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Mere Churchianity: Finding Your Way Back to Jesus-Shaped Spirituality
Have you left the church in search of Jesus?
Studies show that one in four young adults claim no formal religious affiliation, and church leaders have long known that this generation is largely missing on Sunday morning. Hundreds of thousands of “church leavers” have had a mentor and pastor, however, in Michael Spencer, known to blog readers as the Internet Monk. Spencer guided a vast online congregation in its search for a more honest and more immediate practice of Christian faith.
Spencer discovered the truth that church officials often miss, which is that many who leave the church do so in an attempt to find Jesus. For years on his blog Spencer showed de-churched readers how to practice their faith without the distractions of religious institutions. Sadly, he died in 2010. But now that his last message is available in Mere Churchianity , you can benefit from the biblical wisdom and compassionate teaching that always have been hallmarks of his ministry.
With Mere Churchianity , Spencer’s writing will continue to point the disenchanted and dispossessed to a Jesus-shaped spirituality. And along the way, his teachings show how you can find others who will go with you on the journey.
Studies show that one in four young adults claim no formal religious affiliation, and church leaders have long known that this generation is largely missing on Sunday morning. Hundreds of thousands of “church leavers” have had a mentor and pastor, however, in Michael Spencer, known to blog readers as the Internet Monk. Spencer guided a vast online congregation in its search for a more honest and more immediate practice of Christian faith.
Spencer discovered the truth that church officials often miss, which is that many who leave the church do so in an attempt to find Jesus. For years on his blog Spencer showed de-churched readers how to practice their faith without the distractions of religious institutions. Sadly, he died in 2010. But now that his last message is available in Mere Churchianity , you can benefit from the biblical wisdom and compassionate teaching that always have been hallmarks of his ministry.
With Mere Churchianity , Spencer’s writing will continue to point the disenchanted and dispossessed to a Jesus-shaped spirituality. And along the way, his teachings show how you can find others who will go with you on the journey.
229 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
17 people are currently reading
221 people want to read
About the author
Michael Spencer
3 books3 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads' database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Michael Spencer was the founder, the primary writer, and editor of Internet Monk, Jesus Shaped Spirituality, and the moderator of the Boar’s Head Tavern.
Michael was born in 1956 in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, where he was voted the cutest baby in town. By the time he was four, his parents moved to Kentucky, where he lived the rest of his life.
Michael Spencer died on April 5, 2010 after a battle with cancer. His dream was to move to a little church near a pub with a minor league ballpark nearby, work with university students and cook Italian food for the mob. How much better could Heaven be than that?
Michael Spencer was the founder, the primary writer, and editor of Internet Monk, Jesus Shaped Spirituality, and the moderator of the Boar’s Head Tavern.
Michael was born in 1956 in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, where he was voted the cutest baby in town. By the time he was four, his parents moved to Kentucky, where he lived the rest of his life.
Michael Spencer died on April 5, 2010 after a battle with cancer. His dream was to move to a little church near a pub with a minor league ballpark nearby, work with university students and cook Italian food for the mob. How much better could Heaven be than that?
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews
July 30, 2011
Michael Spencer is dead, and I deeply resent that. He made this provocative and important statement, then inconsideratly was removed from the dialogue! NO FAIR!
It's a wondeful thing to find in Christian people that they are fundamentally at home in the denomination in which they were raised. Michael shows throughout his writing that he was thoroughly, deeply, fundamentally Baptist. God bless him! All my life it has been a great joy to find people as thoroughly committed to their religion as I am to mine.
Michael found, from personal experience, from talking with many people, and, later, from testimonies posted in his blog, internetmonk.com, that a significant number of people who leave church leave not to escape Jesus, but because they cannot find him in thr church. He commends such honesty and integtrity, and encourages them to keep looking and to keep serving.
He begins by expressing his dissatisfaction with the church as an institution. It seems a bitter slam on the church. The fact that virtually everything he says is totally justified makes it only more painful. But as he goes on, his rants become more palatable, though not less pointed. He ends up suggesting how badly we need the church, though what we need, a friend of mine said, is "the real church".
The problem is that every institution is an institution, and, when a movement becomes an institution, it loses the primary focus of the movement. The primary focus of movements differs from movement to movement. The primary focus of every institution is the perpetuation of itself. And every institution finds itself acting contrary to the primary focuse of the founding movement sooner or later. In the long history of the church, there have been revivals following revivals. Every revival starts as a movement; and every movement becomes an institution. Until the next revival.
As a former pastor myself, I found his accusations unfair in places. For example, he said organized denominations conspire (my word for it) to keep the Bible from their members. When I was pastoring, I was desperate to get my people to read the Bible for themselves! They wouldn't do it! What Michael considered literature designed to indoctrinate members in the party line (again, my term, not his), I consider honest attempts to introduce reluctant members to the Bible in the hope they will pick it up and read it for themselves.
Are there churches that seek to do the members' thinking for them? Yes. It may be cynical, but my observation is that most people don't want to think: they don't want the discomfort and they don't want the responsibility. But I don't believe anything like the majority of churches are trying to keep their members from the Bible.
The Baptist stress on the individual relationship with Jesus totally informs the book. It suffers, in my opinion, from very little emphasis on the necessary corporate nature of Christian faith. He partially rectifies this in the end, with his reminder that, while each of us has to enter into an individual relationship with Jesus, we need the encouragement and correction of others to make it. In other words, in some form or other, the church! One of my favorite seminary professors put it this way: "You get singled out, you get picked off!"
Michael taught me that, even after earning a seminary degree, after 17 years' pastoral experience, after a lifetime of seeking, yet I need to know Jesus better. He's right.
I never met Michael Spencer. But he has changed my life and brought me closer to Jesus.
I miss him.
It's a wondeful thing to find in Christian people that they are fundamentally at home in the denomination in which they were raised. Michael shows throughout his writing that he was thoroughly, deeply, fundamentally Baptist. God bless him! All my life it has been a great joy to find people as thoroughly committed to their religion as I am to mine.
Michael found, from personal experience, from talking with many people, and, later, from testimonies posted in his blog, internetmonk.com, that a significant number of people who leave church leave not to escape Jesus, but because they cannot find him in thr church. He commends such honesty and integtrity, and encourages them to keep looking and to keep serving.
He begins by expressing his dissatisfaction with the church as an institution. It seems a bitter slam on the church. The fact that virtually everything he says is totally justified makes it only more painful. But as he goes on, his rants become more palatable, though not less pointed. He ends up suggesting how badly we need the church, though what we need, a friend of mine said, is "the real church".
The problem is that every institution is an institution, and, when a movement becomes an institution, it loses the primary focus of the movement. The primary focus of movements differs from movement to movement. The primary focus of every institution is the perpetuation of itself. And every institution finds itself acting contrary to the primary focuse of the founding movement sooner or later. In the long history of the church, there have been revivals following revivals. Every revival starts as a movement; and every movement becomes an institution. Until the next revival.
As a former pastor myself, I found his accusations unfair in places. For example, he said organized denominations conspire (my word for it) to keep the Bible from their members. When I was pastoring, I was desperate to get my people to read the Bible for themselves! They wouldn't do it! What Michael considered literature designed to indoctrinate members in the party line (again, my term, not his), I consider honest attempts to introduce reluctant members to the Bible in the hope they will pick it up and read it for themselves.
Are there churches that seek to do the members' thinking for them? Yes. It may be cynical, but my observation is that most people don't want to think: they don't want the discomfort and they don't want the responsibility. But I don't believe anything like the majority of churches are trying to keep their members from the Bible.
The Baptist stress on the individual relationship with Jesus totally informs the book. It suffers, in my opinion, from very little emphasis on the necessary corporate nature of Christian faith. He partially rectifies this in the end, with his reminder that, while each of us has to enter into an individual relationship with Jesus, we need the encouragement and correction of others to make it. In other words, in some form or other, the church! One of my favorite seminary professors put it this way: "You get singled out, you get picked off!"
Michael taught me that, even after earning a seminary degree, after 17 years' pastoral experience, after a lifetime of seeking, yet I need to know Jesus better. He's right.
I never met Michael Spencer. But he has changed my life and brought me closer to Jesus.
I miss him.
