their model, it is more fitting to praise God for what He has done in spite it. My recommendation is to pass on this book or read with caution. Contrary to what Stanley believes, there are faithful biblical alternatives to the North Point model. <\/p>\n