I first read this book in 1995 and came across this updated 2002 North American edition in a second hand store recently. In certain ways the book is somewhat dated even with its partial re-write. The author is British and his opinions represent what has come to be known as the “Emergent Churches” viewpoint. Virtually all the writing and speaking by the leaders in these churches carries with it a certain air of self-importance, sometimes, as in the case of Dave Tomlinson there is a coldness in the critique of the Evangelical Church, its conduct, doctrinal emphases and approach over the past one hundred years. He regards the church as it has been as more or less out of touch with today’s world. He is partially correct I am sure. Perhaps his rather sharp derogatory attitude is to be preferred to the more subtle approach of Brian MacClaren, he is jovial and friendly in his style but where he is leading us is actually fraught with peril. There is a good deal in what Tomlinson, MacClaren, Rob Bell, Doug Pagit, Donald Miller write with which one can agree, but it is the lack of clarity of where they are going as they seek to identify with, (though they seem to avoid confronting) the ‘post-modern’ age in which we are supposed to be living. Their attitudes can be summed up by saying that, “the evangelical churches as we know them have become irrelevant to the needs of today, they have failed, we are able to point the way to better approach.” Of course, this is a thoroughly westernized viewpoint; so much of what Tomlinson writes is immaterial as regards the church in Africa or China and many other parts of the world. This particular edition includes some sidebar comments throughout, some of these are endorsing the subject matter whilst on some occasions there are some healthy criticisms of the sweeping statements and caricatures that this author, (and the others I have mentioned) tend to utilize so frequently. The bottom line with most of these writings is that I never feel I am led to Him as the unchanging One. It is my habit usually, to be reading several books at a time and it intrigued me that as I read this one again Ravi Zacharias’s latest book “Has Christianity Failed You?” was before me. Whilst it is true that the title is not “Has the Evangelical Church Failed You?” I could not help comparing the way this latter author handles disappointment and disillusionment with God and church. His first chapter marks the difference, “Who is Jesus.” Just in passing, it is good to see the Name Jesus, for most of the time Tomlinson talks about ‘the Christ,” as do many others, an unimportant difference some would say, but when we realize just how much interest there is in ‘spirituality’ and ‘the c©hrist p(P)erson’ in this generation we do well to note this. That the evangelical churches (and we all) must face issues raised in these books and change, yet I have a sneaking suspicion that the Apostle Paul lived in similar pluralistic days and we would be well advised to gain our needed insight from what he did and wrote in the midst of it all.
