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The Almost True Story of Ryan Fisher is a first-time novel from American screenwriter Rob Stennett. It has been welcomed as the sort of satire that evangelicals need, a kind that is written by a devoted believer who is keen to reveal the weaknesses of modern Christians.

You could even call it an updated version of The Screwtape Letters. You think you are reading about a deep threat that comes to Christians from their enemies but gradually realise that the Christians themselves may be the problem. The concept is instantly intriguing and full of comic potential. A non-churchgoer realises that Christians love buying houses from Christian estate agents and so puts a fish symbol on his adverts with fantastic results. Having realised that he is able to pull off this deception, he broadens his scope and convinces his wife to join him as he plants a church in small town Oklahoma. There he becomes Pastor Ryan, the church leader who promotes kindness and community. Will the congregation realise that he is not actually a Christian at all?

Without difficult bits

The satire becomes strongest when we realise how Ryan Fisher’s motivations are so normal for those wanting churches to work well. When the church only attracts 20 or so, he works out that the best way to expand is to develop an Oprah Winfrey Show style. He interviews members of the church and gets local crooner Cowboy Jack to lead the ‘worship’. He gets everyone singing rejigged pop lyrics, such as the adapted ACDC number ‘God shook me all night long’. Everyone is thrilled with the entertainment and they fail to notice that Pastor Ryan doesn’t teach the Bible. ‘My Christianity doesn’t include all the difficult Jesus and Bible bits’, he says privately.

He soon picks up various phrases that Christians use to help him with difficult questions and situations that the congregation put to him. He gives sermons that talk about stories of love and community and gets the town doing ‘random acts of kindness’ for each other. There is no doubt that is it a very nice place to live because of the church.

Found out

The People’s Church grows and grows until one in ten of the town of Bartlesville attends. It is held in a vast marquee in a field and the church even provides a fairground with candy floss and petting zoo before each service to attract people and keep them happy. Pastor Ryan’s ‘smalltown megachurch’ phenomenon attracts the media, not least Oprah herself, who invites Ryan onto her show to talk about his success. He is, of course, eventually found out and kicked out of the church. But, as a Christian reader, one can’t help feeling that he’s been just as duped as everyone else about what it’s really all about.

Pressure for success

The book raises questions about motivation, spirituality and the true nature of our Christian faith, not just for those with responsibility over others in churches but also for congregations as they are led. Pressure from the media and society in general is for success that can be measured by numbers and opinion polls. If people like you and find you inspiring, that is when you will succeed, we are told.

Yet Jesus teaches us through the parable of the sower in Mark 4 that the Kingdom of God doesn’t grow like this. True growth only comes about when the word is sown in good soil. That is when God will grow the seed to become a fruitful harvest. So all of our time, energy and money is wasted if we are not bothering to teach the Bible. If we are busting a gut to get to church because we enjoy being entertained, then we are also wasting our time. We won’t survive the ‘tribulation and persecution’ that may come and cause us to fall away.

Temptations

This book is a lively read and touches on many themes that will be very familiar to modern evangelicals wrestling with the temptations associated with spiritual growth. It is funny too, and contemporary in its references, without being too over the top for British readers. There is another book coming soon from Stennett called The End Times that promises to be equally critical of wrong spirituality and false belief, which I look forward to reading.

Can a non-Christian lead a church?

Without difficult bits

Found out

Pressure for success

Temptations

Eleanor Margesson

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