Church: Why bother?

Philip Yancey is a man who really understands grace. This little book is his personal story of growing up in a religious and fundamentalist church and how he managed to survive  and come through it. Eugene Peterson writes the introduction and tells the wonderful story of John Muir climbing a tree in a storm as the best way to understand true spirituality. ( I keep Muir's stories in my fishing bag and read them on the river bank)

'We humans, somewhere along the way, seem to have picked up the bad habit of trying to get life on our terms, without all the bother of God, the Spirit of life. We keep trying to be our own gods; and we keep making a sorry mess of it' observes Peterson.

The one thing that underpins Yancey's account is his radical experience and encounter with grace. (If you haven't read What's so amazing about grace? then stop right now, buy it and read it this weekend!) The thing a liked about this book was that it offers an antidote to the church is all about me attitude that seems so prevalent- sadly sometimes particularly in those consumed with trying to grow churches by there own efforts and energy. The danger is that we become so preoccupied with activity, relevance and form that God somehow gets slowly lost in our grand personal justification project. 

Again a Peterson quote helped me see this:

'Eugene Peterson draws a contrast between Augustine and Pelagius, two forth-century theological opponents. Pelagius was urbane, courteous, convincing, and liked by everyone. Augustine squandered away his youth in immorality, has a strange relationship with his mother, and made enemies. Yet Augustine started from God's grace and got it right, whereas Pelagius started from human effort and got it wrong. Augustine passionately pursued God; Pelagius methodically worked to please God. Augustine desperately needed God, and he knew it. Peterson goes on to say that Christians tend to be Augustinian in theory and Pelagian in practice. They rely on there own frenzied efforts; committee meetings, guilt-driven overtime, obsessive attempts to "fix" other people's problems.' (Page 86)

So Church: Why bother? is a short and very enjoyable read that I think you might enjoy.