Here is a link to Jake Colsen's (nee Wayne Jacobsen) book, So You Don't Want to Go to Church Anymore.
It's in PDF form and a short read.
One of my favorite books of all time.
From the website:
So You Don’t Want to Go To Church Anymore is Jake’s compelling journal that chronicles thirteen conversations with his newfound friend over a four-year period and how those exchanges turn Jake’s world upside-down. With his help, Jake faces his darkest fears, struggles through brutal circumstances and comes out on the other side in the joy and freedom he always dreamed was possible.
If you’re tired of just going through the motions of Christianity and want to mine the depths of what it really means to live deeply in Christ, you’ll find Jake’s story will give you hope for your own. This book probes the difficult questions and offers some far-reaching answers. It just might turn your world upside-down as well!
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Chapter 11: Love, Rest, and Play
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Note: This is the eleventh in a series of letters written for those living
at the end of the age, whenever that comes in the next fifteen years ...
The po...
1 day ago
6 comments:
I've had some great conversations with others lately on why I don't "go to church" anymore. Too much to mention here, but suffice it to say that we weren't born again as new creations so that we would go through the motions each and every week in some building called "a church." Meet together? Yes. Encourage one another? Sure. But in my experience, and I know in yours and others, all of this stuff has taken away from true life in Christ. It's been a distraction from true Life, rather than an expression of true Life.
I've said it before and I'll always say it. I'm not knocking "church." I'm just walking in what I believe is a better definition of it! Not a place, but a people.
Joel,
I HIGHLY recommend it. The title is a little bit of a misnomer. It's not about NOT wanting to go to church anymore. It's about just searching out what it means to do so.
I have grown more in the last year (painful though it has been) than I've EVER grown before - all OUTSIDE of the religious establishment.
Yep I started to read the book on my computer a couple of years ago, but I'm just not able to sit here and read a book. I'll have to print it out and read it, or better yet, if anyone wants to buy me an Amazon Kindle or a Sony Reader, that would be great! LOL
Really, the book has great reviews from sooo many people and I really will take some time to finish it.
So many things you go through are parallel to what I've been going through as well, although with different scenarios, of course. But what you said here about growing more than you've EVER grown before OUTSIDE of the religious establishment, is exactly what has happened to me in the past two years. My family's pastor just doesn't get it, and he told me I wasn't seeing things right, but you just can't argue with actual growth!
I have greatly enjoyed that book!
I agree with you the title can be misleading. For me, the issue is not really whether I go to a church or not. The issue is, am I following man-made traditions or am I in a relationship with Jesus and being lead by Him?
I believe people can be lead by Jesus outside the building.
I don't go TO church, DANG IT! I IS BEING the CHURCH. I IS, I IS!! :D
Oops! WE IS... ;D
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