














































Rooms.indb


158

Soerens, Tim, 2020. 

Everywhere You Look: Discovering the 
Church Right Where You Are
Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press 

ISBN:  978–0830841561

Reviewed by Elaine A. Heath
Neighborhood Seminary, N. Carolina 
eheath@wnccumc.net 

In his newest book, Tim Soerens makes a compelling case for 
the theoretical and practical restoration of parish, for Protestants, 
but with an ecumenical twist. Rather than conceiving of parish as 
the geographic area in which a local congregation lives and gath-
ers, carrying out its congregational and denominational mission, 
parish is the geographic locale—the neighborhood—where Chris-
tians live. While affirming the gifts of denominational traditions, 
church buildings and congregations, Soerens pushes beyond these 
boundaries that divide Christians, to argue for robust, missional 
networking of Christians in local neighborhoods. In Soerens’ view, 
this kingdom-minded vision must guide the church into the future 
if the church is to survive, thrive, and fulfill its mission. Written 
in an accessible voice and filled with examples from everyday 



Elaine A. Heath—Everywhere You Look

159

life, the book is grounded in solid research and years of practical 
experience. 

As reflected in the book’s title, Soerens wants readers to learn 
to see differently. Not only does he want the church to embrace a 
different vision of what constitutes “church,” he also wants Chris-
tians to wrestle with the most basic question of why the church 
should exist at all. Drawing from Simon Sinek’s work, Soerens urg-
es readers to consider the golden circle, a concentric set of circles 
with “why” in the centre, “what” in the next ring out, and “how” 
in the outermost ring.1 By paying attention to why the church ex-
ists—to participate in Christ’s work of making all things new (Rev. 
21.5)—the church can move with agility through culture shift to 
discern what to do to engage a given context, and how to carry 
out that engagement. That is to say, the church can return to being 
a fruitful movement. Yet even in seeking to be a movement there 
is danger of co-opting the Holy Spirit for institutional interests, 
Soerens writes. If a movement is just another way to “make the 
church great again,” the effort is a “profound mistake” (10). The 
first questions should always be about what God is doing, and 
what it might mean for Christians to participate in that work.

Soerens’ vision for the new parish is oriented toward help-
ing neighborhoods and cities flourish. Like proponents of the 
nineteenth century social gospel movement, and the Black church 
from its inception, Soerens sees a primary function of the church 
being to shape society into one that is more equitable and just: 

What’s at stake is not simply a spiritual opportunity. Our 
neighborhoods and cities are at stake too. At stake is the 
kind of businesses and economies we are going to create. 
What sorts of places will we design and build? How will 
we re-create our collective care for our kids? How will 
we reshape education? How will we confront the most 
horrific injustices of racism, sexual exploitation, and en-
vironmental abuse? (14)

1. Simon Synek, “How Great Leaders Inspire Action.” Tedx-
PugetSound. 2009. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/
simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action?language=en.



E c c l e s i a l  F u t u r e s :  Vo l u m e  2 ,  I s s u e  1

160

I am heartened to see Soerens’ unabashed emphasis on social 
and environmental justice as critical components of what consti-
tutes discipleship in this emerging era, especially since the book 
is published by Intervarsity Press, an evangelical publisher that is 
known for practicing injustice toward its own employees.2 In our 
polarized cultural context in which the majority of evangelicals 
continue to support Trumpism and its attendant racist, homo-
phobic, and xenophobic commitments, it is crucial for evangelical 
authors like Soerens, who offer a justice-oriented vision for the 
church, to speak up.

For Soerens, the skill that churches really need to adopt is 
“the magic of paying attention” (49). By paying attention to the 
movement of the Spirit in their neighborhood they can join in with 
what God is doing. The posture for Christians is always to notice 
what God is doing and then respond. When the church behaves 
this way, it moves toward and participates in “the word becoming 
flesh and moving into its neighborhood” (Jn 1.14 MSG), rather 
than fearfully moving away from and attempting to barricade itself 
from the surrounding world. 

One of the toughest challenges Soerens discusses relative to 
hindrances to the church living up to its potential in the neighbor-
hood is the fiercely competitive nature of the church shaped by 
capitalism. The other biggest obstacle is the widespread practice of 
church as a consumer activity. In order for Christians to properly 
show up, pay attention, cooperate with God in the neighborhood 
and release the outcome (the pattern I have taught and written 
about for many years in my own missional work), they must give 
up both of these perversions of the gospel: a spirit of competition 
with one another, and church as a consumer activity. 

The parish—a geographic neighborhood—is the best place 
for these two subversive changes to happen, writes Soerens. 

2. For example, Intervarsity Press enacted a policy Nov. 11, 2016, by 
which any employee who supports gay marriage or disagrees with any 
other aspect of the company’s positions on sexuality will be terminated. 
Dias, E. “Top Evangelical College Group to Dismiss Employees Who Sup-
port Gay Marriage” Time. 2016. Retrieved from https://time.com/4521944/
intervarsity-fellowship-gay-marriage/.



Elaine A. Heath—Everywhere You Look

161

Central to Soerens’ vision is a parish in which various congrega-
tions decide to work together for the good of the neighborhood, 
but not by having a an annual pulpit exchange. Instead, he argues, 
Christians in a given neighborhood need to connect intentionally 
and collaborate for the good of the neighborhood, embracing the 
truth that they are all on the same team (88).

The path forward begins with asking this simple question: 
“What could we do together?” (94). As a group of Christians in 
a neighborhood begin to meet and practice discernment around 
this question, paying attention to their context, the Holy Spirit will 
guide them forward. Soerens concludes his book with, “It would 
be amazing if this work was already happening in denominations, 
seminaries, and foundations. Someday that will be normal, but 
right now it’s not the case. We need to figure out how to make a 
big deal out of one another” (125). I could not agree more. The 
biggest obstacle to living the vision Soerens casts, is cumbersome, 
bloated, bureaucratic institutionalism riddled with petty jealousy 
and a scarcity mentality, across Christian organizations broadly. 

Everywhere You Look is an inspiring and accessible guide for 
congregations and small groups of Christians to explore what it 
will take to truly live into their neighborhoods in step with the 
Spirit. He draws from a breadth of theological voices as diverse 
as Willie Jennings, Wendell Berry, Randy Woodley, and Michael 
Polanyi. Soerens’ target audience appears to be evangelicals, but 
the wisdom here certainly applies to the mainline church as well. 