March 16, 2014
If I could give this book 6 stars, I would. It had that kind of impact on me. Prior to about a week ago, I had never heard of Michael Spencer or the "Internet Monk" website. (How did I miss that?!) This book came at the recommendation of a friend of mine who is a former pastor(for many of the same reasons Michael Spencer listed). I left "the church" almost three years ago, and haven't been able to get back into it. I have had heart-to-heart discussions and full blown arguments with my mother, my boyfriend, and my friends about why I just don't feel comfortable in church any more. I was frustrated, hopeless, and felt spiritually alone. It was no easy decision for me to leave the church. It was difficult and painful, and it still bothers me that when I sit in a church service all I feel is numbness. This book, however, put words to the feelings I was afraid to feel and thoughts I was afraid to speak.
This passage, for example, tells my story right down to the last detail: "If you have left a church or are considering doing so, you have no doubt heard churchgoing Christians say you can't live the Christian life or be a disciple if you are not "in" a church. The claims may have stung or made you angry, or aroused leftover guilt from childhood, or made you feel judged or lied to. Or perhaps you found yourself agreeing with them and simply stopped calling yourself a Christian" (page 152). Those were all various states of my heart and soul while I was making this difficult journey. Finally, someone else knew what I was feeling. And I wasn't alone! The entire book is that way: brutally honest, extraordinarily challenging, and profoundly thought-provoking.
What I deeply respect about Spencer, however, is that he doesn't let us off the hook from serving others and opting for isolation. The difference is that instead of singing in the choir or pouring coffee, you are challenged to be a disciple out in the real world: "Listen, my "leaving" brother or sister: God hasn't kicked you out of anything. He has sent you into his world. You may be the one person who can bring the Kingdom to the world you inhabit every day. You might represent the one relationship that touches the overlooked and left-out person. Rather than think about quitting and leaving, why not think about what it means to be sent? (page 159)" WOW! What an amazing way to think about it: not leaving, but being sent somewhere where we can really make a difference!
Most importantly, Spencer keeps the focus on the one person whom this is all about: Jesus. What was his life really like? What does he expect from us? Is life REALLY all about what clothes you can wear and what music you can listen to and what denomination you belong to? No, and it never was.
I don't hate the church. I don't hate people who go to church. I do think that, at least at this point in my life, church is not for me. Realizing this has caused me untold grief, but finally I have some answers and some guidance about how to proceed on my journey.
This passage, for example, tells my story right down to the last detail: "If you have left a church or are considering doing so, you have no doubt heard churchgoing Christians say you can't live the Christian life or be a disciple if you are not "in" a church. The claims may have stung or made you angry, or aroused leftover guilt from childhood, or made you feel judged or lied to. Or perhaps you found yourself agreeing with them and simply stopped calling yourself a Christian" (page 152). Those were all various states of my heart and soul while I was making this difficult journey. Finally, someone else knew what I was feeling. And I wasn't alone! The entire book is that way: brutally honest, extraordinarily challenging, and profoundly thought-provoking.
What I deeply respect about Spencer, however, is that he doesn't let us off the hook from serving others and opting for isolation. The difference is that instead of singing in the choir or pouring coffee, you are challenged to be a disciple out in the real world: "Listen, my "leaving" brother or sister: God hasn't kicked you out of anything. He has sent you into his world. You may be the one person who can bring the Kingdom to the world you inhabit every day. You might represent the one relationship that touches the overlooked and left-out person. Rather than think about quitting and leaving, why not think about what it means to be sent? (page 159)" WOW! What an amazing way to think about it: not leaving, but being sent somewhere where we can really make a difference!
Most importantly, Spencer keeps the focus on the one person whom this is all about: Jesus. What was his life really like? What does he expect from us? Is life REALLY all about what clothes you can wear and what music you can listen to and what denomination you belong to? No, and it never was.
I don't hate the church. I don't hate people who go to church. I do think that, at least at this point in my life, church is not for me. Realizing this has caused me untold grief, but finally I have some answers and some guidance about how to proceed on my journey.
March 9, 2012
Michael Spencer is someone who has had a profound impact on my life through his blogging and article writing and so when I heard that he was writing a book, I was excited to see what he had to say and expected that it would be challenging and controversial to many. Then, sadly, Michael became ill and passed away before the release of his book and the importance of the book took on an additional aura of it being the last message that I'd be able to read from Michael. Maybe that's why I waited about a year before reading it.
Michael's is a voice that very few people have a neutral opinion about. People tend to either love him or to find him very threatening or annoying. That can be true of different elements of what he has to say. This book is no different. In many ways, it almost breaks out to two different books. The first half of the book speaks about the elements of "church sized" spirituality as opposed to "Jesus sized" spirituality. As he has done for years, Michael has some very targeted and very true things to say about the North American Evangelical, Charismatic, Fundamentalist etc. churches and how they are morphing and adjusting to so many of the changes that are taking place in our society. Michael sees many different things driving these changes and adaptations but doesn't see a great deal of Jesus at work in any of it. Michael very bravely and very clearly calls out many of the things that are just now beginning to be apparent to many within these churches but really have been being said for quite some time by people looking in from the outside and being said by the growing exodus of people who are leaving these churches for the surprising reason that they believe they must do so to follow Jesus better.
In many ways, that is what this book is about. Michael is speaking to those inside and outside of the local institutional Church to offer some important observations and insights.
For those who didn't know Michael well before reading this book then comes the second half of the book in which Michael opens some of his own personal life, and we "discover" that Michael has spent most of his life as a teacher in a Christian Boarding School, and a pulpit supply pastor. In addition, we find about his wife's conversion to Roman Catholicism leaving the types of churches with which Michael remains associated.
Those who are reading Mere Churchianity in search of reinforcement for their leaving the church will find this change of gears a little confusing as Michael moves into the more personal exposition of how he's managed to remain in the system. Those who are threatened by anything that criticizes their tradition and experience (assuming they get through the first half) will find a sense of resolution in the end that offers some observations that may practically help them reconcile agreeing with Michael in his assessment of the church while still remaining a part of it.
I actually found this element to be a strength. I am one who has left heavy involvement with local institutional churches. Yet, I don't believe that path is necessarily for everyone and I also understand why some people remain even with the same misgivings that I had when I was there. Crusaders for an all or nothing type approach that demands that others think as they think and do as they do, will not appreciate this tension in Michael's book. Yet it's a very powerful statement of who Michael was and how Michael thought and acted on those convictions.
Especially of note is the afterword contained within the book. Michael's decent into cancer was a very quick one and after his diagnosis of cancer in December he passed away in April. Michael maintained a personal journal in addition to all of his public writing and blogging. The entry that he wrote on the day of his diagnosis shows the heart of this man in a way that took my breath away.
In many ways, as you might expect from an accomplished blogger, this book reads as a conversation. It moves from theory to application and a demonstration of how to live in the "real world" given these many thoughts and observations. It's a powerful statement made all the more powerful because it was Michael's last (although he didn't know that at that time he was writing it.)
5 stars. A bitter-sweet read from a man whom I never met, yet it feels like I know better than many others.
bart breen
Michael's is a voice that very few people have a neutral opinion about. People tend to either love him or to find him very threatening or annoying. That can be true of different elements of what he has to say. This book is no different. In many ways, it almost breaks out to two different books. The first half of the book speaks about the elements of "church sized" spirituality as opposed to "Jesus sized" spirituality. As he has done for years, Michael has some very targeted and very true things to say about the North American Evangelical, Charismatic, Fundamentalist etc. churches and how they are morphing and adjusting to so many of the changes that are taking place in our society. Michael sees many different things driving these changes and adaptations but doesn't see a great deal of Jesus at work in any of it. Michael very bravely and very clearly calls out many of the things that are just now beginning to be apparent to many within these churches but really have been being said for quite some time by people looking in from the outside and being said by the growing exodus of people who are leaving these churches for the surprising reason that they believe they must do so to follow Jesus better.
In many ways, that is what this book is about. Michael is speaking to those inside and outside of the local institutional Church to offer some important observations and insights.
For those who didn't know Michael well before reading this book then comes the second half of the book in which Michael opens some of his own personal life, and we "discover" that Michael has spent most of his life as a teacher in a Christian Boarding School, and a pulpit supply pastor. In addition, we find about his wife's conversion to Roman Catholicism leaving the types of churches with which Michael remains associated.
