In the opening notes of Leander Keck’s book, The Church Confident, he quotes Petru Dumitriu saying, “It is impossible to be a Christian. It is impossible not to be a Christian.  It is impossible to be a Christian outside the Church and the Church is impossible”.  

Keck’s little book is a compilation of the famous Beecher Lectures series which he gave in 1992 at Yale.  It is a marvelous read and more relevant than many works written in the 21^st century.  In discussing the malaise of mainline churches, he both diagnoses and offers hope for the church. His pithy and poignant chapters cover worship, theology, ethos, and communication. Though written 30 years ago, the book provides clear and unobstructed thinking, deep faith, and a sense of hope.  He introduces the book by saying that “renewing any institution requires revitalizing its core, its reason for being.” He convincingly shows that the church has confused and confounded itself by its lack of clarity, often forsaking the gospel, diluting worship, neglecting theology, misunderstanding its ethos and failing to capture the 21^st century vitality of communication. His critique is neither cynical nor helpless; instead, it is hopeful and offers promise.  

Concerning worship, he says, “It is little wonder that one can depart a mainline Protestant service that has become useful with the feeling that one has attended a public meeting or a rally with religious trappings. Secularization of Protestant worship is found not only in mainline churches; it appears no less in those that regard themselves as ‘evangelical’ or ‘charismatic.’” His counterpoint reflection is “not to make things livelier, or set to music our aspirations and agendas… but for when the truth of God as made actual in Christ and attested in the gospel evokes the truthful praise of God….” 

If “praise (worship) is the right response to the truth of God,” it must be undergirded with serious theology. Christian faith has neglected theology and forfeited religious education and the role of the pastor in teaching. While beautifully presenting the importance and necessity for theological underpinnings, he acknowledges that the role of academic theologians can renew theology for the church but pastors must grapple with the meaning of the faith for today.

Critiquing and characterizing the current ethos, he argues that the “Protestant (even Christian) franchise has expired and will not be renewed. The future is less and less like the past.”  So what then must we do? 

“Since the church lives by the gospel, communication is at the heart of its life.” The revitalization of mainline churches will be manifest in the renewal of communication. His analysis is neither a simplistic nor a perfectly up-to-date.  He acknowledges the advances in technology and the difficulty in grasping the fast-paced change (which in 1992 he could anticipate but not fully imagine). And he makes radical assertions that “massive ignorance about Christianity will not abate unless the churches begin to take some responsibility for informing the public about themselves and their faith.”

There are truth-telling gems on nearly every page that evoke repeated affirmation. It causes one to respond with yes, yes, yes. It challenges this preacher to feel sadness and grief about what is lost and anxiety about how to address the present age.  In the end, it is a faithful, clear, hopeful read as it affirms the importance of commending the Gospel confidently. He ends by saying, “unless the mainline recovers its confidence in the gospel enough to commend it heartily, the future of these churches will be bleak indeed… We must be convicted that the gospel is true enough that believing it makes a difference. This belief must be matched with a deep love and compassion for persons whose lives are in disarray because they do not or cannot yet rely on their Creator, are not yet rightly related to their God.”