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The Reason for Church: Why the Body of Christ Still Matters in an Age of Anxiety, Division, and Radical Individualism
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 how individualistic beliefs make church implausible and compromise our spiritual
Marketplace logic and consumeristic approaches to discipleshipIntuitional spirituality and therapy speakSocial media's distortion of what is true, good, and beautifulPerformative politics and culture warsVirtuous victimhood, the decline of trust, and the rise of powerThese 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 how individualistic beliefs make church implausible and compromise our spiritual
Marketplace logic and consumeristic approaches to discipleshipIntuitional spirituality and therapy speakSocial media's distortion of what is true, good, and beautifulPerformative politics and culture warsVirtuous victimhood, the decline of trust, and the rise of powerThese 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.
214 pages, Paperback
Published April 22, 2025
85 people are currently reading
629 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
March 20, 2025
Lots of great stuff here. Needed wisdom for an anti-commitment, anti-institutional age.
June 28, 2025
As someone who has served in several ministry roles, this book gave me a lot to think about. He makes a strong social and biblical case against individualism and anti-institutional attitudes in our culture, and answers many of the most common objections to attending or committing to church membership.
Unbelievers need the church because local congregations are some of the largest contributors to community service.
Christians need the church because it is Jesus's body, God's household, and the means through which God gave the great commission.
Bottom line - the Christian life is primarily described as individual members being joined together (into a house, into a body, into a priesthood), and that process is achieved through the church.
Unbelievers need the church because local congregations are some of the largest contributors to community service.
Christians need the church because it is Jesus's body, God's household, and the means through which God gave the great commission.
Bottom line - the Christian life is primarily described as individual members being joined together (into a house, into a body, into a priesthood), and that process is achieved through the church.
July 9, 2025
I imagine if Tim Keller and Jonathan Haidt wrote a book on church, culture and the way forward it would be a lot like this. So good, insightful, helpful and encouraging.
September 16, 2025
This was a good book that opened up a very important conversation about church. We have become a post institution society. People don’t trust institutions and live their spiritual life in an extremely individualistic way. This is the root of distrust and divid. Good book can overload with info at time but great. 8/10
1. “What if your skepticism is at least partly the result of cultural assumptions you don’t even know.”
2. “Early in ministry, I expected that the hardest part of being a pastor would be persuading no -Christian’s that God exists. By several orders of magnitude, it has been much harder to persuade anyone. That church is good or beautiful.
3. We’ve gone from entrusting our formation to a church, to insisting a church conform to us.”
4. “Even if we are part of a local church, viewing institutions so cynically keeps Christ body at arms length in perpetuity.”
5. “We need to fall back in love with the bride of Christ.”
The church is so important and is needed for our formation. I do not know where I’d be without the local church. I tell people all the time the church i was apart of in Seminary formed me far more than any seminary class room could have and that’s nothin negative to class. It’s just i got to practically live out the gospel in community and be challenged and stretched and loved deeply.
1. “What if your skepticism is at least partly the result of cultural assumptions you don’t even know.”
2. “Early in ministry, I expected that the hardest part of being a pastor would be persuading no -Christian’s that God exists. By several orders of magnitude, it has been much harder to persuade anyone. That church is good or beautiful.
3. We’ve gone from entrusting our formation to a church, to insisting a church conform to us.”
4. “Even if we are part of a local church, viewing institutions so cynically keeps Christ body at arms length in perpetuity.”
5. “We need to fall back in love with the bride of Christ.”
The church is so important and is needed for our formation. I do not know where I’d be without the local church. I tell people all the time the church i was apart of in Seminary formed me far more than any seminary class room could have and that’s nothin negative to class. It’s just i got to practically live out the gospel in community and be challenged and stretched and loved deeply.
June 27, 2025
Really enjoyed this book! We have to shake off our radical individualism and be the body of Christ, both in our own Christian communities, and to the lost. Great listen on Audible!
June 2, 2025
This is an excellent book, especially for pastors and church leaders seeking to demonstrate why the church remains compelling, beautiful, and conducive for flourishing. It's a helpful counter to our individualistic and anti-institutional culture.
December 11, 2025
A beautiful painting that was dropped in the toilet.
Ch 1-3 had me thinking that this would be a 5/5. Edwards articulately critiques our culture’s idolization of individualism in a way that I’ve never read. We worship self-definition instead of wanting God to define us. We look inward for truth instead of outward to the Christ’s bride. We need to reemphasize the importance of Church. Amen! Preach it!
The problem is, Chapter 4 preaches the David French/Russel Moore political third-Wayism that equally critiques both sides and pretends that Christian values aren’t radically more aligned with the side not trying to murder babies (he literally quotes French). He implicitly discusses America’s systemic racism. He wants both political parties represented in his church. He likens the desire to win elections to the desire to want your favorite WWE wrestler to win - pointless. It’s shockingly tone deaf when babies are being slaughtered by the millions and gender is being redefined. In no way does this imply one side is righteous or “Christian” in any way. But if Edwards wants to talk politics, it’s irresponsible and cowardly to pretend as if both sides are equally aligned with biblical values.
He tries to walk over to the other side in the next chapter, but ends up lacking the courage to make any pointed critiques.
Despite chapters 6 and 7 being painfully wordy and adding little to the book, the last three chapters are solid. So, balance out and give this a 3/5.
Ch 1-3 had me thinking that this would be a 5/5. Edwards articulately critiques our culture’s idolization of individualism in a way that I’ve never read. We worship self-definition instead of wanting God to define us. We look inward for truth instead of outward to the Christ’s bride. We need to reemphasize the importance of Church. Amen! Preach it!
The problem is, Chapter 4 preaches the David French/Russel Moore political third-Wayism that equally critiques both sides and pretends that Christian values aren’t radically more aligned with the side not trying to murder babies (he literally quotes French). He implicitly discusses America’s systemic racism. He wants both political parties represented in his church. He likens the desire to win elections to the desire to want your favorite WWE wrestler to win - pointless. It’s shockingly tone deaf when babies are being slaughtered by the millions and gender is being redefined. In no way does this imply one side is righteous or “Christian” in any way. But if Edwards wants to talk politics, it’s irresponsible and cowardly to pretend as if both sides are equally aligned with biblical values.
He tries to walk over to the other side in the next chapter, but ends up lacking the courage to make any pointed critiques.
Despite chapters 6 and 7 being painfully wordy and adding little to the book, the last three chapters are solid. So, balance out and give this a 3/5.
May 11, 2025
Very encouraging, deep reminders, while the ‘secular’ is so good now on service, the church needs to be that too, but it’s the collective group witness doing that, but comprised of all different kinds of people that is the witness that is different in today’s society now. To me, that is the light on the hill.
April 28, 2025
This book is an eye-opener for an old guy.
I have been in a leadership position at various churches for more than 40 years. I’ve observed what Brad Edwards documents in his excellent book.
I am grateful that he was able to give explanations for things that I have simply been unable to understand in my grandchildren’s generation.
Do you remember the two old geezer critics in the Muppets, Waldorf and Statler? I’ve really tried to make an effort to not be those kind of guys. I have, at the same time, noticed the unchurching Pastor is documenting. My desire has always been evangelism; however many “mainline” churches don’t seem to know how to do that. Their diminishing numbers testify to this lack of success.
If you’ll permit me one story: some rock-ribbed old denominationalist was critical of Dwight L. Moody‘s methods of evangelism, and told him so. Moody replied, “I like the way I do it much better than the way you don’t do it.”
Evangelizing a person to a loving, supportive, community is far more likely to be an invitation that will be accepted.
May God continue to bless this work at The Table and throughout the world.
I have been in a leadership position at various churches for more than 40 years. I’ve observed what Brad Edwards documents in his excellent book.
I am grateful that he was able to give explanations for things that I have simply been unable to understand in my grandchildren’s generation.
Do you remember the two old geezer critics in the Muppets, Waldorf and Statler? I’ve really tried to make an effort to not be those kind of guys. I have, at the same time, noticed the unchurching Pastor is documenting. My desire has always been evangelism; however many “mainline” churches don’t seem to know how to do that. Their diminishing numbers testify to this lack of success.
If you’ll permit me one story: some rock-ribbed old denominationalist was critical of Dwight L. Moody‘s methods of evangelism, and told him so. Moody replied, “I like the way I do it much better than the way you don’t do it.”
Evangelizing a person to a loving, supportive, community is far more likely to be an invitation that will be accepted.
May God continue to bless this work at The Table and throughout the world.
July 28, 2025
A good book that identifies 5 reasons why people resist the church, and 5 reasons why they should join the church.
July 26, 2025
Great book! Effectively diagnoses the church-shaped hole at the heart of our culture and provides sound wisdom for reframing the church’s understanding of herself to meet contemporary needs.
January 9, 2026
Really liked this book. About why the church (not just faith) matters. The title is in part a call out to Tim Keller's The Reason For God. Edwards (correctly, in my opinion) identifies that the problem today is not that people need a reason to believe in God. In fact people are surprisingly open to God - the issue is that they're so individualistic and anti-institutions that they can't even conceive of how there could be a place for church in their lives. Therefore, the apologetic needed today is not a defense of faith, but a defense of church, and this attempts to do that.
The first part discusses "defeater beliefs" - ingrained societal ideas that make church feel impossible:
- Spiritual Pragmatism: personal spiritual growth is paramount, and churches exist to only to facilitate it and help us fulfill our potential. Following Jesus may require leaving churches or the church altogether. He blames a lot of this on the seeker sensitive movement over the past few decades.
- The Sacred Self: Because our fragile intuitions are our only reliable source for spiritual truth, we become hypervigilant of any potential harm and use therapeutic culture to keep ourselves safe--at all costs.
- Counterfeit Institutions: Digital platforms that bypass gatekeepers, hijack incentives, and manipulate user behavior to extract and monetize our attention--at the cost of deforming individuals and unraveling society.
- (Un)Civil Religions: Because political associations have become a primary source of identity and formation, we define ourselves by who we are against and trust performative politics to satisfy our existential emptiness.
- Virtuous Victimhood: Because compassion is one of the few remaining grounds for moral authority in a secular society, we position ourselves and identify as victims to deflect criticism, silence disagreement, and compete for social status.
This first section is incredibly insightful, I found myself nodding in recognition throughout. It's extremely well informed, drawing from both Christian and secular sociological sources, and wise. So, so true. 5 stars for the first half.
The second half discusses things the church offers to the world. This section is more mixed. They all feel correct, but it's a little confusing, because they don't map to the five defeater beliefs discussed earlier, and it's not clear whether they're meant to be a description of things churches should do differently or what the church already does. If it's the latter, it's particularly confusing - if the defeater beliefs lead to a worse life (which I believe) and the church already addresses their shortcomings, why are people leaving the church?
So 3 stars for the 2nd half, nets out to 4 stars.
The first part discusses "defeater beliefs" - ingrained societal ideas that make church feel impossible:
- Spiritual Pragmatism: personal spiritual growth is paramount, and churches exist to only to facilitate it and help us fulfill our potential. Following Jesus may require leaving churches or the church altogether. He blames a lot of this on the seeker sensitive movement over the past few decades.
- The Sacred Self: Because our fragile intuitions are our only reliable source for spiritual truth, we become hypervigilant of any potential harm and use therapeutic culture to keep ourselves safe--at all costs.
- Counterfeit Institutions: Digital platforms that bypass gatekeepers, hijack incentives, and manipulate user behavior to extract and monetize our attention--at the cost of deforming individuals and unraveling society.
- (Un)Civil Religions: Because political associations have become a primary source of identity and formation, we define ourselves by who we are against and trust performative politics to satisfy our existential emptiness.
- Virtuous Victimhood: Because compassion is one of the few remaining grounds for moral authority in a secular society, we position ourselves and identify as victims to deflect criticism, silence disagreement, and compete for social status.
This first section is incredibly insightful, I found myself nodding in recognition throughout. It's extremely well informed, drawing from both Christian and secular sociological sources, and wise. So, so true. 5 stars for the first half.
The second half discusses things the church offers to the world. This section is more mixed. They all feel correct, but it's a little confusing, because they don't map to the five defeater beliefs discussed earlier, and it's not clear whether they're meant to be a description of things churches should do differently or what the church already does. If it's the latter, it's particularly confusing - if the defeater beliefs lead to a worse life (which I believe) and the church already addresses their shortcomings, why are people leaving the church?
So 3 stars for the 2nd half, nets out to 4 stars.
October 3, 2025
What a great book! Brad Edwards gives challenging and insightful thoughts regarding the need for church in our current cultural time. His strength is in his critique of the cultural assumptions/beliefs that have shaped how we think about church: spiritual pragmatism, self-actualization, self-care, counterfeit institutions(i.e. social media), political ideology and tribalism, 'virtuous victimhood'.
In his critiques, Edwards gives depth that I had not considered before. While it's common to hear pastors and others speak against these cultural assumptions, I found Edwards to provide new insights. One example is his observation that self-actualization has often turned the goal of Christianity into spiritual-growth. He argues that scripture says obeying Christ is the goal, and spiritual growth the by product. As he dives into cultural examples his knife cuts across both political lines. He criticizes the role of 'virtuous victimhood and 'therapy speak' in the church without throwing around terms like woke and lib, yet also highlights the anti-vision of a portion of the right which aims to tear down what it's against without a vision to build up. His chapter on how social media forms you in negative ways is worth the costs of the book itself.