Those who are reading Mere Churchianity in search of reinforcement for their leaving the church will find this change of gears a little confusing as Michael moves into the more personal exposition of how he's managed to remain in the system. Those who are threatened by anything that criticizes their tradition and experience (assuming they get through the first half) will find a sense of resolution in the end that offers some observations that may practically help them reconcile agreeing with Michael in his assessment of the church while still remaining a part of it.
I actually found this element to be a strength. I am one who has left heavy involvement with local institutional churches. Yet, I don't believe that path is necessarily for everyone and I also understand why some people remain even with the same misgivings that I had when I was there. Crusaders for an all or nothing type approach that demands that others think as they think and do as they do, will not appreciate this tension in Michael's book. Yet it's a very powerful statement of who Michael was and how Michael thought and acted on those convictions.
Especially of note is the afterword contained within the book. Michael's decent into cancer was a very quick one and after his diagnosis of cancer in December he passed away in April. Michael maintained a personal journal in addition to all of his public writing and blogging. The entry that he wrote on the day of his diagnosis shows the heart of this man in a way that took my breath away.
In many ways, as you might expect from an accomplished blogger, this book reads as a conversation. It moves from theory to application and a demonstration of how to live in the "real world" given these many thoughts and observations. It's a powerful statement made all the more powerful because it was Michael's last (although he didn't know that at that time he was writing it.)
5 stars. A bitter-sweet read from a man whom I never met, yet it feels like I know better than many others.
bart breen
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January 26, 2011Spencer was an Evangelical Christian who challenged the establishment.
"If you have your Bible handy, look something up for me. Review the stories of the leading heroes in Scripture, and tell me which ones weren't screwed up. Don't the seriously flawed people - such as Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David, and Hosea - outnumber the 'good Christians' by about ten to one? And isn't it true that the closer we look at a biblical character, the more likely it will be that we'll see a whole nasty collection of things that Christians say they no longer have to deal with?
"To hear Christians tell it, they have overcome things that Israel's greatest king - the man after God's own heart - never got on top of because, praise God, they've been fixed. We're not talking about a few temper tantrums or small lies but big stuff like violence, sex addictions, abusive behavior, deceit, and depression. It's all there, yet we still listen to a preacher who flops open a Bible on the pulpit before he talks about 'Ten Ways to Have Joy That Never Goes Away!'
"Where is the laugh track?" Kindle location 2297
"Evangelical Christians are known for carrying large Bibles. It's a bit of a status symbol and a way to say, 'We're serious about what God has said.'
"The phrase BIBLE THUMPER carries a ton of negative baggage, and deservedly so, considering the damage that has been caused by people who recklessly throw Bible verses around. So I'm aware that aversion to the Bible may be a large part of why some people have left the church. It has been used to beat down dissenters and to justify all kinds of cruelty and oppression that have nothing to do with Jesus.
"So we'll acknowledge the baggage, and then we'll set the baggage aside. We can't have Jesus-shaped spirituality without the controlling story of Scripture. That's not about being a Bible thumper, but about learning to think, live, love, and relate to others by using the world of Scripture as the background....
"So we read the Bible, and we don't read it magically but intelligently. We read it with an open heart, not like an engineer, but like a child. We don't dissect it, but we enter into it with our imagination. We want to understand all the Scriptures in light of Jesus. We want to 'get it' and be moved by it, not just use it to defend our preferences." Kindle location 3209
"If you have your Bible handy, look something up for me. Review the stories of the leading heroes in Scripture, and tell me which ones weren't screwed up. Don't the seriously flawed people - such as Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David, and Hosea - outnumber the 'good Christians' by about ten to one? And isn't it true that the closer we look at a biblical character, the more likely it will be that we'll see a whole nasty collection of things that Christians say they no longer have to deal with?
"To hear Christians tell it, they have overcome things that Israel's greatest king - the man after God's own heart - never got on top of because, praise God, they've been fixed. We're not talking about a few temper tantrums or small lies but big stuff like violence, sex addictions, abusive behavior, deceit, and depression. It's all there, yet we still listen to a preacher who flops open a Bible on the pulpit before he talks about 'Ten Ways to Have Joy That Never Goes Away!'
"Where is the laugh track?" Kindle location 2297
"Evangelical Christians are known for carrying large Bibles. It's a bit of a status symbol and a way to say, 'We're serious about what God has said.'
"The phrase BIBLE THUMPER carries a ton of negative baggage, and deservedly so, considering the damage that has been caused by people who recklessly throw Bible verses around. So I'm aware that aversion to the Bible may be a large part of why some people have left the church. It has been used to beat down dissenters and to justify all kinds of cruelty and oppression that have nothing to do with Jesus.
"So we'll acknowledge the baggage, and then we'll set the baggage aside. We can't have Jesus-shaped spirituality without the controlling story of Scripture. That's not about being a Bible thumper, but about learning to think, live, love, and relate to others by using the world of Scripture as the background....
"So we read the Bible, and we don't read it magically but intelligently. We read it with an open heart, not like an engineer, but like a child. We don't dissect it, but we enter into it with our imagination. We want to understand all the Scriptures in light of Jesus. We want to 'get it' and be moved by it, not just use it to defend our preferences." Kindle location 3209
December 29, 2013
In 2011, I started on the path back to God after being effectively out of church for the better part of two decades. I still went to church occasionally, but I wasn't a regular attender and no longer a devoted follower of Jesus. I began attending church every week with my family, and began reading books about faith, and looking for podcasts to listen to on the commute to work and in the office. I came across Coffee Cup Apologetics from Michael Spencer and really enjoyed them. I even checked out his blog at InternetMonk.com and that is when I found out that he had passed away the year before. What a tragedy, because the man had wonderful insight about living out your faith in today's world.
I finally got around to reading this book and really enjoyed it. You could tell that Michael's point-of-view was definitely one he had come to via the journey of his life, and I really appreciated that given my own meandering path back to grasping my faith with both hands.
As Christians today we need to decide how we are going to use the Bible and Jesus' teachings, either as a blunt instrument to hit people with, or a salve to sooth the hurts in others caused from living in a broken world. Many people who have either been victims of the blunt instrument approach, or who frankly didn't know how to put on the facade that everything is right in the world could benefit from reading this book.
My favorite quote in the book is as follows: "My humanity, my sin, it's all me. And I need Jesus to love me like I really am: brokenness, wounds, sin, addictions, lies, death, fear...all of it. Take all of it, Lord Jesus. If I don't present this broken, messed-up person to Jesus, my faith is dishonest, and my understanding of faith will become a way of continuing the ruse and pretense of being good." We have to come to God as we are, and we need fellow Christians to help us along the way, and not beat us into a state of being numb and walking away from church. Wounded soldiers on the battlefield do not cover up their wounds, they ask for treatment. Christians sometimes can act as if others should just grin and bear it and fight through it on their own, and that is to the detriment of us all.
I finally got around to reading this book and really enjoyed it. You could tell that Michael's point-of-view was definitely one he had come to via the journey of his life, and I really appreciated that given my own meandering path back to grasping my faith with both hands.
As Christians today we need to decide how we are going to use the Bible and Jesus' teachings, either as a blunt instrument to hit people with, or a salve to sooth the hurts in others caused from living in a broken world. Many people who have either been victims of the blunt instrument approach, or who frankly didn't know how to put on the facade that everything is right in the world could benefit from reading this book.
My favorite quote in the book is as follows: "My humanity, my sin, it's all me. And I need Jesus to love me like I really am: brokenness, wounds, sin, addictions, lies, death, fear...all of it. Take all of it, Lord Jesus. If I don't present this broken, messed-up person to Jesus, my faith is dishonest, and my understanding of faith will become a way of continuing the ruse and pretense of being good." We have to come to God as we are, and we need fellow Christians to help us along the way, and not beat us into a state of being numb and walking away from church. Wounded soldiers on the battlefield do not cover up their wounds, they ask for treatment. Christians sometimes can act as if others should just grin and bear it and fight through it on their own, and that is to the detriment of us all.
