Church: Why Bother? My Personal Pilgrimage

by Philip Yancey

This is a quick read with both an upside and a downside. At only 100 pages (with chapter one starting on page 17), you should be able to work through this book in a weekend or less.

There are only three chapters in this book: Why Bother with Church?; What God had in Mind; Reaching Beyond the Walls. The upside/downside swing of this book changes with the chapters.

Chapter One was the biggest downside. Much of it sounded like an advertisement for “go to the church of your choice and worship however you want to.” Chapter One discouraged me so much that I almost didn’t continue. But I was really glad that I did. Chapter Two was great. I certainly don’t agree with everything Yancey says about God’s intention for the church (for that matter, I doubt I ever agree with everything any author writes). Nonetheless, there was a lot of really good stuff in chapter two. Having touched both the cold (chapter one) and the hot (chapter two), chapter three settled into a nice lukewarm. Nothing bad, really; but nothing great either.

Every Yancey book I’ve read before this one, I’ve recommended without reservation. This one, however, doesn’t get such a recommendation. It’s not a bad read, really. But it’s not worth going out to buy. It’s certainly not worth putting anything else down so you can pick it up. If you already have it and have some free time, go ahead and read it. Otherwise, you’ll be just as well off to skip this one.

The Editors do not advocate everything taught by the authors of the books we review. Like us, these authors are fallible humans and those who choose to read these books should measure them by the bible, the one true standard.