Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com

Average Customer Rating:

Puts words to my feelings

Customer Rating:

This book was a breath of fresh air. My husband and I left our last church for a number of reasons (some our own misunderstandings, and some valid). However, we sometimes get lonely so decide to go to church for fellowship only to be sorely disappointed every time. I have had numerous relatives voice their concerns that we typically don't go to church anymore, they can't see what see. While the book certainly isn't an anti-church going book, it does show some major flaws with most modern churches today. Most miss out on relationships and become competitive institutions. We love God with all our hearts and feel we are the church. If going to church means listening to others maliciously gossip or make us feel bad about our selves, than of what value does church hold? Although the church we sometimes visit has great sermons and wonderful worship, what we most desire is friendships and relationships, if all we desired was worship and sermons we could stay home and put on a cd or listen to teachings online and remain in the comfort of our own home. Sadly most fellowship opportunities always require the kids one direction the wife in another and the dad in another..we love our family and don't desire to be away from our kids or from each other. We have also tried home churches that were boring and completely uncomfortable, this book really focuses on letting the spirit lead and relationship building. I just really love it!

I want everyone to read this book!

Customer Rating:

This book came at just the right time in my life, tired of religion, tired of working so hard to be accepted by the church system, tired of not having a more vibrant, real relationship with the Lord. As I started to express some of what I feel, I also began to feel the wary and doubting eyes of my church friends who wondered what was going wrong in my life. Then I found the book. The key issue, in my opinion, is that everything we have is really about and because the Father loves us! It's easy to see this book as an indictment of the modern church, which is fine, but that alone is not the point. The point is HE LOVES US and all this stuff we do in the system of the organized church can easily get in the way of that. This is one of the most honest, personal approaches to explaining why the systems just doesn't work and why relationship with Him always will. It's not at all condemning, just honest and uses many light-giving questions to get to the heart of the matter. I loved it and want everyone I know to read it!

A must read	Customer Rating:
I have found this book to be an answer to the confusion and discouragement many people feel about their church experience. The book helped me put the emphasis of my faith back in proper alignment: on the Lord Jesus Christ and the Word of God, which are always relevant in any age, any situation. I recommend this book very highly to anyone.

Amazing	Customer Rating:
Not only did this book point out some of the problems with religion, but it provided focus for what we need to do to fix this problems.

Some bias, but worth reading

Customer Rating:

The strong message that Jacobsen and Coleman work to convey results in an extraordinarily dialogue-heavy novel. Jake Colsen and John are the only two characters described at any length; neither of them achieves personhood but rather serve as mouthpieces for the points of the authors. Other features common to compelling writing are weak as well: scenery, engaging plot, authentic relationships etc. This is a book on a mission, and that mission does not include striving for excellent fiction writing. As the characters interacted with John, he was often portrayed as an all-knowing wise man; the one with all the answers. I was quite irritated at the somewhat mindless way in which the characters would ask John to reframe their own experiences according to his own understanding of God. They seemed to ask him how they should think, how they should feel, and I saw much more of this than I saw of them turning to Jesus Himself. Lest we toss the baby out with the bathwater, there are redeeming features that we must catch sight of in this novel. Through the application of Jacobsen's understanding to a specific, fictional Christian we are able to see how these beliefs might work themselves out on a practical level. Jake leaves the organized church and is led to pursue a less formal, more relational, spirit-led walk with God and other believers. The sharing of this message alone - that Christian's are the church regardless of where they fellowship - makes this title interest-worthy. While setting the stage for Jake's departure from an organized church John points out the ways in which institutional structures tend to bind rather than free; tending towards religion over relationship. These concerns are certainly valid and have been experienced by many seeking to follow Christ. Unfortunately these points are used to build a less than subtle inference that casual fellowship is better than an organized congregation. The door is left open for believers to remain in established, formal groupings but the attitude is that this is a lesser form of fellowship. In truth, Christians are called to many positions in the body of Christ. Whether called to an institutional setting or to casual, small-scale forms of fellowship, the key is to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit above all else. Despite my reservations, I would like to see So You Don't Want To widely read by members of the body of Christ. Christians are often too hasty to declare that a brother or sister has lost their faith, is a backslider or a prodigal when they fail to establish membership in a local congregation. The body is much larger than we can see and far more diverse than many imagine. What a joy it is to release each other to walk in freedom with the author and finisher of our faith whether that walk leads us to a mega-church, house church or loosely knit community of friends.