Keeping which faith?
West Coast Mission: The Changing Nature of Christianity in Vancouver
by Ross A. Lockhart
Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2024
$34.95 / 9780228022862
Reviewed by Ron Dart
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Many are the books that have tracked and traced the situation of Christianity in a post-Christendom and variations of a layered liberal secular context, but the appeal of West Coast Mission is the thoughtful and engaging way in which Ross Lockhart turns his probing sights on “The Changing Nature of Christianity in Vancouver.” Many are the methods that can be used to reflect on such a reality from a historic and sociological perspective but Lockhart chose 14 variations-denominations from classical and more modern forms of protestant Christianity to reflect on the challenges to Christianity in Vancouver and how these 14 Christian communities have responded to such challenges. We could have asked why these 14 groups were selectively chosen and what they reveal and conceal about a broader and fuller view of Christianity in Vancouver but choices need to be made and such choices reveal as much about the researcher as the topic being researched.
Lockhart, to his credit, does try to blend the participant-observer tension tightrope and, in doing so, much gold is gleaned about the groups being interviewed and what can be learned about a certain type of Christianity in Vancouver. There are five fine chapters in this compelling read of a book: 1) Lotus Land Life: Examining West Coast Spirituality, 2) Packing a Bag: Preparations for a Journey through Vancouver’s Churches, 3) Hitting the Road: Visiting an Eclectic Mix of Vancouver’s Christian Communities, 4) Learning from the Journey: Reflections upon the Witness in Vancouver, 5) The Next Faithful Step: Towards an Urban Missiology for Vancouver. The appendix sums up nicely the “Fourteen Christian Communities Participating in Vancouver Study.” The thesis turned readable book is a judicious balance of understanding-description and a prescriptive vision of action, diagnosis-prognosis. The final call to action weaves together “proposals for missional engagement.” These are compactly summed up in five proposals: 1) Mission through Relationships, 2) Mission through Creation Care, 3) Mission through Walking Worthily, 4) Mission through the Future Church that is Coming, 5) Contributions to the Missional Church Conversation. These five proposals are children of seven observations in a previous chapter. This combination of seven observations and five proposals are at the heart and core of Lockhart’s vision of how his understanding of the church (remember he has only focussed on fourteen Christian communities) will assist the church in Vancouver to weather the changing nature of the faith journey in Vancouver.
I might add that the title of the thesis turned book is slightly and inaccurately deceptive. The content of the book is not really about Christianity in Vancouver; it is much more about a limited and selective sampling of Christianity both on the West Coast and Vancouver. In short, deeper hedgehog burrowing in a narrow way reveals and conceals much—a necessary corrective would be a lingering watch and sit with the fox who traverses a wider and more comprehensive terrain—such a needful approach would be truer to the more layered and fuller reality of Christianity on the West Coast and in Vancouver.
The strength of West Coast Mission is the way that Lockhart has sensitively and wisely heeded and attempted to bring the best out of the varied communities he has focussed on. The weakness of the book is the vast variety of other forms of Christianity he has simply not sat with or listened to in the Vancouver area and they are many.
This means many of the observations-proposals hinge on who he has chosen to listen to, work with and offer some moderate and tentative suggestions to in their faith journey in Vancouver as they move into the future in a missional way.
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Ron Dart has taught in the Department of Political Science, Philosophy, and Religious Studies at the University of the Fraser Valley since 1990. He was on staff with Amnesty International in the 1980s. He has published 40 books including Erasmus: Wild Bird (Create Space, 2017) and The North American High Tory Tradition (American Anglican Press, 2016). [Editor’s note: Ron Dart has recently reviewed books by Peter D. Scott, Paul Zizka, Glenn Woodsworth & David Woodsworth, Marc Bourdon, and Paul Zizka for The British Columbia Review. He has also written about his and Arnold Shives’ lunch with mountaineering icon Jim Wickwire, and contributed five essays: Milton Acorn, Canadian mountain culture and mountaineering, From Jalna to Timber Baron: Reflections on the life of H.R. MacMillan, Roderick Haig-Brown & Al Purdy, and Save Swiss Edelweiss Village.]
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The British Columbia Review
Interim Editors, 2023-26: Trevor Marc Hughes (non-fiction), Brett Josef Grubisic (fiction)
Publisher: Richard Mackie
Formerly The Ormsby Review, The British Columbia Review is an on-line book review and journal service for BC writers and readers. The Advisory Board now consists of Jean Barman, Wade Davis, Robin Fisher, Barry Gough, Hugh Johnston, Kathy Mezei, Patricia Roy, and Graeme Wynn. Provincial Government Patron (since September 2018): Creative BC. Honorary Patron: Yosef Wosk. Scholarly Patron: SFU Graduate Liberal Studies. The British Columbia Review was founded in 2016 by Richard Mackie and Alan Twigg.
“Only connect.” – E.M. Forster