Book Review: Searching for Sunday by Rachel Held Evans

Struggle is real. No matter your walk of life, struggle will come. Often it comes with deep pain, anguish, and isolation. God is leading me out of such a season. To help guide me through those rugged waters He led me to a book by Rachel Held Evans titled “Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church.” A book that addressed many of the issues I was dealing with in a way that was honest, direct, and full of hope.

To begin, there are some conclusions that Rachel arrives at that I can’t get to but that didn’t distract me from the overall message of her work.

She opens with giving a brief personal biography and doesn’t sugar coat her story. Which is refreshing because many in the church hide or run away from their past and that is harmful to the church. We need more members to be open about the junk that they have gone through so that they can help others go through the same.

So much of what the church is about, while good intentioned, is misguided, and ultimately harmful to those in their congregations. Church leaders look to church growth “experts” to point them to the latest greatest fad to draw people into their buildings. Evans points out that millennials (and other adults alike in my opinion) are “tired of the culture wars, tired of Christianity getting entangled with party politics and power. Millennials want to be known by what we are for... not just what we’re against. We... long for our churches to be safe places to doubt, to ask questions, and to tell the truth, even when it’s uncomfortable.”

Evans also addresses how many churches approach programs. Most programs are “family” oriented. This can be problematic for those who are not married or don’t have children. We have built programs around categories while alienating those that don’t belong. In other words, we need to build programs around people, not categories.

Her striking critique of worship trends was spot on. Church leaders believe that if worship sounds “hip” or if they have a trendy coffee shop or the worship leader wears skinny jeans then those who have left the church will come back. As I have always said, and Evans says so well in this book, people will see through the charade and be turned away all the more. People, me included, are looking for authenticity, truth, and real relational Christianity. A Christianity that gives us Jesus “in bread, in wine, in baptism, in the Word, in suffering, in community, and among the least of these.” She states later in the book that year after year of youth events with light shows, contemporary bands and books, popular speakers, that many leave wanting more. Something real. Somewhere safe. A place to be vulnerable. Sanctuary.

One last aspect of her book that I want to address is how communion was such a vital event in the early church worship service but is lacking in worship services today. Evans quotes from NT Wright the following, “When (Jesus) wanted fully to explain what his forthcoming death was all about, he didn’t give a theory. He didn’t even give them a set of scriptural texts. He gave them a meal.” Is it any wonder why church members are so uninformed in the death of Christ when they partake of His sacred meal so infrequently, if ever?

As I said at the start not all of Rachel’s conclusions I agree with. What I did served me so well, aiding me through the tsunami that this past year was for me. Maybe it will be for you also.