Mere Churchianity, by Michael Spencer: A Book Review

A few weeks ago I discovered a program called "Blogging For Books" through Multnomah Waterbrook, a publisher of Christian books.  With this program, you can request a free copy of a book from a list, if you agree to write a review and post it on your blog, their website, and on any retail website that sells that book.  That's it.  You don't pay a dime....they even ship the book to you free! The book is yours to keep, give away, or toss!  I felt absolutely giddy when I discovered this, because I LOVE to read, and the ghost that is my "would-be writer" has come back to haunt me...again.  So I signed up, received my first book, read it, and am ready to post my review!  

I am required by law to post the following disclaimer:

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review

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Mere Churchianity, by Michael Spencer:  A Review

by Juliana Deen

More and more people are leaving the church.  Increasing numbers of people who consider themselves to be non-religious, are neither agnostic nor atheist.   They leave, not because they are fed up with God, Jesus, or the Christian faith, but because they are fed up with religion, or what Spencer calls “Churchianity”. 

Spencer believes that if you have left the church, but still want to seek  Jesus, that it “may have been the most spiritually healthy thing you ever did.”  The reason, he contends, is that churches today have a serious “Jesus disconnect”. Churches seem to be increasingly caught up in everything BUT Jesus.   In this book, Spencer reminds us that it is Jesus Himself that transforms lives, and not formulating doctrines or mindlessly following church traditions.  He believes that the church has “failed to be a resource for producing and encouraging the life of discipleship.”  Spencer  acknowledges the importance of community among Christians, but questions whether Jesus would recognize the church today as the movement he started, or as fulfilling the purpose He intended.

As someone who has left the church, I found my own concerns and struggles with “churchianity” in the pages of this book.  Spencer has done a good job of articulating the reason why so many have left, even while they hunger for more of God.  Although the book criticizes the condition of the evangelical American church, and points out the areas where he believes it is seriously lacking, his main goal in the book is to guide the de-churched in their search for “true truth” by teaching us to “read the labels.”

If you are disillusioned by the church, but can’t turn your back on Jesus, and you know there has to be more to being a Christian than what you’ve found inside a church, this book will guide you toward a “Jesus-shaped spirituality” as you walk away from “church-growth” spirituality, “culture-war” spirituality, or a “spirituality of worship experience.”

If  you are still a part of the church, and you seek to understand why people are walking out your doors, I humbly recommend this book to you as well.  The answers may surprise you.  But if you’re happy doing church the way you’ve always done church, and are quite satisfied with the status quo,  I beg you to read this book.

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There you have it...my first official book review!
I would love to hear your comments, whether it's regarding the book, or your own experiences as it relates to this topic.
I have placed a "gadget" on the left side-bar, linking to the Blogging for Books program for anyone else who might be interested in receiving free books in exchange for an honest review.
There is another similar program out there, called "BookSneeze", through Thomas Nelson Publishers.  I have a copy of a book from them in hand, and once I have read it, will post a review of it!
Thanks so much for reading!