Like most authors I've read, his critique comes easier than his vision forward. His vision forward struggles to gain traction at times, but finishes strong. He unashamedly advocates for the church as an institution which forms us. A couple other things stood out. He gives great reasons why the church should put forth obligation and sacrifice as being a member of the church. At one point, he brings interesting insight as to how individualism and spiritual pragmatism have shaped the our view of the gospel. He says they have skewed our view of the gospel so as to simply see it as a free gift that requires nothing of us. He argues that 'salvation isn't conditional', but a relationship with Christ- the living out of the Christian life- absolutely comes with ‘strings attached’ as he says. We are required to follow and obey him.
10/10 would recommend!
In his critiques, Edwards gives depth that I had not considered before. While it's common to hear pastors and others speak against these cultural assumptions, I found Edwards to provide new insights. One example is his observation that self-actualization has often turned the goal of Christianity into spiritual-growth. He argues that scripture says obeying Christ is the goal, and spiritual growth the by product. As he dives into cultural examples his knife cuts across both political lines. He criticizes the role of 'virtuous victimhood and 'therapy speak' in the church without throwing around terms like woke and lib, yet also highlights the anti-vision of a portion of the right which aims to tear down what it's against without a vision to build up. His chapter on how social media forms you in negative ways is worth the costs of the book itself.
Like most authors I've read, his critique comes easier than his vision forward. His vision forward struggles to gain traction at times, but finishes strong. He unashamedly advocates for the church as an institution which forms us. A couple other things stood out. He gives great reasons why the church should put forth obligation and sacrifice as being a member of the church. At one point, he brings interesting insight as to how individualism and spiritual pragmatism have shaped the our view of the gospel. He says they have skewed our view of the gospel so as to simply see it as a free gift that requires nothing of us. He argues that 'salvation isn't conditional', but a relationship with Christ- the living out of the Christian life- absolutely comes with ‘strings attached’ as he says. We are required to follow and obey him.
10/10 would recommend!
January 19, 2026
It can't avoid occasional culture war language that TGC contributors too often feel required to sneak in. I also think there's a bit of defensiveness in it, refusal to grapple with some of the toxicity that IS present in many American churches that is causing people to leave, and a tendency to downplay real issues.
That said, there's a lot to agree with, wrestle with and be moved by here, and I overall agree with Edwards' description of the church as an antidote to individualism and (when done properly) a solution to many of society's ills. I've been in me-centric, consumer-oriented church before. I was moved several times to be reassured that the community of which we are now part does look like the community Edwards describes here.
That said, there's a lot to agree with, wrestle with and be moved by here, and I overall agree with Edwards' description of the church as an antidote to individualism and (when done properly) a solution to many of society's ills. I've been in me-centric, consumer-oriented church before. I was moved several times to be reassured that the community of which we are now part does look like the community Edwards describes here.
January 14, 2026
Thoroughly enjoyed this book! Edwards has done a great work to describe exactly what many of us in active ministry are facing today. I found myself dismayed in the beginning of the book as the author outlined 5 key factors that "Babylon" has offered our churches to build with-- I couldn't get to the second part of the book quickly enough to learn and appreciate Edwards description of the true Bride of Christ, the church as Jesus intends. This would be a great resource for pastors, elder/deacon teams, or key church leaders to wrestle with why church still matters in today's cultural moment. Kudos!
September 15, 2025
A lot of interesting information, but TBH it got a little long and boring. To sum it up, all Christians should have a home church that they participate in regularly. It’s for our good and God’s glory. The internet and its impact on politics and our thinking is extremely detrimental to the body of Christ.
October 22, 2025
Brad Edwards tackles the ever relevant subject of organized Christianity, by diagnosing the systemic challenges to the local church, and discussing a positive way forward. Writing out of extensive experience as a pastor, and as a keen cultural observer, Edwards provides a much-needed reflection on why the local church is not only still relevant, but critical for healthy Christianity.
January 19, 2026
A fantastic book on why the local church is critically important if we want to see God’s kingdom come. This book is specifically written for people who are based in a ‘westernized’ society which probably includes everyone who uses Goodreads 😜
July 1, 2025
Informatief boek over culturele tegenkracht van de kerk. Wel grotendeels voor Amerikaanse context bedoeld.
August 24, 2025
Not that I necessarily disagree, but it seems oversimplified. This book did not answer the questions I’m asking.
December 31, 2025
3.5 rounded up. Some good truisms. After I got past the dozen or so typos, and unnecessarily long introduction, I enjoyed bits and pieces of this.
January 11, 2026
Good content. Poorly written.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews