Book Review: Messy Grace by Caleb Kaltenbach

Imagine finding out both of your parents are gay. They divorce and live in separate cities where you go to visit them. Imagine you were raised in LGBT community, going to gay pride parades, the LGBT events that your mother helped put together. Imagine as a child you see what Christians do to people who are not like them. You were told by your mother that Christians hate us because we are gay.

Imagine you now attend church knowing who your parents are and coming to faith in Christ. Imagine telling your parents you are now a Christian knowing they have been hated on by some Christian groups. Years later, you sensed God's calling to the ministry. Imagine the anxiety you were feeling at that time. These things might not have happened to you personally but they did happen to Caleb Kaltenbach. Caleb is a pastor and writes his story along with what the church should do in a book called, Messy Grace.

I must admit when I first heard of this book, I thought this is one of those books of a pastor compromising God's Word in regards to the LGBT community. I was wrong. This book is about how the church should show love to the LGBT community without compromising the truth of God's Word. He does believe the Bible calls all to repent and we must trust in Christ alone for the forgiveness of sins. I should have read the subtitle of the book a little more carefully, which says this book is about a pastor learning to love others without compromising conviction.

The reason this book is called Messy Grace is because the church is called to be a messy place. We are called to love messy people. The church should be the first place where we are honest about our struggles, but it is not. I am not just talking about same-sex attraction.

Kaltenbach talks about loving people the LGBT community with grace and truth. We should show them grace because Jesus showed us great grace while at the same time we are to love them in truth. The example he gives is the woman caught in adultery in the gospel of John. After her accusers left, Jesus said I do not commend you (grace), go and sin no more (truth). He gave her grace in not condemning her, but told her the truth that what she did was sin.

The issue of the what the church should do in relation to the LGBT community will not be going away any time soon. In fact, it should have been addressed along time ago. The church is called to love people in grace and truth which means we will be dealing with messy people. Jesus did that yet He loved them in grace but told them the truth as well.

You may not agree with all of Kaltenbach's conclusions and he is okay with that. I think everyone in the church needs to read this book and talk it over with the leaders of your church. Can we love people who are different from us without compromising God's Word? Yes, we can.

Thanks Waterbrook Press for letting me review this book.