Book Review: “When Narcissism Comes to Church.”

Over the summer I’ve read 11 books. Some are better than others. Some more impactful than others. Some I read more quickly. But this is one I read with a keen interest more so than any of the other ones because it’s a subject that I think is so very important and just isn’t touched on at all.

There are tons of books about growth in churches and books about change and transformation in church (some of my favorite topics, but this may be the only book on narcissism). Church DeGroat, the author of this book as done a fabulous job of touching on a topic that every leader of a church should read for the sake of the church.

If I shared every spot I underlined in this book, this post would go on for pages and pages and pages. So instead, I’m going to highlight what I’m deeming to be the very most important parts. And I want to encourage you to get this book and read it. Because it’s just that important.

Here’s the core thesis of DeGroat’s book as summed up on page 4, “Western culture is a narcissistic culture…The same vacuousness we see beneath an individual’s narcissistic grandiosity can be found at a collective level in American culture, evidenced most recently in the #MeToo and #ChurchToo movements. While we tell ourselves stories of American exceptionalism, we hide what’s beneath — fragmentation, systemic racism, ethnocentrism, misogyny, addiction, shame, and so much more. We’ve got a problem — all of us. It’s an us problem, not a them problem.”