Not My Circus: Living with Courage, Conviction, and Compassion in a World of Chaos

by Mark Batterson

336 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication October 20, 2026

About the author

Mark Batterson is the lead pastor of National Community Church in Washington, DC. One church in seven locations, NCC owns and operates Ebenezers Coffeehouse, The Miracle Theatre, and the DC Dream Center. NCC is currently developing a city block into The Capital Turnaround. This 100,000-square-foot space will include an event venue, child development center, mixed-use marketplace, and co-working space. Mark holds a Doctor of Ministry degree from Regent University and is the New York Times best-selling author of seventeen books, including The Circle Maker, In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day, Wild Goose Chase, Play the Man, Whisper, and, most recently, Double Blessing. Mark and his wife, Lora, live on Capitol Hill with their three children: Parker, Summer, and Josiah.

Reviews

[Chaim Moore]

Not My Circus by Mark Batterson is an accessible devotional that attempts to walk the line of holiness and compassion in a world that frequently demonizes one or the other. It’s fuel for anyone wanting to disconnect from simple narratives or divisive media pervasive in our communities.

Here’s what I enjoyed about the book:
- Batterson consistently calls out our status quo of conformity. This is not an easy message to hear, and certainly a riskier message to preach. Going out of conformity at all levels (as individuals, as churches, as the church) is in reality not a popular move. But we’re called to a different conformity with Christ. It’s an admirable point that Batterson repeatedly calls the reader to live up to.
- The author also demonstrates a wide curiosity with his sources. At times, some of the references will go above the heads of non-experts like myself in fields of psychology, but it’s much preferable to a list of vague platitudes. Illustrations are translated by Batterson into tangible action steps.
- Not My Circus doesn’t shy away from encouraging public engagement. But he doesn’t idolize it either. The chapter “Cut and Paste Christianity” is an excellent example of this- it’s worth asking “Who are we following,” on political issues, and if it’s not Jesus, it’s time to turn around.

There are two things I wish would be expanded on or said differently:
- Batterson dives into defenses traditional views of marriage, gender, and pro-life while only making cursory comments about racism and immigration. Assuming his audience is a broader evangelical audience, I wish he would be more consistent on when he punches and when he pulls back. He’s a trusted voice with a unique viewpoint for evangelicals to learn from, but he shies away from taking firm stances on some issues, even as he details his position on others.
- He offers up some red meat with sayings like “When I was growing up… we engaged in something called critical thinking.” There’s a bit of irony for younger audiences who read this. If anyone is to blame for the disappearance of critical thinking, it’s Batterson’s generation failing to pass it on, not the other way around. At times, Batterson makes a rhetorical move that is pleasing to a nostalgic audience, but the validity of his argument is much murkier.
These are light critiques in view of a much fuller work. Overall, I was very satisfied with the book.

At the beginning of the book, Batterson recommends reading Not My Circus as a devotional. To me, that would be its most beneficial context. It’s not meant to answer every issue or question, but hopefully it sparks quality conversation among your leadership team or small group on how to speak, think, and act differently in a chaotic world.

Thanks to NetGalley and Multnomah Publishing for access to the volume.

[Katie Kreamer]

Mark Batterson does a fantastic job writing books that challenge you as a Christian, but also fill you with love and grace. In Not My Circus, we are encouraged to love others as Jesus loves them, but not compromise or condone sinful behavior. The overwhelming theme is to meet people where they are with love and grace, but also with truth. We are encouraged to stay the course and continue to reach people for Jesus while the world is in chaos around us. While we don't need to become part of the chaos, we also don't need to stress about it, instead we need to show everyone the intense love of Jesus. This book is such a relevant book in the current culture we live in.

[Cameron Rebarchek]

Are you allowing the chaos and outrage of our culture to affect your peace, or are you able to walk through it with courage, conviction, and compassion? That is the core question behind Mark Batterson’s newest title, Not My Circus. As we navigate through a world that feels increasingly polarized and fast-paced, Batterson attempts to draw our attention back to the things which truly matter, offering a roadmap to help us lower the temperature, step back from the unnecessary noise, and anchor ourselves in our faith.

Personally, I found some of Batterson’s writing style to be unnecessarily repetitive, especially if you have read any of his other books. Mark has a propensity to drop references to the visual cortex or the Reticular Activating System (RAS) when simpler language would have sufficed. Because he frequently returns to the same illustrations and stories, I was often left thinking, “I feel like I’ve heard this before,” and indeed I had. For example, he recycled the Tomatis Effect illustration from his other book Whisper (thought this was not the only illustration or quote reused). Furthermore, with nearly 25% of the book’s total volume dedicated to footnotes and credited sources, the heavy reliance on outside quotes can cloud Mark’s unique voice for me. At times, I felt like I was a reading a commonplace book rather than an original book.

The book itself is broken into 40 short chapters, split across three distinct acts: Holy Courage, Spiritual Discernment, and Amazing Grace. Now, if you prefer smaller, bite-sized chunks, every chapter offers quick, digestible insights that make it easy to read. But if you read for long stretches at a time, I felt like the book was a bit disjointed, lacking a central thread to really tie the whole narrative together.

That said, I found the second act on spiritual discernment to be particularly relevant and necessary for the chaotic cultural moment we currently find ourselves living within. The content in this section provided compelling, practical thoughts for anyone looking to navigate modern outrage with faith and clarity.

The basic premise of this book is that while the world around us may be chaotic, we don’t have to let that chaos control our lives. While it may feel a bit repetitive for longtime Batterson readers, I would still recommend it for those seeking advice on how to be discerning in our age of outrage. At the end, I would rate this book a 3 out of 5 stars. I am deeply grateful to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Andrew]

In Not My Circus, Mark Batterson teaches readers how to live their lives with courage instead of fear and choosing to live above the typical status quo. He explained how we need to answer the call for nonconformity by choosing to live out our faith boldly and not in fear. He looked at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and how he took a stance against segregation and he didn’t care what people would think of him. He explained how the fear of man is false authority and he compared it to people bowing down to idols. Paul also warned us about conforming to the patterns of the world. The only true way to overcome what people think and the fear of what man could do is to have a fear of God. He has written this book to introduce readers to an important response to the fear of man and this is his rule of life. This saying is, “Not my circus, not my monkeys.” We need to realize that we can’t control other people actions of reactions or their attitudes or opinions. We need to look focus more on our Father’s business and less on anything else which would be considered monkey business. This book is divided into three sections: holy courage, spiritual discernment, and amazing grace.


One of my favorite chapters discussed do it scared. This chapter begin with a story about how in 1957, a Harvard researcher, Dr. Curt Richer conducted experiments on rats and to see how good of swimmers they were. He placed a dozen of rats into a 30 inch glass cylinder filled with water. They were made to swim until they gave up. They lasted 15 minutes until they all gave up hope. The next experiment he saved them right before they were going to drown. He let them out and let their heart rates go back down to normal. Then he replaced them back in the water and they lasted 60 hours. He explained how in this story how a little big of hope can dramatically change things. He used this story to encourage readers to keep on fighting the good fight. He explained the power in facing our fears and how failing at something can still provide us lessons that change our lives. He shared how he at first failed at planting a church but he choose not to give up.


I would recommend this awesome book to anyone who is ready to give up the power of people pleasing and fearing what man thinks of you. I loved the principles presented in this book and how we can live with the mindset of not my circus in dealing with letting things we can’t control go.