Eliza Griswold tells this story of a church slowly coming apart with such delicacy and kindness. I would imagine that—immersing yourself in a community fraught with conflict—it would be extremely difficult to remain an "objective observer..." but Eliza treats every person in this narrative with care, sharing the perspectives and motivations behind each person's conflicting actions.
It's a harrowing story, to be sure. Not the most fun, easy read, And, toward the end, I started to wonder "what was the point of telling all of this sad story?" But new life is birthed out of death. And there is beauty in that.

3.5 Stars

This book was a unique twist on the typical "bad church" or "harmful church" narrative. This was a place (that by Griswold's skilled storytelling) I could see myself being part of and excited about. The allure of being part of a congregation who cares about social justice is real in a world filled with churches that seem preoccupied by the flowers at the front of the sanctuary. The author did a lovely job telling the story. Good read!

The audiobook was well done. The narrator did a great job. The story grabbed me from the beginning. I enjoy learning about the history of religion. Hearing the story about how a specific church came to be and grow its congregation was very interesting. I enjoyed the multiple perfective way of telling the story.
About 2/3 the way through the story it started to get repetitive. I had a hard time staying focused but was invested in finding the conclusion. However, the conclusion left me with more questions and was of the same quality as the start.

Hear me when I say: this wasn’t bad, but for me, it was forgettable. Eliza Griswold is a great writer and journalist, also make note o that. However, I felt myself starting to get bored because I kept getting confused sometimes with all the different people here (a lot of whom are related) and moving parts of the Circle of Hope churches and the dynamics of it all. I think reading this might have been more successful for me, but I’m still happy to have learned what I did about this congregation of believers!!