January 17, 2013
I wanted to like this book more than I did. What a title! The title - and the fact that I picked it up dirt cheap when Borders was going out of business are the reason that I read it in the first place. Then, when you read that the author died of cancer, leaving a wife and young children behind, I wanted to like it even more.
Unfortunately, the book had two major problems. First, it had an incredibly wise point - but one easily made in a sentence or two, not one needing 200 plus pages of support. And, second, despite the late Internet Monk's statement on page 12 that he was "not cynical about the church", by the time I reached the end of page 15, I was pretty certain he was. And the rest of the book failed to convince me otherwise. Instead readers are treated with chapter after chapter of complaints about problems - acknowledgment here that there are problems - in the modern church - across all denominations. He listed reason after reason that people have, or should, leave their own churches - many of them have some validity, more or less.
But a "way back to Jesus-Shaped Spirituality" was promised on the cover. And in my mind, the book failed to deliver that promise. It just fell flat.
So, I'm sure you're wondering, what was the incredibly wise point of Mere Churchianity . . . It is this: "The Church" is not Christianity. And whenever "The Church" becomes the focus instead of Jesus Christ, something is seriously wrong.
Unfortunately, the book had two major problems. First, it had an incredibly wise point - but one easily made in a sentence or two, not one needing 200 plus pages of support. And, second, despite the late Internet Monk's statement on page 12 that he was "not cynical about the church", by the time I reached the end of page 15, I was pretty certain he was. And the rest of the book failed to convince me otherwise. Instead readers are treated with chapter after chapter of complaints about problems - acknowledgment here that there are problems - in the modern church - across all denominations. He listed reason after reason that people have, or should, leave their own churches - many of them have some validity, more or less.
But a "way back to Jesus-Shaped Spirituality" was promised on the cover. And in my mind, the book failed to deliver that promise. It just fell flat.
So, I'm sure you're wondering, what was the incredibly wise point of Mere Churchianity . . . It is this: "The Church" is not Christianity. And whenever "The Church" becomes the focus instead of Jesus Christ, something is seriously wrong.
December 13, 2010
Every Christian should own this book. Every church should have a dozen copies in their library. This is an extremely important book that will only get better as it's read over and over again. It has now made my short list of books I must reread every few years. We miss you, Michael Spencer. Thank you for this amazing legacy.
July 30, 2010
Amazing book. It is a breath of fresh air for one like myself who has been breathing the stale air of "church" for a long time, and often wonders why I continue to do so. Michael not only gives voice to the discontent of many, but offers hope as well. His is a voice that will be missed.
June 30, 2010
Edgy in all the right places.
November 12, 2017
“Salvation = Jesus + Nothing. Anything you try to add to that equation--priests, churches, doctrines, health food, whatever--will make the equation unsolvable. That's my ridiculously simple summary.
January 20, 2011
Nothing new, but still an important reminder for Christians (if read carefully)
Summary
Michael Spencer’s book, Mere Churchianity, is a much needed plea for Christians not to find their identity in their church membership or attendance, but in their relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Spencer begins the book with a story of a young woman who worked at Dairy Queen. Spencer took a youth group into the Dairy Queen one night and created chaos for the workers there by the way they acted and the way they left the restaurant. The young woman was a member of the church and wrote Spencer a letter. She explained that for the past year she had been an atheist because she had been convinced that everything about Christianity was wrong because of the way she saw Christians, like him, act. This was a defining moment in Spencer’s life, and made him rethink everything about his life, his ministry, and his “Jesus-shaped spirituality.”
The book consists of three major parts. The first, titled “The Jesus Disconnect,” explains how people have left the church (the institution, or building) because of the way so-called Christians act. The second, titled “The Jesus Briefing,” looks at the real Jesus we see in the Scriptures, and what true faith is (or what Spencer refers to as “Jesus-shaped spirituality”). The next section, “The Jesus Life,” looks closer at what a life of faith looks like, and the last section, “The Jesus Community,” identifies what these faithful lives should look like in a community of believers, called the church.
Analysis
I thought that the book was okay overall. It was nothing new in my opinion. We have had countless people, especially throughout the last decade or so, identify anything and everything that is wrong with the church and how it needs to change. Spencer doesn’t necessarily add anything new or groundbreaking, yet it is still good for us as Christians to be reminded of and challenged with.
There are two major problems that I had with the book. The first was Spencer’s negative use of the term “evangelical.” On pages 25-26 Spencer said, “Evangelicalism has become the sworn enemy of biblical Christianity.” That is an extremely broad statement, especially for a group such as the evangelicals who are so incredibly diverse. When reading further and seeing that what Spencer means by the term “evangelical” are people like Joel Osteen or Benny Hinn, I would agree completely. However, there are many other faithful evangelicals who do not have anything at all in common with these men (just look at the ETS – The Evangelical Theological Society.) Later, on page 56, Spencer says that these evangelicals should come up with the AEV (The American Evangelical Version of the Bible). He goes on to give 9 points that this version would have to include. Again, Joel Osteen would probably agree with all of the 9 points that are listed here, but I would be very careful in saying that ALL EVANGELICALS believe these, because one would be hard-pressed to find even a few men at the ETS meeting who would affirm 2 or 3 of these points, let alone all 9. Overall, I just thought Spencer’s broad characterization of evangelicalism as a whole was very misleading and unfair. He should have been more specific.
The other major problem that I had was Spencer’s strong negativity towards the church as a whole, and his contradiction at times of whether one should be involved and part of the church or not. There are many statements that seems Spencer is calling for an abandonment of the church as we know it today. For instance, he said on page 57, “For many of you, leaving the church may have been the most spiritually healthy thing you ever did,” and later on page 114 he said, “If you are a church leaver, I don’t want to drag you back. I have a better idea: find yourself in God’s great and diverse purpose.” Now while that sounds all well and good on the surface, I believe it is a very dangerous thing to license people to clearly disobey Hebrews 10:25, where the writer tells us not to forsake meeting together. I think there is a clear and strong teaching in the New Testament that the local church is the bride of Christ, His presence in the earth until He returns. Are there things we need to change and re-examine? Absolutely! But should we affirm people forsaking the local church altogether? I do not think so. Spencer even seems to contradict himself later on when he said on page 154 that “the church is a community that the Holy Spirit uses to bring individuals to mature Christ-likeness and genuine Kingdom usefulness.” This clearly goes against his saying that leaving the church may be the best thing you’ve ever done.
Overall, I think that it is clear in the book, especially in the last section, that Spencer does not want people to abandon the church completely; he just wants a reform in the local church and a return to the Jesus-centeredness that we see in the New Testament. I want the same thing, and I think that his effort in pointing this out was valiant; I just think he could have chose his wording more carefully sometimes and been a little bit less negative and condescending towards the church as a whole.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the Blogging for Books review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Summary
Michael Spencer’s book, Mere Churchianity, is a much needed plea for Christians not to find their identity in their church membership or attendance, but in their relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Spencer begins the book with a story of a young woman who worked at Dairy Queen. Spencer took a youth group into the Dairy Queen one night and created chaos for the workers there by the way they acted and the way they left the restaurant. The young woman was a member of the church and wrote Spencer a letter. She explained that for the past year she had been an atheist because she had been convinced that everything about Christianity was wrong because of the way she saw Christians, like him, act. This was a defining moment in Spencer’s life, and made him rethink everything about his life, his ministry, and his “Jesus-shaped spirituality.”
The book consists of three major parts. The first, titled “The Jesus Disconnect,” explains how people have left the church (the institution, or building) because of the way so-called Christians act. The second, titled “The Jesus Briefing,” looks at the real Jesus we see in the Scriptures, and what true faith is (or what Spencer refers to as “Jesus-shaped spirituality”). The next section, “The Jesus Life,” looks closer at what a life of faith looks like, and the last section, “The Jesus Community,” identifies what these faithful lives should look like in a community of believers, called the church.
Analysis
I thought that the book was okay overall. It was nothing new in my opinion. We have had countless people, especially throughout the last decade or so, identify anything and everything that is wrong with the church and how it needs to change. Spencer doesn’t necessarily add anything new or groundbreaking, yet it is still good for us as Christians to be reminded of and challenged with.
