By What Authority
We didn't lose our churches in a fair fight—we forfeited them
Dear Readers,
Yesterday First Things published an essay of mine, “By What Authority.” It’s drawn from the closing chapter of my forthcoming book, Exile and Return, and it makes the case as plainly as I know how: we did not lose our historic Christian churches and institutions in a fair fight.
We forfeited them—by never contesting the one thing that mattered, which is jurisdiction. Who holds the ground, and by what right.
You can read it here: firstthings.com/by-what-authority-2/
The essay opens on a letter I wrote as a nineteen-year-old at Yale and closes on the 1659 church I now serve. The whole arc of the book is in between—what institutional capture cost me, my family, and my calling, and what it will take to win these churches back. Not retreat. Return.
Exile and Return: A Pastor’s Reckoning with the Mainline Church is open for pre-order now at exileandreturn.com. I’m publishing it myself, through Good Hill Books, and I’ll be honest with you: the founding pre-orders are what fund the first print run and carry the book to press. If the argument in this essay is one you’ve been waiting to see made, pre-ordering is the most direct way to help make the book real.
If you have already made your purchase, thank you. If you haven’t, please consider it now. Thank you for reading, and for walking this road with me.
Pastor Dell