There’s a Slow Church a Comin’: a book review

Across the cover of Slow Church: Cultivating Community in the Patient Way of Jesus is an endorsement from Scot McKnight advocating a slow read of this book. Weeks before I picked up the book I plowed through a ‘Slow Church sampler’ which included the introduction and a chapter from the book. This project excited me, but when the book came I was slow to work through it, finding myself lingering on pages. I concur with McKnight, this is worth a slow read. Chris Smith, editor of The Englewood Review of Books, and John Pattison, editor of CONSPIRE magazine are steeped in the idea of slow church. Both men are part of faith communities that seek to live out the Kingdom of God in particular contexts. Taking a nod from the Slow Food movement, Smith and Pattison eschew the McDonaldization of church. Where churches have often taken cues from a culture emphasizing ‘efficency, predictability, calculability (quantifiable results)  and control’ (13-4), Smith and Pattison call us back to a recovery of a more organic, local and holistic way of embodying God’s mission in the world.

Pattison and Smith have set the table for a feast! They present a three-course meal. In the first course they give us the terroir–the taste of place (chapter one), They advocate ‘stability’ and commitment to a particular place for the long haul (chapter two) and urge us to be ‘patient’ by placing the mission of the church within the larger story of God’s coming kingdom (chapter three). They name this first course ‘Ethics’ and by this they do not mean a list of rules but a set of commitments which help us navigate the world of church and mission (slowly).  The second course they call ‘Ecology.’ Here they help us counter our tendencies towards dualism and fragmentation by advocating wholeness (chapter four). They urge us to a deeper appreciation for work and vocation (chapter five) and the counter-cultural practice of Sabbath keeping, including its implications for life sharing and economic leveling (chapter seven). This ‘ecology’ reveals a different way of living in place. Smith and Pattison give us a vision for holistic mission which honors the work of the people, and God’s provision. The final course is called ‘Economy.’ At the head of this section is a chapter on abundance (chapter eight) which exhorts us to trust in the resources we have in Christ. This is explicated in the following chapters: chapter nine shows us how to have gratitude for God’s provision (including asset-mapping our neighborhoods); chapter ten encourages us to a robust practice of hospitality; chapter eleven calls us to the deep, messy experience of life sharing through dinner conversation. This vision encompasses both the messiness of community and the eucharistic sharing of church.

These are rich an and suggestive reflections. My summary does not do justice to how graciously Smith and Pattison have laid this out. Here is a book that challenges what many of us have found wanting in our American church experience, but this in not bitter bashing of  the mega church complex. It is instead provides the positive case for the church as a faithful and prophetic community which challenges the status quo. This would be a perfect book to read and discuss with an elder’s board or church staff. But it isn’t a heady leadership book. Church small groups and individuals would also benefit from it and will find their lives and theology challenged. This is a book that calls us to deepen our faith practices and our commitment to one another. Buy it and read it slowly. Then read it again. Five Stars★★★★★

So good!

Thank you to InterVarsity Press for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.