book review: The Church of Us vs. Them

Title: The Church of Us vs. Them: Freedom from a Faith that Feeds on Making Enemies
Author: David E. Fitch
Publisher: Brazos Press
Date:  2019

For or against. With or against. On my side or against me. On our side or against us. There is no middle ground. Lines are drawn. We wave our banner. Because we are right and they are wrong.

That’s the world we live in. We talk about others, we talk over others, but rarely in this polarized world do we talk with others. Congregations, denominations, families are divided. And I know someone will say “It is important to stand up for what is right.” It is this conflict that David E. Fitch addresses in Us vs. Them. There is a place for conversation among those who disagree on important matters.

In The Church of Us vs Them, David E. Fitch approaches his subject from an evangelical-Anabaptist background. Fitch is a Christian and Missionary Alliance pastor, with roots in Hamilton, Ontario (go Ti-Cats!) so he brings a good awareness of the differences between U.S. and Canadian contexts and teaches at Northern Seminary. 

Fitch, in this book and often in his Facebook posts, highlights the way that ideology and antagonism function within human psychology. He shows us the ways in which we become deeply invested in ideas or causes that serve to identify who is on our team and who is not. This is an important point – often the ideas we spend the most time defending are mainly about securing our own identity and security against some perceived threat.

Fitch argues that convictions about something important can mutate into an ideological signifier that only articulates our position on a spectrum and signals to others which side we are on. Fitch argues that as Christians we need to seek a space “beyond enemies” through the One who calls us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. For Fitch, this is not compromise on a spectrum between two perspectives. Rather, this space beyond enemy-making comes as a gift from God.

In The Church of Us vs. Them, Fitch describes the challenge for the church in this critical moment. He asks the important question: “How can the church be known as a people of reconciliation and renewal in a culture of antagonism?” Part of the answer is in these quotes:
“When distinctives become less about daily living and more about what differentiates us from other people, they in essence become banners to be waved around signaling who is in and who is out of our group.”
“The way God works to change the world is to first inhabit a people with his justice, showing the world what it looks like, and then engage the world, challenge the world, and invite them to do the same.”

I would recommend this book to any Christian wanting to move beyond the vitriol and conflict of our "us vs them" world to explore new conversations.

I received this book from @BrazosPress

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