Book Review: Church on the Rise

Book review
Church on the Rise

Full description of book:
Larry DeBruyn, Church on the Rise: Why I am not a "Purpose-Driven" Pastor (Lawrence A. Debruyn, Franklin Road Baptist Church: Indianapolis, IN, USA, 2007). ISBN 978-1-60530-177-8

Review:

In this book, author and pastor Larry Debruyn tackles the Purpose Driven paradigm that it seems continues to grow in the Evangelical movement. As a pastor of a church , Franklin Road Baptist Church, Debruyn wrote his book to "glorify God and honor His Word", "to explain [his] resistance to the modern ways of doing church to his members" and to "encourage the members and pastors of smaller congregations [who resist the Purpose Driven paradigm]" (p. iv) To do all this, DeBruyn tackles the Purpose Driven paradigm and its methodology as it compromises the ministry of the Word. Through Corporate marketing, the PD paradigm sell-outs the Word (Chapter 2). By changing the emphasis in the Gospel message no matter how subtly, it sabotages the Word (Chapter 3). By altering the hard parts of the Gospel and Bible doctrines like teachings on heaven and hell (p. 68) and the legitimacy of other religions (p. 69-72), allowing syncretism (p. 72-76), crossover spirituality (spiritual principles that are applicable across religions) and inter-spirituality (spiritual disciplines transcending and uniting religions) (p. 76-78), the Word is sacrificed (Chapter 4). The move towards Contemporary Music suffocates the Word (Chapter 5), while Contemplative mysticism subverts the Word by uniting all in mystical feelings of one-ness (Chapter 6). DeBruyn then adds on 4 appendices on various theological topics, followed by 15 essays with regards mainly to contemplative spirituality.

While reading DeBruyn's book,. the book gives itself a good impression in being generally good in exposing the error of the Purpose Driven paradigm in subverting and altering the Gospel. Like Pastor Bob Dewaay's book Redefining Christianity, this book is more broad-based in addressing the impact of the PD paradigm in the life of the Church. Nevertheless, the book has a narrower focus in talking about the PD paradigm's impact on the pastoral preaching ministry compared to Dewaay's book. However, one plus point is that DeBruyn has managed to bring in the topic of Contemplative Spirituality and linked it with the Emotionalism of much Contemporary Music as he has shown in the first half of Chapter 6. The subsequent 15 essays built on that theme and are indeed good in refuting some of the theological errors found in the promotion of the Emerging Contemplative Prayer Movement.

It must be noted here that DeBruyn is on the record as not "subscrib[ing] to the theory that all good hymns were written exclusively during the 18th through the early 20th centuries. Just because a hymn is traditional does not mean it is good" (p. 90). DeBruyn gave an example of a contemporary hymn by Stuart Townend — "How Deep the Father's Love for Us" as being one good contemporary song, thus showing that he is not someone who opposes modern music because they are modern, noting that "each piece of music, and its instrumentation, ought to be evaluated upon its own merit" (p. 90). This is certainly a good sign as it shows that any rejection of any form of contemporary worship is done based upon biblical principles instead of merely being reactionary unlike some forms of attacks upon CCM that the reviewer has seen. In this case, DeBruyn has indeed made his case well that the sensuality (p. 91) and sedition (p. 91-92) especially in "Christian rock" is incompatible with the worship of God, not to mention the powerful emotions conveyed through such music. As DeBruyn rhetorically asks us: Can heavy metal "rock", acid rock etc which are mediums "give over to a thumping sexual beat accompanied by inane lyrics strung together without connection to civil or logical discourse" (p. 102) be considered neutral musical mediums suitable for Christian worship^[1]?

With all this said, there are certain areas of this book which are in error, as we shall see.

First of all, the basis for the title of the book in the reviewer's opinion is in error. In Appendix one, DeBruyn attempt to exegete the Parable of the Leaven as found in Mt. 13:33 to show that the leaven here represents corruption while the dough represents the church, and thus the title Church on the Rise shows the growing corruption in the Church (the Dough). While it is a valiant effort, the whole enterprise is doomed to failure because it is very plain in the text that the Kingdom of God is stated to be "like leaven", and therefore it is not possible to violate the plain sense of the text. DeBruyn attempts to use the larger context which talks about the planting of the church with false converts by the enemy (ie the Parable of the Weeds) and the normal imagery of leaven (or yeast) as being bad but while such is the case, the immediate context just cannot allow for it. The larger context certainly does seem to lean in that direction, but ultimately the most important context is the immediate context, and only when the immediate context is unclear can the larger context be brought to bear to interpret the text itself, not to mention that the previous imagery of the mustard seed (Mt. 13:31-32) cannot allow for it (not to mention it is illegitimate to import the usage of imagery from one parable to another — with regards to the birds). DeBruyn therefore is in error in this point.

With regards to the argumentation in the book, one weakness in it is that sometimes DeBruyn does not make his case well enough. The example of linking Warren with Schuller is one example. Although DeBruyn does take into account Warren's denial as Abanes has shown in his book^[2], and does explains it reasonably well, yet his argument here is weak even though it is true; being scattered about especially in his endnotes. With regards to the section on music and contemplative mysticism, DeBruyn does not clearly delineate between what Warren teaches and what are the necessary consequences of his teachings on the topic, which may give Warren apologists ammunition to discount the otherwise excellent presentation on the topic. As a side note, which has some amount of significance for me as a PD critic, DeBruyn did not cite the book by Dan Southerland entitled Transitioning while critiquing the Corporate marketing of the Church especially on the sections of "transitioning a local church" and ""Bullies" in the Church" , instead quoting a Wall Street Journal article by Suzanne Sataline^[3] and a pastors.com article to make his point. This reviewer has read the article by Suzanne Sataline and also the book by Dan Southerland^[4], and is of the opinion that DeBruyn could have made his case better if he had referenced that book instead since it most definitely is on record and thus has more credibility.

Conclusion

In conclusion, DeBruyn's book is a good addition to the literature critiquing the PD paradigm. His main plus point is with regards to the issue of music and of the biblical errors of contemplative spirituality, though nowhere as comprehensive as Roger Oakland's book on the subject^[5].

References:

[1] See John Makujina, Measuring the Music: Another Look at the Contemporary Christian Music Debate (Old Paths Publications, PA, USA, 2002) for a good evaluation of the CCM scene.

[2] Richard Abanes, Rick Warren and the Purpose that Drives Him: An Insider Looks at the Phenomenal Bestseller (Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, OR, USA, 2005).

[3] Suzanne Sataline, "A Popular Strategy for Church Growth Splits Congregants," The Wall Street Journal, Tuesday, September 5, 2006, A1, 10. Online at www.post-gazette.com/pg/06248/719178-84.stm

[4] Dan Southerland, Transitioning: Leading Your Church through Change (Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI, USA, 1999)

[5] Roger Oakland, Faith Undone: the emerging church ... a new reformation or an end-time deception (Lighthouse Trails Publishing, Silverton, Oregon, USA, 2007)