Where Goodness Still Grows: Reclaiming Virtue in an Age of Hypocrisy

“Incredible insight…pointed plea for evangelicals to rediscover the goodness they were meant to embody.” -Publishers Weekly

Declining church attendance. A growing feeling of betrayal. For Christians who have begun to feel set adrift and disillusioned by their churches, Where Goodness Still Grows grounds us in a new view of virtue deeply rooted in a return to Jesus Christ’s life and ministry.

The evangelical church in America has reached a crossroads. Social media and recent political events have exposed the fault lines that exist within our country and our spiritual communities. Millennials are leaving the church, citing hypocrisy, partisanship, and unkindness as reasons they can’t stay. In this book Amy Peterson explores the corruption and blind spots of the evangelical church and the departure of so many from the faith - but she refuses to give up hope, believing that rescue is on the way.

Where Goodness Still Grows:

• Dissects the moral code of American evangelicalism
• Reimagines virtue as a tool, not a weapon
• Explores the Biblical meaning of specific virtues like kindness, purity, and modesty
• Provides comfort, hope, and a path towards spiritual restoration

Amy writes as someone intimately familiar with, fond of, and deeply critical of the world of conservative evangelicalism. She writes as a woman and a mother, as someone invested in the future of humanity, and as someone who just needs to know how to teach her kids what it means to be good. Amy finds that if we listen harder and farther, we will find the places where goodness still grows.

Praise for Where Goodness Still Grows:

“In this poignant, honest book, Amy Peterson confronts her disappointment with the evangelical leaders who handed her The Book of Virtues then happily ignored them for the sake of political power. But instead of just walking away, Peterson rewrites the script, giving us an alternative book of virtues needed in this moment. And it’s no mistake that it ends with hope.”
— James K. A. Smith, author of You Are What You Love