Outside the Camp: A Former Pastor Looks at the Church from a Distance

If you’re looking for a “feel good” read, Outside the Camp is not it. If you want joy without lament, grace without sin, light without darkness or love without pain, read something else. In fact, the “wince factor” of this book is through the roof, and I thought someone ought to warn you. But if you want to read something that is profoundly and Biblically true, revolutionary and life-changing, this is it. Garth has given God’s people a wonderful gift, and I “rise up and call him blessed.” You will, too!

—Steve Brown, professor, author, radio show host, and leader of Key Life Network

I have more thoughts, emotions, and places your story took me than I am able to capture. I had to let you know that the Lord has deeply impacted me through your book. Thank you.

—Jim Amandus, Senior Pastor at Highlands Community Church near Seattle

Outside the Camp tells the story of a former pastor’s journey through a season of turmoil and personal failure. The story of his “decade of disillusionment” sets the context for his observations as a church outsider in regards to how evangelical churches often fail in response to the wounded, the outcasts, and the sinners in their midst.

Offered in the form of Biblical lament, three concerns are addressed:

the evangelical church does not truly offer—or even fully understand—the gospel of grace it preaches, instead suggesting that believers need to try harder and do more to prove themselves worthy of God’s favor,

the faith community is artificial rather than authentic, and too often the wounds of its soldiers are left unattended, people whose pain is too deep and complex for the church to easily comprehend are referred outside the church for the help they need to survive, or they are simply neglected. The book concludes with a consideration of God’s intent to restore sinners by offering grace that is full and free, with a call for the church to once again communicate the unadulterated gospel to all who need its healing balm.