There are two major problems that I had with the book. The first was Spencer’s negative use of the term “evangelical.” On pages 25-26 Spencer said, “Evangelicalism has become the sworn enemy of biblical Christianity.” That is an extremely broad statement, especially for a group such as the evangelicals who are so incredibly diverse. When reading further and seeing that what Spencer means by the term “evangelical” are people like Joel Osteen or Benny Hinn, I would agree completely. However, there are many other faithful evangelicals who do not have anything at all in common with these men (just look at the ETS – The Evangelical Theological Society.) Later, on page 56, Spencer says that these evangelicals should come up with the AEV (The American Evangelical Version of the Bible). He goes on to give 9 points that this version would have to include. Again, Joel Osteen would probably agree with all of the 9 points that are listed here, but I would be very careful in saying that ALL EVANGELICALS believe these, because one would be hard-pressed to find even a few men at the ETS meeting who would affirm 2 or 3 of these points, let alone all 9. Overall, I just thought Spencer’s broad characterization of evangelicalism as a whole was very misleading and unfair. He should have been more specific.
The other major problem that I had was Spencer’s strong negativity towards the church as a whole, and his contradiction at times of whether one should be involved and part of the church or not. There are many statements that seems Spencer is calling for an abandonment of the church as we know it today. For instance, he said on page 57, “For many of you, leaving the church may have been the most spiritually healthy thing you ever did,” and later on page 114 he said, “If you are a church leaver, I don’t want to drag you back. I have a better idea: find yourself in God’s great and diverse purpose.” Now while that sounds all well and good on the surface, I believe it is a very dangerous thing to license people to clearly disobey Hebrews 10:25, where the writer tells us not to forsake meeting together. I think there is a clear and strong teaching in the New Testament that the local church is the bride of Christ, His presence in the earth until He returns. Are there things we need to change and re-examine? Absolutely! But should we affirm people forsaking the local church altogether? I do not think so. Spencer even seems to contradict himself later on when he said on page 154 that “the church is a community that the Holy Spirit uses to bring individuals to mature Christ-likeness and genuine Kingdom usefulness.” This clearly goes against his saying that leaving the church may be the best thing you’ve ever done.
Overall, I think that it is clear in the book, especially in the last section, that Spencer does not want people to abandon the church completely; he just wants a reform in the local church and a return to the Jesus-centeredness that we see in the New Testament. I want the same thing, and I think that his effort in pointing this out was valiant; I just think he could have chose his wording more carefully sometimes and been a little bit less negative and condescending towards the church as a whole.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the Blogging for Books review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
August 26, 2019
2.5 stars--it just wasn't what I was looking for. From the blurb I knew the author was trying to draw a distinction between being a follower of Jesus versus being immersed in mainstream evangelical Christianity (with the mega-churches, Christian bookstores, Christian music, etc.), which I thought would be interesting and thought-provoking. But the book focused much more on why one should be anti-religion than why one should try to follow Christ. Probably 80% of the book was an anti-religion rant. I was more interested in the discipleship aspects, so I was disappointed.
January 5, 2011
I had never heard of the Internet Monk prior to receiving this book, nor had I heard of Michael Spencer, the name he went by outside the blogosphere. No, I chose this book for two reasons: One, the title, Mere Churchianity, was clever and Two, I was interested in this so-called "Jesus-Shaped Spirituality." So the book arrived, I discovered it was published posthumously, and I dove in to see what this was all about.
To say I was immediately hooked would be misleading, though I was. For one, the author told a story at a Dairy Queen on Hartford Road, which, coincidentally, there was a DQ on a Hartford Rd just a few miles from my house. The story was a sad, indicative reflection of many modern youth groups and how they react outside of the church. But the sincerity of Michael Spencer's voice was heard: there was a problem with our churches.
A few pages later I discovered that Spencer grew up in the town I now call home, a small(ish) city in Western Kentucky. To make things even more interesting, his family still abides in these parts. So learning that Spencer was a local might have buried the hooks even deeper into me, assuring that I continue reading.
Yet, even without these coincidences, I would have had no problem finishing Mere Churchianity. The subject is something I believe is vitally important in our current, fast-paced, instantaneous society, and Spencer highlights many of the same problems I see all around me.
Churchianity is the art of shaping one's life after the church, as opposed to Jesus. Some may find this discrepancy negligible or a matter of semantics, but it's not. Look around. How many churches are truly following Jesus? How many pastors are standing in their multi-million dollar buildings wearing their fancy clothes and proclaiming that Jesus wants us to "have our best life now"? How many church goers are bigots? Racists? Homophobes? It doesn't take a genius to know that the word "Christianity" carries negative connotations, that all Christians are judgmental and close-minded. While this is untrue of all Christians, largely, to the rest of the world we're a religion that is intolerant of anything that doesn't fall under the OK of our set traditions and customs, most of which originated from the church, not Christ Himself.
Jesus was the ultimate example of love and humility. Who did He spend most of His time with while He was in His ministry? It wasn't the religious folks, that's for sure. No, He hung out with prostitutes, liars, thieves, tax collectors, Samaritans, and all the other lowlifes of the times. Jesus said in Matthew 9, "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners." How does this compare with our churches of today?
Largely, this disconnect is the focus of Spencer's Mere Churchianity. The book was written for people that had left the church or were thinking about it, people that were dissatisfied with how things were going, people that wanted a REAL church, not a group of hypocrites.
I found myself shaking my head at many of the things Spencer was saying, agreeing that we need to be REAL and dependent on each other, as the early church. There were some things that I disagreed with, of course, and I recommend reading these types of books with a critical & careful eye. Still, for the most part, Michael Spencer was absolutely right. Our churches are screwed up and are too busy focusing on things that don't matter and ignoring the One who does.
I very much enjoyed this book. My copy has notes and underlinings all over the place. Spencer wrote conversationally, but with conviction and honesty. This is the kind of book I wish more people read so as to see that we're not all judgmental and uncaring. I can recommend this book for the target audience (those leaving or thinking about it), but also for the lay church attender as well. The argument is urgent, and if churches don't start fixing things, I fear for the future of the bride of Christ.
To say I was immediately hooked would be misleading, though I was. For one, the author told a story at a Dairy Queen on Hartford Road, which, coincidentally, there was a DQ on a Hartford Rd just a few miles from my house. The story was a sad, indicative reflection of many modern youth groups and how they react outside of the church. But the sincerity of Michael Spencer's voice was heard: there was a problem with our churches.
A few pages later I discovered that Spencer grew up in the town I now call home, a small(ish) city in Western Kentucky. To make things even more interesting, his family still abides in these parts. So learning that Spencer was a local might have buried the hooks even deeper into me, assuring that I continue reading.
Yet, even without these coincidences, I would have had no problem finishing Mere Churchianity. The subject is something I believe is vitally important in our current, fast-paced, instantaneous society, and Spencer highlights many of the same problems I see all around me.
Churchianity is the art of shaping one's life after the church, as opposed to Jesus. Some may find this discrepancy negligible or a matter of semantics, but it's not. Look around. How many churches are truly following Jesus? How many pastors are standing in their multi-million dollar buildings wearing their fancy clothes and proclaiming that Jesus wants us to "have our best life now"? How many church goers are bigots? Racists? Homophobes? It doesn't take a genius to know that the word "Christianity" carries negative connotations, that all Christians are judgmental and close-minded. While this is untrue of all Christians, largely, to the rest of the world we're a religion that is intolerant of anything that doesn't fall under the OK of our set traditions and customs, most of which originated from the church, not Christ Himself.
Jesus was the ultimate example of love and humility. Who did He spend most of His time with while He was in His ministry? It wasn't the religious folks, that's for sure. No, He hung out with prostitutes, liars, thieves, tax collectors, Samaritans, and all the other lowlifes of the times. Jesus said in Matthew 9, "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners." How does this compare with our churches of today?
Largely, this disconnect is the focus of Spencer's Mere Churchianity. The book was written for people that had left the church or were thinking about it, people that were dissatisfied with how things were going, people that wanted a REAL church, not a group of hypocrites.
I found myself shaking my head at many of the things Spencer was saying, agreeing that we need to be REAL and dependent on each other, as the early church. There were some things that I disagreed with, of course, and I recommend reading these types of books with a critical & careful eye. Still, for the most part, Michael Spencer was absolutely right. Our churches are screwed up and are too busy focusing on things that don't matter and ignoring the One who does.
