Robert Bacher and Kenneth Inskeep Augsburg Books 2005

Here's one for those of you fed up with trendy, post-denominationalist doom merchants.

This book purports to show that, while mainline Protestantism has fallen on hard times, the glass is half full rather than half empty.

The American denominations labelled mainline, the authors say, were once "up there" not because they coveted centre stage but because they had taken on the dream of creating the American Community - they pursued a society of peace and justice. It didn't work, but they tried. The authors ask if being displaced from the mainline to the sideline is such a bad thing: why can't it be welcomed as an opportunity to serve in a new and courageous way?

The authors list variations of the Rumour that depict life in the mainline in the worst times, try to show the Rumour's shortcomings and search for a more productive approach.

One church the authors study, the Disciples of Christ, has answered the question "Why bother with denominations?" with: doing things together, nurturing an ethos, providing for accountability.

The United Church of Christ shows the strength of a history of diversity, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church show s the value of embracing a variety of ways of seeing and experiencing the world.

The expression of church the authors lean towards is not deinstitutional, deconstructionist or restorationist - it is a style of renewal, whereby mission interacts with identity, histories are written, strategies are planned, and people, alert to signs of hope, shout "No!" to self-fulfilling prophesies of death.

The authors describe characteristics of denominations that adopt a renewalist style, summarise their findings and worries (theological strength, loss of tradition, and inability to overcome consumerist forms of religion), and offer a brief "to-do" list.

Read this book, feel encouraged, and practise shouting "No!"

Stephen Webb