Listen to the list of people who have endorsed this book: Ray S. Anderson, Stanley Hauerwas, Marva J. Dawn, and James K. A. Smith. You already know it’s going to be something worth reading. Here’s what Smith had to say: “The church should be worried about this book.” Buckle up.

John W. Wright argues that the North American church (his context is the US, but I believe Canada to be complicit) is deformed by false ‘Christian’ narratives. Historical developments have led the church to believe two main false stories:

1. The sin-salvation-service story (developed by the Puritans that skips the broader narrative of creation)
2. The chosen-nation narrative (promises God’s blessing when the nations follows God’s law)

Both narratives are woefully anemic at best. Wright calls preachers to embrace a tragic model of preaching in contrast to the comedic model prevalent in Western churches. He makes this model practical. Sermons should contain three elements:

1. An acknowledgeable of the status quo in order to show that things don’t quite add up from a Christian perspective.
2. A transition paragraph that brings tragic closure to the status quo and an announcement of the gospel.
3. A re-storying that brings the congregation into God’s narrative.

Smith was right—the church should be worried. In the final chapter, Wright offers a scathing rebuke of the way that churches reinforce the status quo that causes the problems the church then tries to solve through therapeutic means. If more preachers embraced this paradigm of preaching—a model akin to the Hebrew prophets—there would be many more uncomfortable believers in Western pews, but a deeper faithfulness to the true gospel that challenges the kingdoms of this world.

Wright, John W. Telling God’s Story: Narrative Preaching for Christian Formation. IVP Academic, 2007.