Life After Church: God’s Call to Disillusioned Christians is a book written by Brian Sanders.
We don’t need one more book screaming about all that is wrong with the church. We all already know that much. Those folk need to find some new material, and soon. Until they do figure out how to maturely assess contemporary ecclesiology and reflect this newfound maturity in their writing, check out Brian Sanders’ Life after Church. It offers readers a mature summarization of current trends – good and bad – in ecclesiology and challenges readers to decide for themselves if they should stay or leave by asking themselves which action would be better for the kingdom of God. This is a great little book.
My rating: stars
Is there life after church? Brian Sanders seems to think so! In fact, he banked the title of his book on it! Life After Church: God’s Call to Disillusioned Christians is yet another offering in a long line of titles that seemingly focuses upon “everything that’s wrong with the church.” Focusing upon the negative does seem to be a popular phenomenon these days. It sells books, if nothing else; there is a market for disillusionment. It seems odd, however, that there is virtually nothing substantial being said or written about the validity or cause of the disillusionment itself. There may even be a cure for it, if we restrain from running away long enough to actually think about it and look for answers.
Sanders’ book is ultimately a book for “leavers” of the church. A very large group of people are leaving the church because of dissatisfaction that spans the spectrum of social and religious preference. It is a sad exodus. It becomes downright heartbreaking when comparisons are drawn between it and the divorce rates of the parents of these leavers. Could it be that we have learned how to be dissatisfied from our divorced parents and the social climate they perpetuated? Could it be possible that we have learned that happiness will follow only after we launch out upon a new search for a new satisfaction elsewhere? Could it be possible that we have actually become that which we most detest, without knowing it? Are we on a perpetual search for “the next big thing,” even if it turns out to be little? Possibly. Many – if not all – books for “leavers” focus entirely upon “leaving.” It’s not healthy deconstruction, so please refrain from referring to it as such. It’s just dysfunction passed along.
Life After Church is different. While it does present readers with the all the impetus needed to take off for those mythical greener pastures, it also challenges us to leave correctly. This is a surprising inclusion for this particular generation and genre of writing. Even more surprising than the inclusion of a challenge to leave correctly is the call to actually stay. Sanders’ dedicates one Interlude (Empowered Staying) and three chapters (How to Stay and Find Joy, Staying for a Change, Living Change) to “staying” in the church. This is not your typical offering from the young, white, burnt-out evangelical crowd. This is a well thought out and healthy book that truly challenges readers to think about the Body of Christ before one’s personal preferences.
The following excerpts are indicative of the broad scope and healthy challenge Brian Sanders offers in this book:
“You may have heard someone say, ‘No church is perfect.’ And that is true. What someone means is that finding an imperfection is a silly reason to leave, because you’re destined to find imperfections everywhere. I completely agree. What I’m interested in helping us determine is this: does this organization, service, or group meet the simple biblical criteria for being a church? We need an ecclesial minimum that helps us make a concrete definition of church that’s not bound by era or culture or doctrinal differences. Once we are part of a true church, we can commit to one another and work toward the ideal” (61).
“When we apply Scripture – really believe it and integrate it into our lives – it becomes written on our hearts. This is, I believe, the ultimate value of Scripture for us: that it would not just be something we read to know but something we read to live” (94).
“Seeking the kingdom is the spiritual measurement of all decisions. Before you can decide to stay or leave, you have to ask the question, ‘What is the best for the kingdom?” It may well be that you’re very effective in your current church. And although you’re frustrated with the leadership or some of the direction of the church, you know you’ll have a fruitful ministry leading something at the church or through relationships that you will not be able to find somewhere else” (125).
“I was apart of a large group of people who were all leaving churches at the same time. Some of them looked to me as a leader in the midst of this transition, likely because I always had been quick to talk about what I saw going wrong in the churches in our area. These critiques may have been fair and accurate, but they were only half of the story. When it came time to gather these people together, it dawned on me that we were creating a culture of deconstruction. We were all too eager to talk about what was wrong and were not as aware of or articulate on what was right” (139).
“The focus was always on what we needed to stop doing and never what we ought to be doing. There wasn’t much mention of Christ’s redemptive power or how to tap into that. This combination caused me to feel hopeless because it put the onus of perfection on me and I knew that wasn’t working. The only reason I ever went back was guilt” (95).
Recommendation: Put this one on your shelf. Put an extra copy on your shelf too, for that hard-head in your church that can’t get no satisfaction and wants to bail at the first opportunity.
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