Welcome to the weblog version of The Wormwood Archive, a companion to a book by the same name, published by Doorlight Publications (South Hadley, MA).   For those that read the book, many of the entries will be recognized as excerpts.  Both the book and the blog are copyright-restricted and cannot be reproduced or distributed without the permission of Doorlight Publications.  Those interested in a brief overview of books written along a similar theme should consult the entry ‘related books‘  on the navigation panel on the left. 

The Wormwood Archive is a work of fiction that pretends to continue the story begun by C. S. Lewis in his classic, The Screwtape Letters.  I have great appreciation for Lewis’ work, and when I looked for a model on which to base the story, the notion of a company of demons exploiting the carelessness of leaders enamored with the American megachurch movement was irresistible.

 

I make no pretense of writing like C. S. Lewis.   In Screwtape, Lewis voiced many of the insights of his Christian Behavior (also published as a section of Mere Christianity) in a witty, demonic banter that would be impossible to emulate. Wormwood, by contrast, clearly lacks the wit or eloquence of his uncle, and is enamoured of the pedantic old Slubgob in a way that Screwtape could never be.   But Wormwood has something that Screwtape never had: Technology and the modern management philosophies to go with it.   

While the entries are works of fiction and should be read as such, the events and philosophies reflected in the entries are real.  I was an elder at a large evangelical church similar to Easthampton Community Church, an 80-year-old multigenerational congregation that had become enamored with the Megachurches of the west and midwest.  Over five years, I saw both the carelessness of leaders and the recklessness of opposition members. The only home church I had ever known was being torn apart from the inside, and I began to write.  What would Satan think, I wondered, of the events going on in the church I loved? What if, in contrast to the individual temptation of Screwtape, a demon were to organize the temptation of an entire church around the best in modern leadership theory and communications technology?

Many of the events happened in my home church.  Most were quite similar to the fictional counterpart, while several were generically described. Bill, the fictitious pastor of Easthampton Community Church is similar to my own pastor insofar as he has gone to the same pastor seminars and adopts a similar management style.   That is simply to say that there is a pastor in virtually every American city who would bear strong similarities to the pastor at ECC. 

The analysis laced throughout the entries is, of course, the analysis of a demon.  Just as in C.S. Lewis’ original work, the demon uses a twisted and cynical voice that is harsh, and perhaps offensive to those readers who cringe at criticism of church leaders.  It was in response to this that I received from one of my most helpful critics (an elder in my church), a question that deserves an amplified response: Does a book such as this dishonor God by dishonoring His Church?

This is a serious question that deserves an equally serious response.  To answer it properly, one must get inside the mind of Wormwood and ask: What sort of church does Wormwood fear?  He fears a church actively committed to world missions: A church that truly desires to see, and works toward seeing, new groups of believers gathering all over the world, is a church to be feared.  He fears a church with clear, sound, biblical preaching that does not dumb down the gospel, but introduces believers and seekers alike to the most profound and challenging truths of scripture.  He fears a church whose leaders are models of integrity, who flee from any appearance of deception, and who respect and honor the heritage passed on by their predecessors.  Perhaps most of all, he fears a church at prayer.  Such a church glorifies God. 

While the story itself is fiction, the cancerous influences of the church growth movement are all too real.  Plagiarism, careless use of art, emphasis on edginess, corporate style governance, manipulative leadership, and systematic attempts to marginalize older members are far too common.  Convinced that the church must somehow collaborate with the secular culture in its evangelistic mission, leaders take aspects of the gospel that do not market well and treat them as subsidiary to the first priority, an increase in Sunday morning attendance.  In this paradigm, a local AIDS ministry is vital, the tragedy of abortion a little too controversial.  Thus, my own home church abandoned its annual sanctity of human life Sunday in favor of a ministry with the politically correct label “healing options”.   At the time of this writing, not even “healing options” remain on the church web site. 

Sadly, the temptation of the opposition is just as real.  All too often, we respond to hurtful decisions by questioning the motives of leadership and lashing out in anger. I believe that much of the damage caused by the philosophies and actions described in this story can be mitigated or prevented by a membership that is determined to pray, to continue caring for one another, and to hold leadership accountable for sound teaching and participatory worship.

If I have been more critical of pastors, worship directors, and elders than of the opposition, it is because of the burden of responsibility they carry for nurturing the flock.  When four hundred people leave a church without an effort to find out why, it indicates a leadership that is either unconcerned or lazy.   That said, the angry emotions and words, the gossip, and the critical spirit of many in the opposition are every bit as sinful as the carelessness of leaders.   

The principles described here under the Performance Driven label parody the ideas put forward by Saddleback Church, Willow Creek Church, and many others like them.  These churches have aggressively exported philosophies that, when applied to older churches by careless leaders, do great harm.  One need only read Southerland’s book Transitioning, a book that encouraged established churches to launch drastic ‘purpose driven’ transformations, to understand and appreciate the negative impact that an improperly applied philosophy can have on an established ministry.  Church growth experts have pushed hard the idea of congregations organized around ‘culturally homogeneous units’, a concept incompatible with the culturally diverse and multigenerational character of many older churches.  

While some churches do have leadership that is callous and uncaring, the vast majority of churches that fall into these traps are led by idealists, not rogues.  The idealist, to paraphrase the opening quote from Bonhoeffer, loves his idea of the church more than the people God has put under his care.  There are few individuals more destructive than a careless visionary. 

It is inadequate to simply understand the particular wrongs without recognizing the larger picture.  The clear message to which the Church has borne witness over the centuries is this: Jesus Christ is building his Church; as He promised, the gates of hell will not prevail against it, sinful leadership and angry laity notwithstanding.  God has preserved His Church through far darker periods than our own.

Throughout history, the Church’s greatest victories have not been achieved through visionary leadership, but through sacrificial obedience and reconciliation through repentance.  The story recounted in the pages of this book is nothing more nor less than a call to repentance and reconciliation.   For leadership and opposition alike. 

T. G. Brown

Rochester, NY 2009