Straight, Not Narrow: An Evangelical Church Learns About Grace

Planted on the Great Plains during the Great Depression, the tiny Berean Fellowship of Churches has grown into a miniature portrait of the evangelical church in the United States. In 1932, five renegade deacons decided to separate from the "modernism" taking over their mainline denomination. Their small church grew into a fellowship of more than 50 local churches in the United States and eventually launched a similar movement on the other side of the world. This book examines its fundamentalist roots and its transformation to a less legalistic, more grace-centered theology during its first 75 years. Centered on Ivan E. Olsen, the Berean Fellowship's impulsive, visionary founder, and the humble, hard-working Hugh Clark, this book encompasses three generations of flawed, yet faithful, men and women who faced decisions about theological liberalism, political involvement, social issues and worship styles, and became difference-makers for the kingdom of God.