A Lover's Quarrel With the Evangelical Church

"My name is Warren and I’m a recovering evangelical." With these words, Warren Cole Smith begins his book A Lover’s Quarrel with the Evangelical Church. Since World War II, there has been a flowering of evangelical activity and parachurch organizations. But something troubling has happened in spite of this growth and the political and financial power it has created. Overall church attendance is not growing. Americas high divorce rate is just one of many melancholy cultural indicators. Is it possible that the evangelical movement has not been an antidote for this decline but has actually caused this decline in the health and vigor of the true body of Christ? Using solid research and original interviews with some of Americas leading Christian thinkers, journalist and editor Warren Smith examines the condition of the evangelical movement, offering an assessment of what’s gone wrong as it has grown in power and size and what must be done if it is to be salt and light in a culture in need of redemption. Smith isn’t afraid to name the names of many evangelical leaders but it is because he loves the church that he calls her to repentance. He develops the argument that instead of evangelizing and making obedient disciples of Christ, the church has become part of the cultural decline of the West. A Lover’s Quarrel is a penetrating look at the current state of theology and practice in the American evangelical movement and offers a helpful, if difficult, way forward.