The Reason for Church
Why the Body of Christ Still Matters in an Age of Anxiety, Division, and Radical Individualism
Published on 3. July 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
240 pages
978-0-310-16667-2 (ISBN)
Description
Rediscover the goodness and beauty of the Body of Christ.
The evangelical church is hemorrhaging. Over 40 million Americans have dechurched in the last 25 years alone, and multiple generations have been raised to believe the most spiritual thing they can do is follow God by following their heart - right out of the church. Yet, this shift is happening right as society is hitting record levels of loneliness, stress, and anxiety. In The Reason for Church, pastor Brad Edwards connects the dots of our current church crisis and provides compelling reasons to come back.
In part 1, Edwards shows how individualistic beliefs make church implausible and compromise our spiritual formation:
Marketplace logic and consumeristic approaches to discipleship
Intuitional spirituality and therapy speak
Social media's distortion of what is true, good, and beautiful
Performative politics and culture wars
Virtuous victimhood, the decline of trust, and the rise of power
These chapters show why individualism won't satisfy and can't provide the refuge it promises.
In part 2, Edwards uses personal examples, church history, non-Western expressions of faith, and Scripture to show how the church is our existentially satisfying alternative to individualism. Equipped with an institutionally robust vision, we will rediscover the church as God's spiritual greenhouse where soul-tired sojourners and lonely exiles are restored and repurposed for life in the world.
The Reason for Church offers an honest-yet-hopeful vision for church as a necessary institution. With radical individualism tearing us apart, we need compelling reasons to fall back in love with Christ's bride, now more than ever.
The evangelical church is hemorrhaging. Over 40 million Americans have dechurched in the last 25 years alone, and multiple generations have been raised to believe the most spiritual thing they can do is follow God by following their heart - right out of the church. Yet, this shift is happening right as society is hitting record levels of loneliness, stress, and anxiety. In The Reason for Church, pastor Brad Edwards connects the dots of our current church crisis and provides compelling reasons to come back.
In part 1, Edwards shows how individualistic beliefs make church implausible and compromise our spiritual formation:
Marketplace logic and consumeristic approaches to discipleship
Intuitional spirituality and therapy speak
Social media's distortion of what is true, good, and beautiful
Performative politics and culture wars
Virtuous victimhood, the decline of trust, and the rise of power
These chapters show why individualism won't satisfy and can't provide the refuge it promises.
In part 2, Edwards uses personal examples, church history, non-Western expressions of faith, and Scripture to show how the church is our existentially satisfying alternative to individualism. Equipped with an institutionally robust vision, we will rediscover the church as God's spiritual greenhouse where soul-tired sojourners and lonely exiles are restored and repurposed for life in the world.
The Reason for Church offers an honest-yet-hopeful vision for church as a necessary institution. With radical individualism tearing us apart, we need compelling reasons to fall back in love with Christ's bride, now more than ever.
Reviews / Votes
'At a time when trust in institutions is low and when professing Christians across the political spectrum are 'loving Jesus but not the church,' this book is a refreshing apologetic for the body of Christ. The Reason for Church combines biblical exegesis, sociological insights, and a tone that connects to the doubts of today's generation. If you are skeptical of the church, you should read this book before you empty the pew, and if you love the church, you should read this book to strengthen your arguments. And church leaders should immediately put it on top of their reading lists.' * <b>Daniel Darling, director, the Land Center for Cultural Engagement; author, Agents of Grace</b> * 'Late modernity isn't working as individualism, therapy speak, technology, and secularism have all overpromised and underdelivered. The good news is that we don't have to be hollowed out by the cross-pressures of late modern life. Brad Edwards shows how the church provides us with an identity, belonging, and cultivation against this stark and unlivable modern backdrop. Picking up where Timothy Keller's The Reason for God left off, Edwards uses Keller's 'defeater beliefs' framework to show the reasons for rekindling our love for the church.' * <b>Michael Graham, program director, The Keller Center; executive producer and writer, As in Heaven podcast; coauthor, The Great Dechurching</b> * 'The church is the mother of Christians. Without her, there is no ordinary way of being saved. Christians have affirmed this for millennia. But in our day these claims are often questioned or rejected, angrily denounced, or met with an indifferent shrug. At a time when the church is viewed with suspicion and associational life is in decline, such claims can sound strange or even offensive. Brad Edwards's book explains why church can be hard and why common life is in decline and then offers a constructive path forward, starting with a return to Mother Church. Why is the church so important? Why have Christians across time spoken so strongly in her favor? Brad's book addresses these questions. If you (or a loved one!) have struggled to understand why going to church matters, you should read this book.' * <b>Jake Meador, editor-in-chief, Mere Orthodoxy</b> * 'The Reason for Church is one of the most important books of the year. An incisive, insightful analysis of the acids eroding institutional health today, from the heart of a pastor who loves Jesus and his bride and wants to see disciples made and formed in Jesus's likeness. Brad Edwards is a gift to believers struggling in an era of loneliness.' * <b>Trevin Wax, vice president of research and resource development at the North American Mission Board; visiting professor, Cedarville University; author, The Thrill of Orthodoxy </b> * 'There are two ways Christians can bear witness to the truth in a disenchanted age. The first way is to angrily react to every outrageous thing around us. The second way is to diagnose our society's crises and joyfully show why the gospel was always the cure. Brad Edwards offers here a masterclass in the second way. Here is an example of cultural apologetics that is intelligent, artful, and convincing in pointing modern readers to the beauty and purpose of belonging to God's church. This is a book for those who need to belong but don't yet know whom to belong to. In the same way that Tim Keller's work tilled the ground for Christian belief, Brad's work will prepare both the hurting and the cynical to receive the amazing gift of the local church. Read and share.' * <b>Samuel D. James, author, Digital Liturgies: Rediscovering Christian Wisdom in an Online Age</b> * 'You will find many books on the biblical and practical importance of the local church. But few can match the way Brad Edwards shows us the need for the church amid rampant anxiety, division, and individualism. Not only our churches but even whole societies would be transformed by implementing the wisdom found in this book.' * <b>Collin Hansen, vice president for content and editor in chief, the Gospel Coalition; author, Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation</b> *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Grand Rapids
United States
Product notice
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 207 mm
Width: 135 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
238 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-310-16667-2 (9780310166672)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Brad Edwards is the church planter of The Table Church in Lafayette, Colorado, where he lives with his wife, Hannah, and their two sons. He is a regular contributor to Mere Orthodoxy and The Gospel Coalition, and cohosts the PostEverything podcast.