The Kindle edition (and other e-reader versions, from what I hear) of the late Michael Spencer’s Mere Churchianity was available for purchase on June 1. Of course, I purchased and read it. Since beginning seminary, I have had the opportunity to encounter some challenging ideas, and be moved toward greater love and appreciation for Jesus. This book ranks among the best of what I have read so far. To date, I have never written a review for anything at Amazon, but that has now changed. Here’s what I had to say there:
This is one of the best and most challenging books on Christian discipleship I have read. If you have (or have nearly) burned out on “church,” or if you have suffered emotional or spiritual abuse at the hands of those who put church before Jesus, this is for you. If you have walked out on the church, but still look for some connection to Jesus, this is for you. Michael Spencer gives no pretense, no bull, and no judging people as second class citizens to a perceived spiritual in-crowd. He simply offers Jesus and his invitation to life and fellowship.
While some time is spent calling out the problems with institutional Christianity, especially his own American Evangelicalism, that is far from the focus of the book. Nor does Michael hold himself out as some kind of guru making empty promises. Instead, he calls all to stop looking to the circuses and power plays used to guide or coerce people into loyalty to man-made institutions, and points them to Jesus. Mere Churchianity expands what Michael Spencer meant when he said, “If you are going to think about God, go to Jesus and start there, stay there and end there.”
Though Michael died in April 2010, his first and only book serves to share the message he was getting at through ten years of writing at internetmonk.com. I recommend it without reservation to anyone who has even a passing interest in Jesus or Christianity.
The book’s that good, friends. Go get it today, or pre-order the paper version. You won’t regret it.