Back to Church: A Call to Those Who Have Left and Those Who Have Stayed

by Cara Luecht

People are leaving the Church in record numbers, and they are not being silent about their reasons. With terms like “deconstructing” and “exvangelical” they are letting the Church know that they are unhappy with the direction the Church is taking on any number of issues.

What if the problem is less about the issues and more about how we have chosen to handle them?

For those of us left, this creates an opportunity.
Will we rise to the occasion, or will we be satisfied with the loss?

206 pages, Paperback

Published September 15, 2022

About the author

Award winning author, Cara Luecht, lives in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin with her husband, David, and their children. In addition to freelance writing and marketing, Cara works as an English Instructor for a local college. Cara graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in English Literature from the University of Wisconsin and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Fairleigh Dickinson University. Currently, Cara is studying for her Masters in Divinity at Fuller Theological Seminary.

Reviews

[Sarah Gerbers]

Have you left the church? This book is for you.
Are you still in the church? This book is also for you!
Cara discusses some very important topics that relate to both categories of people, and there is much food for thought. Definitely worth reading!

[Kevin Robinson]

This book was thought provoking and gave me much to ponder and examine myself over, especially as a pastor. My biggest struggle with it is in the chapter on PRIDE where she seems to make the truth of the word subjective and secondary to generational biases, saying that "Boomers see moral absolutes stemming from reason and law while Millennials see morality as a product of culture, community and individual values - including faith." If we cannot know that there is a capital T Truth to stand on based on reason and law, then we have no foundation. I don't see that as a proud statement. I see that as confidence in what I believe. Truth is based on the character of God and his revelation of Himself, not in culture and community, no matter what a generation thinks or how "spiritual" they are. If they are spiritual but wrong on their theology, we have a problem. I think she is trying to "be all things to all people" as Paul, but we cannot compromise Truth to do so. She seems to come back around in other parts of the book, but the truth is, THIS is a very hard subject to parse out. Cara does a pretty good job of it as far as it goes, but there is so much nuance that I felt was missing. This book could have been a much larger book for sure. Still, it asks important questions and gives all of us something to think about on what is our part in the church in maybe losing some of our people.