I Saw the Church

Merle D. Strege has provided a balanced, thorough and readable book that traces the radical Biblical teachings that brought the Church of God into existence; attracted unprecedented numbers of believers, new and old, to the Movement; inspired lively debate and reflection during its earliest decades; and powered robust growth and creative innovation rarely seen on the American church scene.

Strege takes an honest look at how succeeding generations of leaders backpedaled on the consistent application of radical New Testament theology in matters of faith and practice, capitulating to prevailing social norms in regard to racial integration, women in ministry, field-driven missions and ecclesiastical trends that have progressively diminished the "glorious liberty of the sons of God" that our pioneers cherished.
I Saw the Church should be required reading for every Church of God worker, whether lay or clergy. God grant that we heed its message and reform our Reformation before the church in North America either morphs into a denomination wholly unrecognizable as the Church of God or disappears into the haze of ineffectual cultural Christianity.