I very much enjoyed this book. My copy has notes and underlinings all over the place. Spencer wrote conversationally, but with conviction and honesty. This is the kind of book I wish more people read so as to see that we're not all judgmental and uncaring. I can recommend this book for the target audience (those leaving or thinking about it), but also for the lay church attender as well. The argument is urgent, and if churches don't start fixing things, I fear for the future of the bride of Christ.
December 14, 2010
Been to church, sang the songs, got a few dozen t-shirts. Unfortunately, that's what Christianity has been reduced to in much of America. We get up on Sunday morning, dress in our Sunday best, or if we're in a seeker-friendly church, we'll put on our best pair of jeans and polo, and spend two hours looking perfect. But we're not perfect, and neither is the person sitting behind us, our cell group leader, nor our pastor.
This is a book I wish existed a few years ago. I went to a friend who was a pastor and asked for something to read that cut out all the clutter of church, something that took us right back to the Person of Jesus. What he recommended was a book that pointed out all the flaws in the institutional church.
Michael Spencer has done a fantastic job of shaving away everything that is not of Jesus. Getting us back to what God had in mind. He understands some people have walked away from the church because of the pretenses that are rampant in the church. I loved how he mentioned that it's fine in prayer requests of the gory details of an ingrown toenail, but we mustn't dare mention personal problems such as rebellious children, mental illness, or a shaky marriage. If we can't turn to the church for help and strength, who can we turn to?
He strips away the idea that if we have issues with the way things are in organized Christianity, it might not be the fact that we are deceived sinners, but we might be seeing something that does need changing. In my own church, something that Spencer has discussed that we have also mentioned from time to time is going out to eat. Yes, the waitress knows we are from church. The way we act, even down to the tip we leave leaves an impression on who we are – and Whose we are. One of my friends often leaves a tip equal to or higher than his meal. He says he doesn't want to leave a bad impression of Christians to our server.
Spencer also recognizes the fact that the Vending Machine Jesus is still the Jesus worshiped in many churches. Worship God and He will give you monetary riches. Of course, there's the more popular trend of worship giving you a great sex life with your spouse. Money and Sex. There really is more that God cares about than those two things.
While this book appears to be church-bashing, it is far from it. He admits we NEED the church but also recognizes that the church is sometimes not living up to what God had in mind.
If this book had been available to me a few years ago, I would likely say it would have been one of the most influential books of my life. However, I struggled with these issues on my own and came to much of the same conclusions that Spencer did. It was fantastic to see in print the very issues I wrestled with and eventually had to come to grips with a church that is not always what God had in mind.
I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.
This is a book I wish existed a few years ago. I went to a friend who was a pastor and asked for something to read that cut out all the clutter of church, something that took us right back to the Person of Jesus. What he recommended was a book that pointed out all the flaws in the institutional church.
Michael Spencer has done a fantastic job of shaving away everything that is not of Jesus. Getting us back to what God had in mind. He understands some people have walked away from the church because of the pretenses that are rampant in the church. I loved how he mentioned that it's fine in prayer requests of the gory details of an ingrown toenail, but we mustn't dare mention personal problems such as rebellious children, mental illness, or a shaky marriage. If we can't turn to the church for help and strength, who can we turn to?
He strips away the idea that if we have issues with the way things are in organized Christianity, it might not be the fact that we are deceived sinners, but we might be seeing something that does need changing. In my own church, something that Spencer has discussed that we have also mentioned from time to time is going out to eat. Yes, the waitress knows we are from church. The way we act, even down to the tip we leave leaves an impression on who we are – and Whose we are. One of my friends often leaves a tip equal to or higher than his meal. He says he doesn't want to leave a bad impression of Christians to our server.
Spencer also recognizes the fact that the Vending Machine Jesus is still the Jesus worshiped in many churches. Worship God and He will give you monetary riches. Of course, there's the more popular trend of worship giving you a great sex life with your spouse. Money and Sex. There really is more that God cares about than those two things.
While this book appears to be church-bashing, it is far from it. He admits we NEED the church but also recognizes that the church is sometimes not living up to what God had in mind.
If this book had been available to me a few years ago, I would likely say it would have been one of the most influential books of my life. However, I struggled with these issues on my own and came to much of the same conclusions that Spencer did. It was fantastic to see in print the very issues I wrestled with and eventually had to come to grips with a church that is not always what God had in mind.
I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.
April 5, 2011
Mere Churchianity is a book for those who have left the church “to find Jesus.”
Now, Michael Spencer does have a lot of good points. But sadly, for every “YES” that I wrote in the margin, there was a equal, if not greater number of “I think he has this wrong here.”
Growing up in somewhat of a “church culture,” I did relate to many of his examples: the youth group massacring Dairy Queen, studying the bible with little interest in seeing how it pointed to the gospel, the dangers of being culture shaped more than Christ shaped. Those are all very true things that go on in many churches.
“Behind the Jesus Is Here sign there are too many narcissistic competitors in what has rightly been called the “worship wars,” a consumerist competition to draw a bigger audience into a fog of Jesus-lite entertainment.” Sad, but horribly true in some instances.
“Many Christians like to spend time with those who mirror themselves.” True, and not an example of the Gospel.
But Spencer makes a mistake. He chooses to look to disgruntled people to set the agenda, instead of the Scriptures. More than once he talks about the people who are not Christians, but surely know a thing or two about Jesus- we should listen to them. Should we? Should we listen to the people who have no idea about Christ as they tell us that our church services are too long, the music is too old fashioned, the prayers are too intense, yadda yadda yadda. It is with this ideology that many churches has taken a seeker sensitive approach- letting the nonbelievers set the agenda in regards to ecclesiology, polity, and church community and theology. Hardly a biblical concept.
Spencer is right about the spiritual bankruptcy of some churches. But again, he fails to give the correct answer. It is not because of the misdirected brand that is being promoted- though that does play a part- it is because of sin. People are unsatisfied with what the Bible says about how we are to live as Christians in church because of sin issues.
I fear he throws the baby out with the bathwater by the end of the book. Through the whole book, I just wanted to grab Spencer and say “but it doesn’t have to be this way!” There are biblical churches that love Christ, love each other, and love the gospel. There are churches that read the scriptures and teach rightly, and carefully examine their theology. While it might be a wise decision to leave A church because it fails to pursue Christ, it is a lazy self seeking mistake to leave “the church” altogether because of some disgruntled ideas.
You would be ten times better off reading “Why We Love The Church” by DeYoung and Kluck for some solid ecclesiology.
“I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review”.
April 3, 2011
In Mere Churchianity, Michael shared a story about a letter he received from an atheist. The atheist was a worker at Dairy Queen. She wrote to Michael, who was the youth minister, and she told him that his youth group wasn’t very nice to the workers at Dairy Queen. His youth group made a mess with a saltshaker and left it to be cleaned by someone else. She didn’t like Christians but could you blame her for the way that the “youth group” acted. The youth group had a chance to influence non-believers for the better and they failed.
Michael wrote this book for leavers of the church. He believed that most Christians who have left the church are leaving because of some of the legalism rules we have placed on the church. He doesn’t think they are leaving because they don’t believe in God. It is because they are looking for the real Jesus and some churches aren’t showing and teaching about Jesus. We are all called to be disciples of Jesus and we are supposed to help one another.
“Many leave the church because their aloneness is never recognized by others, and others in the church never realize their own sin in isolating the people in their midst. So those who don’t conform and thus fail to fit in, for whatever reason, are left alone to be alone.” (180)
My thoughts on this book are that as a church we all need to do better than we are currently doing. We shouldn’t have our youth groups or adults groups making messes for other people to clean up and insulting workers. We are called to be the church and we are called to be like Jesus. Jesus served the homeless, the out casted, and anyone who needed his help, which we all need, his help. Non-believers are watching Christians to see if we are living out what we are teaching. I understand why some people leave the church now. But we have to live out what we say we believe. I wonder how many youth groups and adults have done something similar to this story. I agree with Mere Churchianity and that we are called to be disciples of Jesus and we need to serve one another. We have to live out what we believe and mean it!
