EMQ » October–December 2019 » Volume 55 Issue 4
By Rick McKinley
Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2018
182 pages
USD $14.99
Reviewed by Jessica Handy Duisberg, Assistant Director, Innovation for Vocation Project, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California.
Cultural crisis and political polarization have converged to create a unique moment of opportunity for the American church and perhaps for all Christians. Into this moment, seasoned pastor Rick McKinley asks a question that echoes beyond the pages of this book, “What does it mean to be the people of God now?” (22). What does faithfulness to Jesus look like at a time when the church has been privatized, compromised, and marginalized? How do communities of Jesus live when the best biblical image for the current context is Israel’s exile in Babylon?
This timely book addresses a significant topic of coffeehouse and dinner table conversations. Pastors, congregations, and small groups seeking productive responses to current tensions may find it particularly valuable. Yet McKinley goes deeper than simply addressing current US social issues. He offers a discernment process for living faithfully as the people of God in any time or place where Christianity is not part of the dominant culture. Believers in any context who seek to meaningfully influence their neighbors and culture will find a helpful paradigm and tools here.
The first section of the book (chapters 1–6) focuses on the theme of exile. Christians, McKinley asserts, are experiencing “a sense of loss in three distinct areas right now: identity, place, and practice.” This sense of loss is similar to what God’s people experienced in seasons of exile throughout the Bible. During the most well-known exile, Jews in Babylon faced the question of how to live without a king or priests, a promised land, or a temple. Even living in Nebuchadnezzar’s court, however, Daniel found a way to be faithful to God. He both resisted the false values of Babylon and blessed Babylon by recognizing the redemptive work of God among a foreign people. McKinley suggests it is possible for Christians today to similarly bless and resist the dominant culture.
While the first section of the book highlights a new way of seeing the church’s role in culture, the second section (chapters 7–13) offers a new way of living in a time of exile. McKinley introduces the concept of “practices,” ways to apply our beliefs in real-life situations. Then he describes a set of practices that could enable Christians to more fully embody the gospel in the public sphere. For example, as we embrace the unlovely, include outsiders, and serve our enemies, we recognize the wounding and oppressive realities of life in our culture (131). We both bless and resist the culture by “telling the truth about what and who really matter” (131). Hospitality is a prophetic act that makes public and visible the alternative culture of God’s kingdom.
Some on either side of the partisan divide may take issue with McKinley’s gentle political commentary, yet he manages to avoid comments that would place him into pre-established boxes. This is not merely avoiding the issues. Rather it is a difficult and necessary task if his book is to be taken seriously as a resource for a divided church. In this moment of crisis, McKinley offers a vision and practices that can be shared by Christians on the right and the left, in the United States and beyond.
For Further Reading
Bass, Dorothy C. 2010. Practicing Our Faith: A Way of Life for a Searching People, 2nd ed. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Labberton, Mark. 2014. Called: The Crisis and Promise of Following Jesus Today. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity.
