Out of the 4th Place

If you sense that something is wrong with church, you are right. And you are not alone.

There is a disconnect between the life of Jesus and the way most churches actually work. The pursuit of bigger buildings and stadium-quality worship bear little resemblance to Jesus’ life of compassion. Church as a political force or an inward-facing club both conflict with Jesus’ love for the outsider. People are finding church an unsafe place to wrestle with their very real questions. Many are abandoning the institution altogether.

What happened? Where did we go wrong? It might surprise you to learn that most of our problems are connected to one underlying reality: churches are operating in the wrong place in our society—the 4th place. What does that mean? You are about to find out.

Drawing from decades of church experience, Matt Broweleit, MDiv, teams up with former President of Communitas International, Dudley Callison, to provide a simple, yet paradigm-altering view of the modern church.

If you find yourself concerned, confused or even completely done with church, Out of the 4th Place will help you reorient yourself and find a way forward.

Matt has decades of experience in the world of church, crossing the lines of charismatic, liturgical, megachurch and parachurch. He holds a Bachelors in Communication Studies from The University of Puget Sound and an MDiv from Denver Seminary. His history of church titles include that of Worship Pastor, Connections Pastor and Small Groups Pastor. Prior to formal church roles, he spent 7 years at Russell Investments in Tacoma, Washington. He has advocated for the homeless and served the HIV/AIDS community. But none of this defines Matt as much as the furrowed brow he gets when he dreams about the future of church. He is part of a new thinking through of what it means to be a community of Jesus followers and is convinced that together, we can wrestle that future into the here and now. Matt and his wife, Katie, have four kids, Annabelle, Lizzy, Andrew and Mia.