I would recommend this book to any church member and any member that has left the church. We can all grow to understand why some people leave the church. We can all also learn to reach out to church members and non-believers and show them the real Jesus! We have to always remember that actions speak louder than words! We can’t forget who Jesus is and what his word teaches us to do.
“I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review”.
Michael wrote this book for leavers of the church. He believed that most Christians who have left the church are leaving because of some of the legalism rules we have placed on the church. He doesn’t think they are leaving because they don’t believe in God. It is because they are looking for the real Jesus and some churches aren’t showing and teaching about Jesus. We are all called to be disciples of Jesus and we are supposed to help one another.
“Many leave the church because their aloneness is never recognized by others, and others in the church never realize their own sin in isolating the people in their midst. So those who don’t conform and thus fail to fit in, for whatever reason, are left alone to be alone.” (180)
My thoughts on this book are that as a church we all need to do better than we are currently doing. We shouldn’t have our youth groups or adults groups making messes for other people to clean up and insulting workers. We are called to be the church and we are called to be like Jesus. Jesus served the homeless, the out casted, and anyone who needed his help, which we all need, his help. Non-believers are watching Christians to see if we are living out what we are teaching. I understand why some people leave the church now. But we have to live out what we say we believe. I wonder how many youth groups and adults have done something similar to this story. I agree with Mere Churchianity and that we are called to be disciples of Jesus and we need to serve one another. We have to live out what we believe and mean it!
I would recommend this book to any church member and any member that has left the church. We can all grow to understand why some people leave the church. We can all also learn to reach out to church members and non-believers and show them the real Jesus! We have to always remember that actions speak louder than words! We can’t forget who Jesus is and what his word teaches us to do.
“I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review”.
June 15, 2012
As the scion of a family that had long been leaders in our local church, I grew up witnessing the best and worst aspects of being a part of the church community. Unfortunately, the worst aspects tended to be more prominent and, as I grew older, I became more and more aware of the bitter feelings, the superficiality, the infighting and the power struggles that can easily take root in a church whose focus has been taken off Christ. Mr. Spencer deftly sums up many of these problems in the first half of the book, which could very well be a chronicle of my own experiences. Unfortunately, my own family was often guilty of the very mistakes he cites and often could be found at the center of the worst church "battles." As a teenager and young adult desperate for a spirituality that would feed the empty places of my soul, I became extremely unhappy with what the church was offering and, as I gained my independence from my family, I quickly chose to leave the church in favor of a more personal relationship with Christ. I have never regretted that decision and realize now, with the help of Spencer's book, that I am not the only one to feel that way. I also realize that it's my responsibility to become an agent of change. True, the church has many faults but, as Mr. Spencer points out, they are not things that cannot be altered. It is up to those Christians who have set their focus on Christ to become involved and change the way that the church operates and to alter its focus. We need to move away from the mega-churches that stress a social gospel, that focus on us rather than on God and that forget the importance of God's word and move toward churches that stress our individual relationship with Jesus Christ and our responsibility to read and learn his word and then to apply it to our lives. We can do this on our own or we can do it in a community of like-minded individuals. Whatever our choice, we MUST do something to act as "agents of change" in the world around us. Mr. Spencer's ultimate message is that, once we turn our focus onto Christ, it's our responsibility to point others to Him as well!
A powerful message and powerful book, one that's desperately needed today.
A powerful message and powerful book, one that's desperately needed today.
February 16, 2017
Michael Spencer blogged for many years as the Internet Monk, a blog I only discovered a couple of years ago, but immediately added to my daily reading list. Sadly, during the writing of this, his only book, he was diagnosed with cancer and he died in April, 2010. Thankfully he has left us this final work, which is an amazing must-read for American Christians.
Michael writes honestly about the many problems with American Evangelicalism, all of which basically boil down to churches that focus on anything other than Jesus. His call then is to move away from "churchianity", from playing the game where we all try to look like and act like "good Christians". In place of this charade, we need to focus on the supremacy of Christ.
This book is specifically for people who have left or are thinking about leaving the church. Spencer honestly tells them he can understand why, and he believes they are not leaving the church because of problems with Jesus. That said, I think this book has a lot to say to pastors and any Christian.
Spencer writes from the heart with a focus on Jesus. His writing manages to both be critical of the American church while showing a great love for church. He argues for the necessity of both community and solitude in the life of following Jesus. And that is really what this book is all about: Jesus. As his last word and only book it is a good word, cutting through the fluff and distractions to remind us that what really matters is Jesus.
Michael writes honestly about the many problems with American Evangelicalism, all of which basically boil down to churches that focus on anything other than Jesus. His call then is to move away from "churchianity", from playing the game where we all try to look like and act like "good Christians". In place of this charade, we need to focus on the supremacy of Christ.
This book is specifically for people who have left or are thinking about leaving the church. Spencer honestly tells them he can understand why, and he believes they are not leaving the church because of problems with Jesus. That said, I think this book has a lot to say to pastors and any Christian.
Spencer writes from the heart with a focus on Jesus. His writing manages to both be critical of the American church while showing a great love for church. He argues for the necessity of both community and solitude in the life of following Jesus. And that is really what this book is all about: Jesus. As his last word and only book it is a good word, cutting through the fluff and distractions to remind us that what really matters is Jesus.
June 30, 2011
While this book is not necessarily written for the person who is happy in their local church, it has some value and insight on where and what is wrong with mainstream "Christianity" in America.
Among the more insightful points in the book is "I don't need this community to try to replace Jesus or to promise to dispense Jesus like a product. . . . I don't need a contrived experience, but a fellowship and a family"(45). However, the means by which he suggests the disaffected achieve this still leaves little or nothing for those who are mainstream to participate of share in, while retaining their identity.
It is not enough to reject evangelicalism, or other forms of uniquely American religious consumerism and somehow think that one will return to Jesus and what He intended for His Church. Nor is it even possible to have Jesus while rejecting His church in any form.
Unfortunately "Mere Churchianity" offers little that is helpful to fix the problem and instead waxes philosophic about the problem so that a spiritual sounding complaint is perceived as insight and leaves the reader with little more than they came to the text already in possession of. A decent text, but the last thing the church needs is another text about what is wrong with the church. and the last thing the disaffected need is more fuel on why they have to find believers "like them" in order to justify continued rejection of the visible and established Church.
Among the more insightful points in the book is "I don't need this community to try to replace Jesus or to promise to dispense Jesus like a product. . . . I don't need a contrived experience, but a fellowship and a family"(45). However, the means by which he suggests the disaffected achieve this still leaves little or nothing for those who are mainstream to participate of share in, while retaining their identity.
It is not enough to reject evangelicalism, or other forms of uniquely American religious consumerism and somehow think that one will return to Jesus and what He intended for His Church. Nor is it even possible to have Jesus while rejecting His church in any form.
Unfortunately "Mere Churchianity" offers little that is helpful to fix the problem and instead waxes philosophic about the problem so that a spiritual sounding complaint is perceived as insight and leaves the reader with little more than they came to the text already in possession of. A decent text, but the last thing the church needs is another text about what is wrong with the church. and the last thing the disaffected need is more fuel on why they have to find believers "like them" in order to justify continued rejection of the visible and established Church.
January 7, 2011
As the Internet Monk, Michael Spencer encouraged thousands through his blog, before he died of cancer last April. His one and only book, Mere Churchianity, is a fitting legacy.
Like his blog, Mere Churchianity is provocative and appeals to those disillusioned by the institutional church. It serves to start a conversation about what following Jesus looks like, and the ways the church is leading us astray and thwarting us in our attempts to live like Christ.
I found the book encouraging on the whole. Consistently, readers are called to go back to the gospels, and examine what Jesus said and did. Find the real Jesus, not the one other people project, and be changed by him. Spencer calls evangelical churches out for the ways they ignore Jesus and peddle a false gospel, particularly those who promote a prosperity gospel or one that requires everyone to be happy all the time.
Though it is addressed to "leavers" and is very sympathetic to their concerns, I think it makes a good case for living in community and being a part of a church. This book will be a great encouragement to those who are struggling with the church, but its short on next steps. I would have liked to see Jesus-Shaped Spirituality a little more fleshed out. But overall, it's a worthwhile read.
