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    Adventures in Churchland: Finding Jesus in the Mess of Organized Religion
    Adventures in Churchland: Finding Jesus in the Mess of Organized Religion
    Adventures in Churchland: Finding Jesus in the Mess of Organized Religion
    Audiobook6 hours

    Adventures in Churchland: Finding Jesus in the Mess of Organized Religion

    Written by Dan Kimball and Foreword by Wanda Jackson, Member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

    Narrated by Adam Black

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    Would Jesus Attend Church Today?

    Among the top ten trends that are changing American life, Time magazine recently listed a rising dissatisfaction with organized religion. Though many people today like Jesus, they are growing tired of traditional religious institutions. Even those who follow Jesus aren't so sure they always like what Christianity and the church represent.

    For many years, Dan Kimball would have agreed, until an encounter with a small group of Jesus followers started him on a journey that challenged him to rethink everything he had ever assumed about the church. In Adventures in Churchland, Dan invites you to join him as he uncovers what the Bible really says about the church and reminds us that it’s more than just buildings and institutions, it’s a beautiful mess of broken people learning to follow Jesus together. As you journey with Dan, you’ll begin to see the church as Jesus intended it to be: a community of forgiven misfits coming together to serve the world around them with passion, creativity, innovation, and grace.


    "If you don’t like the church, or if you’re thinking about leaving, please read this book first. Dan’s stories will make you laugh, make you think, and make you appreciate the church like never before." – Mark Batterson, author of The Circle Maker

    “As a non-Christian, I was inspired and moved, and have been enthusiastically recommending it to my friends. This is a book for everybody." – Mark Frauenfelder, editor-in-chief of MAKE, founder of boingboing.net


    "Dan encourages us to break through the tension and messiness that church communities inevitably encounter to experience the beauty of being in community and sharing God's infinite love with others." – Zach Lind, drummer, Jimmy Eat World

    "I am so glad that my friend Dan has written this book, because there is a lot of confusion out there about Jesus and the church." – Wanda Jackson, Queen of Rockabilly and member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

     

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherZondervan
    Release dateJun 5, 2012
    ISBN9780310492917
    Author

    Dan Kimball

    Dan Kimball is the author of several books on leadership, church, and culture. He is on staff at Vintage Faith Church in Santa Cruz, California. He  also is on faculty with Western Seminary and leads the ReGeneration Project which is encouraging theology and mission to be part of younger generations lives and churches. He enjoys comic art, Ford Mustangs, and punk and rockabilly music. His passion is to see the church and Christians follow and represent Jesus in the world with love, intelligence, and creativity.

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    Reviews for Adventures in Churchland

    3.5/5

    9 ratings2 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Adventures in Churchland' is a thoughtful look at what we call 'church', including the author's own experiences with some most unhelpful Christians and church styles. He contrasts what he calls 'Churchland' (the typical culture and traditions that often go with church congregations) with 'Graceland', the ideal church as Body of Christ.

      He writes with clarity and honesty about the horrors of judgemental and rigid church leaders, of the rejection of those who are perceived as 'different', of the worst kind of controlling religious stereotypes who may be rare, but, alas, do exist. He also writes of his warm welcome by a small group in London. He began to relate to people very different from himself, who encouraged him to ask questions and didn't criticise the way he dressed or the habits he indulged in, but offered him love and acceptance as a person made in God's image.

      I don't know that it's particularly helpful for followers of Jesus who are currently 'called out' of the local structured church. But it's a thought-provoking book, which could be useful for anyone who has been hurt or attacked by Christians, or who had one bad experience with a local congregation and then reject them all (understandably) in reaction. I thought it very readable and it certainly made me think.
    • 4/5
      An exploration of Evangelical Christian subculture through the author's life story and experiences.The author presents his themes according to his experiences from an "unchurched" lifestyle among many who were hostile to Evangelical Christianity toward becoming a Christian and a minister himself. Through his own story he explains the challenges often posed by Evangelical subculture which he subsumes under the rubric of "churchland." He also highlights the positives and great experiences he shared with others in the faith, subsumed under the rubric of "graceland" based upon the idea of God's grace in action. Through this contrast the author explores many subjects relating to Christianity: level of comfort/acceptance of others with whom Evangelicals may disagree, judgmentalism regarding matters of importance and unimportance, the nature of Christianity, salvation, the church, and the faith, along with a thoroughgoing critique of Evangelical subculture and its challenges.While there are the standard challenges present with all books written by Evangelicals with this work, the author nevertheless writes in a winsome and engaging manner, highlighting his points and critiques with his own experiences as well as the experiences of others, and unlike many other such writers maintains a charitable attitude toward those with whom he had challenges for whatever reason, seeking to see the best intentions in them even though the end result may not have been as productive. A major critique of the author might involve his view of the role of the church, which he says is not for itself but for the benefit of others, whereas Paul declares that the church is to build itself up in love, and by building itself up it can empower its individual members to be of service and benefit to others so those "others" may be led to God in Christ and thus become part of the Body (Acts 2:42-48, Ephesians 4:11-16). Otherwise much of the author's critiques of Evangelical subculture are spot on, and many of his theological emphases are important to consider in terms of what the Scriptures teach and how the faith should be practiced and communicated in the twenty-first century.Not a hard-hitting theological treatise by any means but a good book for Christians to consider, especially those who have become so thoroughly enmeshed in Christian subculture that they do not seem able to effectively communicate with those outside that realm.**--book received as part of early review program