Who Stole My Church?

If you go to church regularly (and I hope you do), I recommend that you read the book—Who Stole My Church? by Gordon MacDonald (Thomas Nelson, Inc.). As someone who goes to church, you may have noticed a number of non-theological changes in your church service, i.e. contemporary music, bands, and a generally less formal atmosphere.

Today, the Christian religion is going through major changes in its approach to worship. The idea is to make the church worship service more welcoming to the current generation. Maybe you welcome these changes. Or perhaps you dislike them. Regardless of your reaction, this book is worth reading.

And it is also very clever. Gordon MacDonald has written more than ten books, but this one certainly takes an unusual approach to a topic. Instead of being your typical nonfiction book, MacDonald has written a fictional account of a church located in New England. The only real characters in the book are himself and his wife, Gail.

The general idea of the story is that a few years back, the faithful, loyal, and committed members of a small church outside of Boston called Pastor MacDonald to shepherd their church. They felt their church had plateaued, not doing the best job of reaching out into the community, and needed a new outlook and some new energy. Well, they got what they wanted and perhaps more than they wanted, but I’ll not ruin the story by going farther.

I do promise you that you will "recognize" people in your church (maybe even yourself) as you read this enlightening and entertaining book. MacDonald doesn’t promise solutions in this book, but he does provide an entertaining read that allows the reader to look at the changes going on in Christian worship from a different perspective. I don’t think you will be disappointed.