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| So You Don't Want to Go to Church Anymore | 
 enlarge | Authors: Jake Colsen, Wayne Jacobsen, Dave Coleman
Publisher: Windblown Media
Category: Book
List Price: $11.99
Buy New: $6.38
You Save: $5.61 (47%)
New (38) Used (7) from $6.15
Avg. Customer Rating:  70 reviews
Sales Rank: 675
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 191
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.3 x 0.6
ISBN: 0964729229
Dewey Decimal Number: 248
EAN: 9780964729223
ASIN: 0964729229
Publication Date: March 1, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: 100% Brand New! - Ships Today! Identical to Amazon's book in every way. Flawless! Not a cheap Remainder or Book Club Copy! *We recommend Expedited Shipping option for much faster mail delivery
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| Customer Reviews:
 A Mixed Bag July 24, 2008
7 out of 11 found this review helpful
There is much in this book that I admire. Any book that teaches that we should focus on a strong, abiding faith and trust in God cannot be a very bad book. I was very moved by some of the passages in this book, and I believe many other Christians will be moved as well.
As a corrective to the word-faith gospel this book is excellent. It clearly teaches that God does not answer to us, we answer to Him. I greatly admire anyone who is willing to tell people that God has not chosen to make all Christians wealthy.
My first problem with the book is that it portrays a church that is full of spiritually immature people. The Pastor, the elders, the assistant Pastor, and all of the parishioners seem to be a group of self centered louts. Are there no people who attend a church who actually love their neighbors?
The reason that I cannot give a higher rating than 3 stars is that I have grave reservations about the overarching message of the book, that the church should be avoided. This book seems to advocate Christianity as a religion best practiced alone, or in small groups. Of course that is an aspect of the faith, but the New Testament is full of instructions for the running of the local church as a body of believers. Acts 20:28 tells those who were made "overseers" of the flock that they were apointed by the Holy Spirit. This book seem to take the view that there should not be overseers at all. Read the whole of the Bible, particularly the New Testament before agreeing to the premises of any book.
The biggest problem that I have with this book is that it seems to be teaching that becuase the church is full of hypocrites that we should abandon it. How are the spiritually immature supposed to learn from the "spiritually elite" that are separating from the church?
A good, but flawed book.
 Draw close to Jesus-YES! Apart from the body of Christ-NO! July 23, 2008
23 out of 28 found this review helpful
This book was recommended to me by a new acquaintance. The title threw me at first. I really was expecting a book that was presenting some new church model or method, of which I had no desire to embrace. After a few chapters, I was pleasantly surprised. The author describes with accuracy what takes place in many churches. Though not greatly polished in writing style, the author does paint a picture that is painfully true in many cases.
The character in the book named John, does a good job of reminding Jake of the primacy of following Jesus, not some man-made method. The intimacy with God that John describes is refreshing. His emphasis on patience and trust in a sovereign God (my words not his) is a good lesson for all Christians.
But I would caution any reader of this book. The character of John is a fascinating man, and is rarely, if ever, offensive. But he does lead Jake (and the reader) to think less of the local church. The reader is left to think that our individual lives with God is far superior than any corporate gathering. If there are occasions to interact with other believers, then that is a bonus, certainly not something to seek out. I would suggest that our individual lives will never reach its full spiritual potential UNTIL it loves and lives in the fellowship of a local church, where you can know and be known!
My struggle with this concept is that is appears to miss the beauty of the Bride of Christ. I'm not convinced you can love the bride-groom without loving the bride. The church universal is wonderful, but obviously Christ desired believers to be connected to a local body as well. I read the book of Acts (and the rest of the epistles) and see the body worshiping together, sharing together, and even experiencing church discipline together for those who need restorative correction.
I admit that the church is full of hypocrites, sinners, and those who do not demonstrate genuine faith. For that, the church will be held accountable, especially leadership. Also, most local churches are guilty of over-programming everything and getting little result for the money and effort put in. The church ought to embrace relationships with each other and God far more than it does. But to say the church is simply a man-made institution that is unnecessary (my interpretation of the book) is going way to far.
I would rather see the church as a place that we come together to worship our God, which is the overflow of our individual and family worship that we have encountered all week. And together we will accomplish all that God desires. It takes the whole body to accurately display the glory of God in our world. Christ didn't just die for individuals, He died for the church. And each individual ought to be eager to join with fellow believers to evangelize, establish, and equip each other and the world.
Let this book be a stimulus to embrace God, but do not let it deter you from His Body in a local church!
 Excellant book for those confused July 14, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
Religion and church nowadays are becoming more and more confusing. For me, this book helped sort out somethings I was wrestling with in relation to church.
Very freeing! July 8, 2008
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
Truly one of the best books I've ever read and the timing was divine. This, however, is not a book to read if you are not drawn to it. And if you judge this book by it's cover, you are in for a surprise.
 So You Don't Want to Go To Church Anymore June 19, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
So You Don't Want to Go to Church Anymore
This is the greatest little book I've read in a long time! Even if you are pretty much satisfied with your current worship experience, this book will touch that longing for the real life of the Spirit that we all know, deep down inside, is sadly lacking in most all American churches. Go ahead, give it a read, and see if it stirs up that inner thirst for the real deal!
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