Like his blog, Mere Churchianity is provocative and appeals to those disillusioned by the institutional church. It serves to start a conversation about what following Jesus looks like, and the ways the church is leading us astray and thwarting us in our attempts to live like Christ.
I found the book encouraging on the whole. Consistently, readers are called to go back to the gospels, and examine what Jesus said and did. Find the real Jesus, not the one other people project, and be changed by him. Spencer calls evangelical churches out for the ways they ignore Jesus and peddle a false gospel, particularly those who promote a prosperity gospel or one that requires everyone to be happy all the time.
Though it is addressed to "leavers" and is very sympathetic to their concerns, I think it makes a good case for living in community and being a part of a church. This book will be a great encouragement to those who are struggling with the church, but its short on next steps. I would have liked to see Jesus-Shaped Spirituality a little more fleshed out. But overall, it's a worthwhile read.
September 7, 2016
To most Christians, Michael Spencer’s Mere Churchianity may seem to be a scary book. And it is if you focus less on a relationship with Jesus and more on churchianity, or a “church-dependent religion.” (186) This book should come with a warning to not be quick to judge. I fear that most would start reading and assume that Michael Spencer is against Christianity or even Christian communities in general. This however is not the case. I believe that he has a ministry that is reaching out to people that most Christians miss. Those that are leaving the church, not because they don’t believe in God, but because they don’t believe in what “His followers” are doing. And the reason why Christians miss this people group is because they are the ones pushing them away. Spencer gives the reader the freedom to actually read your bible and grow in a relationship with God that is in no way dependent on other people. He also highly encourages you to find a community. Maybe it’s not the typical Christian community most call the church; it could be as simple as a community consisting of all the neighborhood moms. So find a Jesus-shaped spirituality and read this book, maybe you’ll find your own journey.
*This book was provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.*
*This book was provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.*
June 28, 2010
Reading Mere Churchianity was refreshing on many levels. First, it was great to "hear" the familiar voice of the Internet Monk once again. Second, it was challenging to believers (including myself) who neglect to truly make Jesus the center of their faith, and exposing those errors that happen in the world of churchianity. Third, it was encouraging and comforting on a personal level. I have struggled with churches but remained a part of them. I also have often been surrounded by believers adhering to other traditions (or no tradition at all), believers who believe I am in error in some way or the other, whether for my denomination, my beliefs, or my life of faith lacking this or that. As someone who has been discouraged at the hand of other believers, I took comfort from Michael Spencer's wisdom that it comes down to Jesus and following Him on the adventure He sets before me. I also benefited greatly from his discussion of discipleship. Would I recommend this work? Absolutely.
March 9, 2019
I don't care who you are, where you are from, what you are doing, or what your religious or political beliefs are - you NEED to do yourself a favor and read this book.
The author is a former Southern Baptist preacher who one day woke up to the realization that perhaps much of what he had been taught and was teaching about Jesus was wrong. As he began his own journey to truly discovering Jesus and all the implications of Him, he stumbled across some dramatic discoveries that would shake him to the very core. He founded InternetMonk.com, where he began writing about this journey, and eventually wrote this book.
I literally wound up highlighting about half the book on my Kindle. It was THAT mind blowing.
Fair warning though: No matter your beliefs - and my own were relatively similar to the author's going into the book - be prepared to be challenged, perhaps in ways you never considered. To me, that is perhaps the greatest value of this book.
The author is a former Southern Baptist preacher who one day woke up to the realization that perhaps much of what he had been taught and was teaching about Jesus was wrong. As he began his own journey to truly discovering Jesus and all the implications of Him, he stumbled across some dramatic discoveries that would shake him to the very core. He founded InternetMonk.com, where he began writing about this journey, and eventually wrote this book.
I literally wound up highlighting about half the book on my Kindle. It was THAT mind blowing.
Fair warning though: No matter your beliefs - and my own were relatively similar to the author's going into the book - be prepared to be challenged, perhaps in ways you never considered. To me, that is perhaps the greatest value of this book.
July 6, 2010
I loved this book. I don't think I am the target audience, but I believe imonk has a lot to teach evangelicals about focusing way too much on elections, culture war, how to grow the church and how to have a better quality of life. He describes how many Christians are going through "the spiritual buffet line in the contemporary church" thinking this is "the path to a genuine experience of God, as if God had agreed in advance to endorse whatever is done to make churches more successful."
He points away from the "victorious Christian life" and back to the work of God through Christ and his amazing grace--grace we continue to think is too good to be true. "Grace is shocking. It's a stunning reversal of the way the world does business." The miracle of divine forgiveness is, as Sasse wrote, that "Christ dwells only in sinners."
He points away from the "victorious Christian life" and back to the work of God through Christ and his amazing grace--grace we continue to think is too good to be true. "Grace is shocking. It's a stunning reversal of the way the world does business." The miracle of divine forgiveness is, as Sasse wrote, that "Christ dwells only in sinners."
January 3, 2011
Short review: Good book. Many books have spoken about church leavers but Spencer does it quite well. I wish that he has spent more time talking about how to find your way back to God, but that is part of his book, that it cannot be prescribed.
I unintentionally read it which Eugene Peterson's Practice Resurrection. I highly recommend doing that. Peterson's books primarily says you cannot grow without the church. Spencer says that the church often gets in the road of actually spiritual growth. I think they are both right in their own way. But both are made better with the seasoning of the other.
full review on my blog at http://www.mrshields.com/mere-churchi...
I unintentionally read it which Eugene Peterson's Practice Resurrection. I highly recommend doing that. Peterson's books primarily says you cannot grow without the church. Spencer says that the church often gets in the road of actually spiritual growth. I think they are both right in their own way. But both are made better with the seasoning of the other.
full review on my blog at http://www.mrshields.com/mere-churchi...
February 8, 2017
This is an excellent book for those who are Christ-followers and have discovered that the "church" has left them.
The author uses the terms "church-shaped" and "Jesus- shaped" to analyze what is going wrong spiritually in the church today. He provides encouragement and support to those who realize one might need to "leave" in order to "follow" Christ.
The author uses the terms "church-shaped" and "Jesus- shaped" to analyze what is going wrong spiritually in the church today. He provides encouragement and support to those who realize one might need to "leave" in order to "follow" Christ.
January 26, 2011
Michael Spencer, the Internet Monk, has been a prolific blogger for some time. This is his only book. Michael died in April of 2010. His voice is passionate and articulate. He values honesty, and speaks candidly about the shortcomings he sees in the Church. I can resonate with many of his observations, but I come up with different conclusions. It might be that I am a thick-headed dolt or a self-righteous hypocrite. Or it might be that for whatever reason I have found the Church to be a community of people who--although they are flawed--care for me and call me to be more than what I am.
December 30, 2022
This is one of my favorite books.
In a culture where churches, Bibles, or authority figures are seen as the epitome of how to be a good Christian, this gives a different idea: to follow Jesus and shape your spirit after Him, wherever you may be led, in the church, out of the church, etc. and some guidelines along the way.
It gives SEVERAL different simple explanations of the Gospel and in different ways. The shortest being "Jesus-shaped spirituality is cross centered and Christ centered. The Good News of the Kingdom of God is the Good News that the King died to save us.
In a culture where churches, Bibles, or authority figures are seen as the epitome of how to be a good Christian, this gives a different idea: to follow Jesus and shape your spirit after Him, wherever you may be led, in the church, out of the church, etc. and some guidelines along the way.
It gives SEVERAL different simple explanations of the Gospel and in different ways. The shortest being "Jesus-shaped spirituality is cross centered and Christ centered. The Good News of the Kingdom of God is the Good News that the King died to save us.
July 10, 2012
This. Book. Rocks. I think it's an important read for those considering leaving the church as well as folks that may be happily engaging in "churchianity" - and all those who fall in-between. Michael Spencer challenged me on a lot of fronts - not necessarily with new information, but in a way that I couldn't conveniently dismiss or discount. It resonated with the tugs (and sometimes head slaps) I've felt from Jesus while dealing with my frustrations in finding a church home.
April 6, 2012
I really think this is an important book that more Protestants, but especially Evangelicals, should read. It calls into question the current socio-political church and calls people to a more in depth relationship with Christ. While he doesn't offer much in the way of specific tips, I found I related to his frustration with a church that looks much like the rest of the world.
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