Eliza Griswold
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 352 pages
Published August 6, 2024
The subtitle says it all. Circle of Hope is the true story of a church reckoning with love, power and justice, and it’s a wild ride.
Journalist Eliza Griswold embedded herself in a Philadelphia church as its founding couple retired, passing the reins to four young pastors. She could not have anticipated that –between Covid lockdowns, racial reckonings, a challenging model of shared leadership, and founders unwilling to let go – she would have a front-row seat to an imploding church.
Circle of Hope was founded in the 1990s by a young couple eager to follow Jesus’ radical call for justice and to counter the evangelical church’s connection with capitalism. By 2020, as the church pivoted to online worship, and its four new leaders struggled to shelter-in-place with their own families, small conflicts arose; when the church asked how to “keep the anti-racist movement going in deeper and wider ways,” conflicts deepened, splitting the church beyond repair.
Griswold writes with deep compassion and curiosity. Circle of Hope’s pastors and lay leaders are well-intentioned, yet ill-equipped to answer their own question. As the congregation dwindled, one pastor argued, “unless they change, they need to leave,” while another countered, “It’s hard because I love these people.” These painful phrases offer a cautionary tale for any organization experiencing conflict, yet Griswold concludes with a word of hope, reminding us that “maybe churches need to die … to make themselves new again.”
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