photo by Doug Robertson

I often dream that I am tagging along behind Jesus, longing for him to choose me as one of his disciples.  Without warning, he turns around, looks straight into my eyes, and says, “Follow me!“  My heart races, and I begin to run toward him when he interrupts with, “Oh, not you; the guy behind you.  Sorry.“

from Messy Spirituality by Michael Yaconelli

A friend has lent me this book and I am enjoying it so far.   The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community

I like that the authors are not negative toward certain forms of church; I like that the model they are promoting is something that can be used in house churches, small groups, or even mega-churches; I like that they give me practical steps on how to accomplish the kind of community I long for; and, I like that they make me feel hopeful!

It’s not about attracting Christian people to a worship service.  The goal is to be the faithful church in small pockets throughout the city – places of inclusive belonging where God’s alternative Kingdom can be experienced.

Look inside the book here to get a feel for what I am talking about.

The following is from the website, http://www.tangiblekingdom.com:

Jesus’ news about His Kingdom is a wild, life-reorienting message. It changes people, cities, and the social fabric. It looks quite different from the religion common to some of our present-day church experiences.

Watch as a normal God-searching man finds hope as he sees a glimpse of the Kingdom in a community of friends, around a table, and everywhere he goes.

The Tangible Kingdom helps open a window into the uneasiness many of us feel when what we’ve read in Scripture does not line up with our experiences of church or religion.

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A few years ago, I read several books by Frank Viola and I enjoyed all of them.  They provided me with a fresh perspective on church and gave me vocabulary to express my thoughts.  The books were part of a series and they looked pretty ugly (click here, here and here if you want to see what I mean.)  But we all know we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, don’t we?  I enjoyed the books for two reasons: 1) they helped me; and, 2) they were great conversation starters.

Frank Viola’s new book, From Eternity to Here has a clean, sharp look (i.e. not as ugly as the earlier books ) but I don’t feel it provided the same fodder for discussion as some of his other books do.  Before I say anymore, I asked Frank these two questions about his newest book:

Questions for the Author

OK, so here is the post I talked about here.  Church EXITers!  Dr. Barb Orlowski has recenty finished research on people who leave church.  Her work was done in British Columbia, Canada and you can read all about it here.

It is no secret anymore that people are quitting church by the droves.   A simple cursory overview of recent headlines attest to this fact.  So, when I come across new research that helps us to look more deeply into the issue I am eager to see what conclusions are drawn as to how to address the issue.

While many people leave the church because they have felt there is something more to following Jesus than what they find in a local church setting, this particular study deals with people who have left church because of spiritual abuse.

Click here to read about this study!

Here is what Dr. Barb Orlowski says about this yet-to-be-published book:

Concept Statement

This book provides a ministry tool for the Christian community. It allows those who have recovered from the distressing church experience of spiritual abuse an opportunity to tell their stories and to be heard. It provides a behind the scenes look at how Christians can recover from this devastating experience and how those desiring to help can minister effectively. It is suitable for scholars or a general audience.

The Gap That This Book is Seeking to Fill

Why Christians leave institutional churches is an increasingly popular topic catching the attention of researchers who make it their goal to understand its causes and prevalence and to bring it to the attention of church leaders. Meager current literature has described the reasons why Christians leave churches or, more significantly, has provided viable prescriptions for recovery. This study traces a clear path which spiritual people have travelled from their dilemma to wholesomeness.

Barb would love your input as she continues to explore this very timely issue.  Please visit the Church Exiters homepage and find the link to her email address.

[stextbox id="warning" caption="Time is Running Out!"]After posting this, I received an update from Dr. Barb Orlowski.  The dissertation is going to the publishers soon and when it does you will not be able to access the full dissertation online.  So if you are interested, please go visit www.churchexiters.com before it is too late![/stextbox]

I am posting this video today as a precursor to tomorrow’s post, “How (NOT) to Invite Someone to Church” where I question the role of hell in evangelism.

If you would like to read the transcript from this video, go to You Tube and click on “more info”. Also, by going to You Tube you will also find these videos of N.T. Wright as well: “Where is Hell Located?”, “What is Purgatory?”, “What does Heaven Look Like?”, and “What Will We Do in Heaven?”

The church, no matter to what tribe (denomination) you belong, will continue to use control in such a way as to keep its membership in check.  And this is not just a local but a worldwide phenomenon.  People are leaving the church and there are many more who would like to leave because they are burned out on religious manipulation, but they have been made to feel guilty with the prospect of “there is no salvation outside of the church”. 

Dave Coleman in Why Religion Doesn’t Work

It’s the long weekend here in Canada, so enjoy this wonderful interview with Paul Young, author of The Shack.

Also, for those of you who don’t know The Hour is not a Christian program.  It is a late night talk show covering  politics, the arts, entertainment, the environment, human rights, sports and more.  Here is the interview:

Why am I posting this here at Irreligious Canuck?  Because here are three things Paul said that I liked:

1. When George asked Paul if he is a Christian, Paul replied, “Tell me what one is and I will tell you if I am one of those . . .  because I am a Canadian not a Republican.”
2. “Rules won’t heal you.  They WILL give you power and give you a way to judge others that aren’t as good at it as you are.”
3. “It took me 50 years to wipe the face of my father off the face of God.”

Paul said he grew up in a religious environment and he followed all the rules.  But it didn’t bring any healing.  Religion is all about pleasing God; it doesn’t matter what religion it is, you just need to know what the rules are.  The Shack is a metaphor that stands for the heart of the human being.

How about you?  What stuck out for you in this interview?

In one of my tweets last week, I asked for a definition of Emergent Church in 140 characters or less.  Here are everyone’s answers (with my response in bold, italicized brackets).

[tip] This post has been updated.  The original (and “inferior” one) can be found here. [/tip]

Julia, I have finished reading your book called Quitting Church: Why The Faithful Are Fleeing And What To Do About It. I enjoyed reading the book and found myself nodding in agreement on every page. At first, I was a little disappointed because I didn’t feel that you had added much to the conversation.  It seemed that a lot of your material was based on surveys and research that were well known and readily available to all of us already.  However, after re-reading the book I realize that was not a fair assessment.  Although some of your material did come from these surveys, it is helpful to have it all summarized here in one place.

Yesterday I took my twins to my parents’ place for the afternoon and as they were playing Connect Four, I went downstairs and browsed through my father’s library.  Whenever I do this I always find something of interest.  This time it was a small paperback that I had not noticed before.  Jesus Discovered (1969) by Malcolm  Muggeridge caught my attention immediately as I leafed through its pages.

Admittedly, I don’t know much about Muggeridge (well, I do now) but here are some snippets I came across while still standing in front of the bookcase that compelled me to bring the book home with me.
If I didn’t know better, I would have thought the following words were written only yesterday: