So I read the book

I finally had the chance to read the book mentioned by Steve Walden, titled, “So you don’t want to go to church anymore”.  I have to say, I was riveted.  I read the entire book in a day.  It caused me to be late for work because I was so engrossed in the story.

The story is great.  I was a little disappointed to find out it was only a fictional story, though.  I wanted to read it with an open mind, so I started by reading the first chapter and went to the end of the story, and then read everything else.  The writers did do an excellent job of putting together a story that captured your attention. 

I guess, to summarize the book, it is about a man’s spiritual journey closer to Jesus.  It is a story about Jake, a leader in a large church.  Jake is a very committed servant.  He works to maintain his position despite the growing emptiness in his life.  Things change for Jake when he meets John.  John is a man who wanders in and out of Jakes life over time and helps Jake find true relationship with Jesus.  Jake goes through times of loving and hating John depending on his circumstances, but he wonders if this John might not be the disciple John.

Through a series of events, Jake is forced to resign his position in the church, ostracized by his former friends and left with nothing but to rely on Jesus.  During these times John will pop out of nowhere and help Jake to see that there is nothing Jake can do to earn Jesus’ love, and that he needs to stop looking at circumstances and people for approval and true relationship with Jesus.  As time moves on Jake is drawn closer to his walk with the Father, and sees the hand of God moving in his life in ways he had never seen before.

Also during the course of that time Jake and a few members of his old church and even some other churches decide to try a home church.  Through this Jake and his friends realize what they are doing is trading one religious system for another.  John confronts Jake and his peers about this and shows them that true relationship with Jesus is not found in organizations, but in relationship.  John shows them how to care for one another as opposed to teaching each other. 

Through a series of events, as Jake moves closer to Jesus, he is restored with his former pastor and friend.  At one point this man, Jim, even asks Jake to take his position as senior pastor of the church.  There are a number of other things that go on, but in the end, Jake continues to fellowship with his community of friends.

On the positive side, I was encouraged as I read this book.  There were a lot of things that I could relate to: being hurt by leadership, rejection, bitterness, dying to self and our perception of Jesus, learning to lean on Jesus in the midst of difficult circumstances, and true relationship are just a few of the these.  As I sat reading I couldn’t help remembering different parts of my life and walking through the hurt to remember the healing.  This was great for me to reflect. 

I also thought of our local assembly and how we are changing.  I thought of things I lack as a believer.  I thought of wrestling with performance over the bigger picture.  I thought of being a person who lacks “love” many times in dealing with issues.  I also thought of this in our local assembly.  That caused me to think on the reality of the bigger picture again.  Often times I have been corrected, but I have always been cheered for by my local assembly to succeed.  Comically, I was brought to the end of Pirates of the Carribean 1, where Jack Sparrow looks at Col. Norrington and says, “I want you to know, I was rooting for you.”  This may not make sense to you as you read this, but what I mean by that reference is that over the years of dealing with my junk, though leaders got in my face and were rough, they were always behind me.

I have to say, the book is worth the read for the positive side, but…

There is a negative side.  What the book does a great job in about realizing the need for personal relationship with Jesus, and the body in the sense of truly knowing each other and sharing each others burdens, it does a poor job in proving its point about this smaller community of believers and does little more than make stabs at the “church” establishment.  There are several points I wondered on what bible the writers were reading to draw such conclusions.  There is a point near the end of the book, around page 113, that John teaches on church leadership.  Marvin, a former pastor, and part of Jakes home church asks him about needing teaching and leadership.  John says something to the effect of the fact that the first century church had no need for such people and that those who were called, were called to be servants of the body.  While there is much truth in his words, there is a lot there to lead the reader astray in the need for leadership.  I personally felt this was irresponsible as there was not enough clarification to this point.  In an otherwise moving story, this was a point I couldn’t let go of. 

My mind was brought first to experience and the issues I mentioned above.  My leadership was serving me.  My leadership was rooting for me, just as John had been rooting for Jake and his friends.  I was then brought to bad experiences with leadership at other churches in my history.  God was in that, and it caused the church to repent of its sin, and helped me personally take my first steps in being under authority. (This was a major situation similar to the one in the book, too.)  I reflected on other books I read about church authority.  I then had a million and one New Testament scriptures pop into my head.  I was brought to teachings from Paul on what qualities a leader should have.  I was brought to other points in scripture on the establishment of the church in general.  I was then brought back to Hebrews 13:17, which, interestingly enough, is also a scripture reference used by Brian Nash in his comments on my blog.

Hebrews 13:17:
Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.

Here in lies my original point about issues with home churches.  Many of them start out, as did the one mentioned in the book, as a group of hurt people trying to do something better than the establishment.  This is why I listened to punk music in the eighty’s.  It was my personal rebellion and expression of identity.  My contention with this is that many fall into self righteousness about this new “move” and reject a number of scriptures about the body and the bride, and, in my opinion, miss the better portion of the book; to really get closer to Jesus, to learn to die to self and our own concept of the way it should be, and to become a true community of believers who act out the Gospel, reach the lost, care for the sick and provide for the poor.

I think this book is somewhat irresponsible in how it looks at the church as a whole, and it does lead readers astray in this area.  I feel that the look at leadership is poor at best, and I feel that it is divisive in its nature toward an issue with some churches in some areas, while disregarding the good of the church.  I feel that it does men and women who commit their lives to the Gospel a major disservice in this area.  I wish this book had committed itself to its best messages, the message of redemption, and walking onto Jesus’ love, the message of dying to self conception and committing to let God provide, and the message of the body caring for one another. 

On the final notes, to reiterate how open I went into reading this book, I was disappointed to find the author being a pseudonym for two people, and I was bummed to find this was a fictional story.  It was worth the read, though, overall…