A Church Called Tov by Scot McKnight & Laura Barringer (Review)
I was unfamiliar with the word, “tov,” until my sister and brother-in-law gave me Scot McKnight and Laura Barringer’s book. “Tov” is the Hebrew word for goodness, and the authors analyze how churches are supposed to embody this concept. The note that the power of culture shapes everyone within it, and a church’s culture is supposed to be redemptive and restorative. If a church perpetuates a culture of generosity, that trait begins to form individual habits and characteristics.
This organizational effect means we can initiate culture change, often through programmatic steps, but changing a culture takes focused and continuous intentionality. It also takes time. More importantly, the authors focused on character as the essential starting point for a culture of goodness: “Character plays an indispensable role in forming, preserving, and undergirding a church’s culture.”
A Church Called Tov is an important book for anyone involved in church leadership, though it occasionally played a bit loose with some of its conclusions (e.g. “Nothing is clearer in the missionary work of the Apostle Paul than his determination to not only get people saved but to get saved people to learn how to get along with one another.”). Unity in the church is a core point in Paul’s letters, but my lawyer sensors start tingling whenever I “obviously” and “clearly” to emphasize a conclusion. As I noted, there are many good, right, and important points in A Church Called Tov, so I don’t want this mild critique to undercut the value of a worthwhile read.
Here are a few key points I found interesting or helpful:
The last thing a powerful man or woman needs is a flatterer whispering sweet affirmations all day long. The first thing he or she needs is a friend who will speak frankly. ‘Sounds from a sincere friend are better than many kisses from an enemy,’ the Bible says.”
The authors highlighted “Eight Phases of a Power-Through-Fear Culture,” which is particularly interesting in our current political culture. The phases extend from Dr. Wade Mullen’s work. Here are the traits to avoid:
Concentration of Power – Going back to the political angle, Justice Antonin Scalia noted that the reason for expansive freedom in the United States is the decentralization of power. The checks and balances of power help ensure these phases of a fear culture. When the branches no longer separate the distribution of power, one entity will fill the vacuum. So it is in a church.
Approval Equals God’s Approval – The leader’s or leaders’ words are equated with God’s Word.
Status Enhancement – Being close to the power holders will improve your standing in the body, simply due to proximity.
Disapproval and Status Degradation – This is the flip side of status enhancement. If you’re out of leadership’s favor then status is revoked.
Transition to Fear Culture – Instead of unity in a shared mission, the organization is driven by fear of consequences. People are afraid of speaking out because of the consequences to those who have spoken out in the past.
Secrecy and Control – Information is concentrated by the decision-makers, who do not practice transparency.
Fear of Status Degradation – This trait is an extension the earlier status degradation—a move from single events to a culture of fear.
Ultimate Exclusion – Trouble-makers are cast out from the body.
God shapes everything for goodness. We are to live in such a manner. God’s ultimate design is for us to love God and love others in the depth of our beings.
The authors enfolded Bonhoeffer’s definition of “cheap grace,” which we must be careful to avoid. Here is an excerpt from Bonhoeffer: “Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate… Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life.
McKnight and Barringer emphasize the importance of churches telling the truth—meaningfully confessing to sin. He quotes James Baldwin who wrote: “Whoever cannot tell himself the truth about his past is trapped in it…unable to assess either his weaknesses or strengths. And how frequently indeed he mistakes one for the other.”
McKnight makes an interesting observation on the abundance of leadership focus when seeking pastors rather than a biblical foundation of what God seeks in a pastor—mentoring people toward Christlikeness.
There are many great points in A Church Called Tov. There were multiple times when the pain from abuse at Willow Creek Church came close to swallowing up the prosaic guidance with personal hurt. These moments have value in personalizing the story, though the effect occasionally makes the book feel like a mashup between treatise and structured therapy. It is not a bad combination, just a different style than my typical reading. As mentioned above, I recommend A Church Called Tov for anyone leading within a church and those who want to cultivate a culture of goodness. It is a trait we need more of in all institutions.
