Jesus Wants to Save Christians - A Brief Review

I have just finished another book (I am really loving the fact that I now have time to read more than just textbooks!). This last encounter has been with a book that was co-authored by Rob Bell (Yes, the founding pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church and teacher who appears in the short film format provided by NOOMA)and Don Golden (the senior vp of church engagement at World Relief in Baltimore, Maryland). The title is Jesus Wants To Save Christians- A Manifesto For The Church in Exile.

Let me first say that there is a lot packed into this 181 page book, but it is an easy and quick read in the sense that if flows wonderfully with excellent transitions between the Scriptures and life as we know it.

As you might guess from the title, however, the message isn't an easy one to hear. If you are comfortable being a magnet that attracts others or a pew potato or an isolationist, then this book will surely rocket you out of that comfort zone. If you are attending church and think that there must be more, or surely we are missing the mark somewhere, then this just may be the book you're looking for.

Out of the story of our exiled ancestry, Bell and Golden show how the church exists in exile today. They give excellent Scriptural and theological context for this perspective. But they don't stop there; they go on to reveal the power and the hope that exists for this group of exiles. They show how God uses this for his good purposes.

The book flows in such a manner that it takes the biblical narrative and our present day narrative and restories these two narratives, in light of the scriptures and God's grace, into a powerful manifesto for the church universal. Its truth is missional, relational, and incarnational.

Here are a couple of quotes to pique your curiosity:

"And church is not ultimately about attending large gatherings. Church is people."

"Jesus wants to save our church from the exile of irrelevance."

"It isn't just about trying to save the world. It's about saving ourselves."

"Instead of standing at a distance and saying, 'Someone else,' it's stepping up and stepping in to the invitation to the risk, to the suffering, to the joy."

I invite and encourage you to read this book...but be prepared, you and your church may never be the same again!

The next two books on my reading list are Serve God Save the Planet by J. Matthew Sleeth, MS and Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall & Denver Moore. Stay tuned in the week(s) to come for reviews on these and other books.

As always, I invite you to read these books with me. I would love it if in the future we could do more than just read and review the books posted here. I would love it if we could enter into a deeper dialog about our thoughts and insights. So if you have read Jesus Wants to Save Christians I invite you to share your thoughts in the comments section below and we will continue that conversation in future posts.