EMQ » October–December 2021 » Volume 57 Issue 4
[memberonly folder=”Members, EMQ2YearFolder, EMQ1YearFolder, EMQLibraryInstitution”]By Seth Bouchelle
Urban Loft Publishers, 2020
152 pages
US$19.95
Reviewed by Mark A. Strand, professor, North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota.
The title of the book Lost Faith threw me off as I was expecting a book about what happens when people lose their faith in Jesus Christ. Rather, it is about the journey that “the lost” take when coming to embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ from within a post-Christian culture and from no prior personal faith. This framework is relevant to many of those who are proclaiming the gospel cross-culturally, including most of the readers of Evangelical Missions Quarterly. This book will be reviewed missiologically, biblically, and theologically.
Missiologically, Lost Faith is innovative. The author, Seth Bouchelle, is well trained in missions and Bible and has worked as a church planter among diverse populations in New York since 2014. His guidance on how to create a safe environment for seekers, and to draw them into a conversation about spiritual things is compelling. His perspective that God is at work in every setting, and even among those who are still lost, is an important one. His approach is to draw people into a community where the gospel is being taught and celebrated, with the expectation that over time, it will sink in. Bouchelle values what he calls the “process orientation” of the spiritual journey, focusing more on the process than the culminating decision to accept Christ. This resonates with this reviewer’s approach to cross-cultural ministry and introduces some important best practices relevant to cross-cultural missionaries.
Biblically, Lost Faith is creative but confusing. Bouchelle’s use of Genesis 2 to answer the question, “What is being human like?” was helpful. Many of the people to whom Bouchelle ministers come from broken homes and have had traumatic life experiences, causing them to feel shame and lack of connectedness. Bouchelle connects these life experiences to the shame at their own nakedness experienced by the first humans as introduced in Genesis 2. Having said that, overall, the book would have benefitted from more biblical depth. His definition of being lost bears little resemblance to the description of lostness described in the first half of Ephesians 2. However, the book does build on the biblical concept of lostness illustrated in the parable of the prodigal son, but which is never mentioned in the book. Bouchelle applies Scripture creatively in his approach to ministry, but it is not particularly developed in this book.
Theologically, Lost Faith is unorthodox. Bouchelle suggests that we are all lost to varying degrees, even those who are already found. So Christian community is about the shared spiritual journey of both the lost and the found. This is helpful, but he does not really align the concept of lostness with the consequences of original sin. Neither does he explain what it means to be found or connect it to the experience of justification accomplished once for all through Christ. The author depicts the spiritual journey as about primarily becoming a part of a community. In fact, he explains the notion of playing at being a Christian as a way of experimenting with the faith. For some, this will result in them eventually becoming a Christian. This approach bears similarities to the seeker-sensitive approach promoted by Willow Creek, which they later admitted resulted in increased numerical growth, but without spiritual depth. Living in a community and learning from one another is an essential part of the gospel journey, but the notion of becoming enculturated into Christian behaviors lacks a sound theological basis. As one example, this reviewer was left wondering about the role of the “renewing of the mind” in the Christian journey, as explained in Romans chapter 12.
This is an interesting book with lessons relevant to cross-cultural missions. It would be most beneficially read and discussed in a group in order to sift through the wide array of ideas and experiences introduced.
For Further Reading
Frame, Tom. Losing My Religion: Unbelief in Australia. University of New South Wales Press, 2009.
Guinness, Os. Fool’s Talk: Recovering the Art of Christian Persuasion. IVP, 2015.
