Kaleidoscope: Keeping the church from becoming a museum
Year: 2018
Author: Kurt Trempert
Length: 226 pages
***THIS BOOK WAS RECEIVED FROM THE AUTHOR***
In Kaleidoscope: Keeping the church from becoming a museum, Kurt Trempert uses the metaphor of the kaleidoscope to examine what an incarnational church looks like when compared to some of the stagnancies arising in the modern American church. This book addresses many issues and criticisms the church faces in the contemporary era. They’re covered in a way that shows not only what’s perhaps behind these shortcomings, but what can potentially be done to fix them. Of course, this then begs the question, who is this book’s audience? Is it for those who run their local church, or the congregation of said churches?
Content-wise, I didn’t have many issues with what was presented here. Most of my qualms had to do with the formatting, including right-align text, the font, and lack of indents. Since it was consistent throughout, I eventually got over it. I would have also appreciated a few section breaks in the chapters to distinguish between different anecdotes and tangential explanations. This was because the topics seem to wander around a bit but still manage to get back to the point eventually. Trempert says as much in the book itself, how sometimes he can lose focus, but those who stick it out will find there’s something poignant to learn.
There are plenty of fantastic points Trempert makes about the modern church. Most of these points revolve around identifying myths we’ve told ourselves about worship, calling, and incarnational living. For so long, these “Christianese” terms have been a part of our lexicon that we don’t realize we’re limiting ourselves in the church. Does worship only have to be on Sundays? Is worship only the musical part of the service? Are those considered “pastors of the church” more holy than the office workers, waiters, and other “secular” professions? In the end, has secularizing (i.e., compartmentalizing) the church in our lives caused us to become a museum instead of a kaleidoscope?
An examination of the modern church and how it could become more “lively,” I give Kaleidoscope 4.0 stars out of 5.
