Virginia Episcopalian Magazine Winter 2015 Issue | Page 25

A Church Beyond Belief
The Rev. Michael Bos and the Rev. Bill Sachs met
about 12 years ago when both were traveling
and working in the Middle East. This year, the
friends and co-authors published their first book
together. In A Church Beyond Belief, Bos – who
is senior minister of West End Collegiate Church
and president of the Collegiate Churches of New
York – and Sachs – who is executive director of the
Center for Interfaith Reconciliation and associate
priest at St. Stephen’s, Richmond – explore “the
dilemma and the distractions that currently prevent
congregations from being the place where that
sense of belonging can unfold and guide newcomers in the
discovery of faith.”

We asked Sachs to join in a Q&A session about A Church
Beyond Belief.
Q: There are a lot of lessons for churches to consider in your
book, but what are the two or three that shouldn’t be missed?
A: First, in today’s religious environment, more than ever,
people seek to find places where they can belong in order to
sort out what they believe. Belief cannot be abstract; it has to
connect head and heart, and way of life. Belonging speaks to
that more readily for many people today.

Second, parishes need to model such