Author: David B. Ostler
Title: Bridges: Ministering to Those Who Question
Greg Kofford Books, 2019
Reviewed by Dan Call, Oct. 2019
There was a time not far back when I was often invited to go out and visit members of our faith community who were deemed “less active.” I rather enjoyed visiting with them, if we were welcome, but I was always a little uncomfortable with they way my leaders called our efforts “rescue visits.” Just the wording itself set up a high-ground, low-ground savior-complex that I had a hard time accepting. This was definitely not the intent of the leaders, but it still chafed me.
“Bridges” was written for people like me, involved with local level ministry, who want to reach out to our congregation in ways that don’t condescend or colonize, but would really like to support and help them according to their own will.
This books stands out for its unique concept (at least in literature aimed at Mormon readers): our ministering to people who question or doubt the beliefs or teaching of our faith community should not be driven by a desire to correct them or re-assimilate them back to a mainstream orthodoxy. Ostler asserts that if we really have their best interests in mind and heart, we need to trust them, believe them, hear them, and love them.
The idea is so simple, it should be obvious, but sadly it isn’t, and this is why I enjoyed reading it from beginning to end. He drives home the point with data he’s gathered, anecdotes, scripture, and a great deal of brave Christian love of the sort that speaks truth to power.