BEYOND THE BACK ROW:
Rediscovering the Beauty of the Local Church for Your Family
By Katie Polski
Christian Focus. 180 pages. £9.99
ISBN 978 1 527 112 650
The subtitle of this book, “Rediscovering the Beauty of the Local Church for Your Family”, immediately appealed to me, as someone who wants their whole family to love their church.
This book is written for those who need to see again why they should invest in their local church, as well as for those who are wondering what the purpose of church is. It has application, however, for all believers, especially as we help the next generation think through what it means to have a deep and abiding faith in Jesus.
The book looks first at the purpose of the local church and then considers how to engage in meetings; in church ministry; and in loving and serving God’s people. Chapters are short and succinct and helpfully include how to help young children and teens in these different areas.
There is much to be commended in the book: considering how to choose a church and differentiating between Biblical essentials and personal preferences; questions to ask when a teen is no longer wanting to attend church (or for others who are shrinking back from church involvement); considering how to love our church well, especially across the generations, and even if we have previously been hurt by those in the church. At times, the book can seem very prescriptive of the author’s own opinion, but nevertheless it raises many good questions.
Where the book perhaps falls down is that it can sound quite legalistic, particularly in the first section which discusses church meetings. For instance, the focus is more on what a church meeting should include, rather than why it is good for an individual to be there. The earlier sections can also feel somewhat lacking the importance of loving God’s people. Though this idea comes in later chapters, some allusions to it earlier would have been helpful. It may also have been beneficial for the author to dwell longer on, not only the purpose of church, but what church is: a local expression of the heavenly gathering, that I want my family to enjoy and savour.
