Published by Herald Press on May 5, 2026
Genres: Non-Fiction, Christian Life
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It's time to face the church's checkered past--and present.
We know that Christians across time have participated in or upheld grave wrongs. We also know that religious wrongdoing is more than just history. Many have suffered church-related trauma because of others who profess to follow Christ. So how do we hold the church's historic and ongoing sins? Is the best alternative to leave the faith--and do these questions make us bad Christians?
After four decades in the same congregation as well as a career in campus ministries, Scott A. Bessenecker has faced plenty of disappointment with the church. Yet he has found a richer spirituality by honestly facing harms done by those who follow Jesus. In Bad Religion, Good News, he offers a way to hold understandable disappointment alongside the conviction that God is good. Speaking openly about the church's sins can help us examine the ways we've been wounded--and perhaps wounded others. Healing begins with an honest confrontation of wrongdoing.
This invitational guide will help you move through disappointment with the church and embody the prophetic alternative to domination that the church was always meant to be.
The church has always carried a paradox at its heart. It proclaims the good news of Jesus Christ while being populated by people who often fail to embody that good news. For many Christians today, that contradiction has become unbearable. Stories of abuse, nationalism, racism, colonialism, spiritual manipulation, and institutional failure have left countless believers wondering whether faith can survive disappointment with the church. In Bad Religion, Good News, Scott A. Bessenecker offers a hopeful answer: yes—but only if we’re willing to tell the truth.
Rather than defending Christianity from its critics, Bessenecker begins by acknowledging the church’s failures. Drawing on four decades of ministry with InterVarsity and faithful participation in a local congregation, he writes as someone who has experienced both the beauty and the brokenness of Christian community. The book refuses easy apologetics or nostalgic appeals to a mythical “golden age” of the church. Instead, Bessenecker argues that honest confession is not a threat to the gospel but one of its clearest expressions.
What distinguishes Bad Religion, Good News from many books addressing church hurt is its refusal to stop at deconstruction. Bessenecker recognizes the deep wounds caused by Christians throughout history—from the Crusades and colonialism to more contemporary forms of spiritual abuse—but he consistently redirects readers toward the character of Christ rather than the failures of Christ’s followers. The good news is not that the church has always been faithful. It is that God remains faithful even when the church is not.
Bessenecker’s greatest strength is his humility. He does not position himself outside the problem, diagnosing the sins of others. Instead, he repeatedly acknowledges his own complicity in the systems he critiques. That posture gives the book credibility. Rather than encouraging readers to abandon the church in frustration or defend it at all costs, he invites them into the more difficult work of repentance, healing, and faithful participation.
The book’s conversational style makes it highly accessible, and its reflection questions encourage readers to wrestle personally with the issues rather than simply absorb information. Those looking for a comprehensive historical analysis of Christianity’s failures or a detailed theological treatise on ecclesiology may find themselves wanting more. Bessenecker’s focus is pastoral rather than academic, emphasizing spiritual formation over exhaustive argumentation.
That pastoral emphasis ultimately proves to be the book’s greatest gift. Bad Religion, Good News reminds readers that disappointment with the church is not evidence of weak faith. In many cases, it is the beginning of a deeper one. By refusing both cynicism and denial, Bessenecker charts a path toward a Christianity rooted not in institutional perfection but in the crucified and risen Christ.
In an era when many are asking whether the church is worth saving, Bessenecker suggests a better question: Can we become the kind of people who embody the good news we proclaim? His answer is hopeful, challenging, and refreshingly honest.