Mere Churchianity- Michael Spencer

Admittedly, this book sat on my desk for a while before I decided to give it a go. As usual I received a free copy of Mere Churchianity from Waterbrook Multnomah in exchange for an honest review.
Before I dig into the review can I just say that I love all of these book programs? I'm an avid reader and I have as many books as I can handle just from these. They're the main reason that this blog has mostly turned into a place to house book reviews.
Anyways, Mere Churchianity. The Publisher's Weekly review says, "Spencer, who blogged as the Internet Monk until his untimely death earlier this year, offers a harsh assessment of institutional Christianity-"churchianity." He speaks to the millions who, according to surveys, have changed religions or left them altogether. He takes special aim at evangelical megachurches and prosperity gospel preachers, though he also doesn't spare those who link Jesus to the flag or sociopolitical causes. None of this, he insists, has anything to do with Jesus, who was Jewish (not American), hung out with people others rejected, and made disciples instead of buildings. He advocates "Jesus-shaped spirituality," which can be found in service and scripture and, most important, won't necessarily make you smile, because it can be hard to practice. Like so many critics of the current state of institutional Christianity, Spencer is a lot better at describing the problem than solving it; his indictment gets a little repetitious at times. But his tone is folksy and passionate without ranting. The book is his last word, and stands as the sincere testament of a Christian humble enough to admit and even embrace his flaws"


Given where Chris and I are (or aren't) with church right now, this one couldn’t have been more timely. Michael Spencer was the blogger behind internetmonk.com and he wrote to those who were leaving or had left (mostly) evangelical churches. He doesn't mince words in this book and he doesn't hold back about what he sees as the problems with evangelical churches. His contention is that yes, many of these churches have gone badly awry, yes, you can be a Christian without going to church, and yes there is another way. As someone who has been to those churches, including some of the "biggies" (Benny Hinn, Rod Parsley, etc) it was good to hear someone point out what non-Christians know and some Christians suspect but are afraid to face. For those of us who have defined our Christianity by our church, his premise of Jesus-shaped spirituality is, at least for me, liberating. The question, “how would I feel about ___ if I had spent 3 years with Jesus?” is dangerous, counter church-cultural (even though it shouldn't be), and powerful. The fact that so many churches have gotten so far away from Jesus that they don’t even think this question is worth considering is frightening, and yet I’ve seen it. I was afraid that this book was going to be all down on the church and nothing about what to do next, but fortunately that wasn’t the case. Spencer advocates reading the Bible to find out who Jesus is and what it looked like to be his disciple, spending time with Christians willing to be honest about themselves, and serving people.

Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal

As another Nook book from Netgalley, Little Princes was one of the best books I've read so far this year (yes, I know we're only a month into the year but I really enjoyed this one). Here's Amazon's summary:

In search of adventure, 29-year-old Conor Grennan traded his day job for a year-long trip around the globe, a journey that began with a three-month stint volunteering at the Little Princes Children’s Home, an orphanage in war-torn Nepal.
Conor was initially reluctant to volunteer, unsure whether he had the proper skill, or enough passion, to get involved in a developing country in the middle of a civil war. But he was soon overcome by the herd of rambunctious, resilient children who would challenge and reward him in a way that he had never imagined. When Conor learned the unthinkable truth about their situation, he was stunned: The children were not orphans at all. Child traffickers were promising families in remote villages to protect their children from the civil war—for a huge fee—by taking them to safety. They would then abandon the children far from home, in the chaos of Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu.
For Conor, what began as a footloose adventure becomes a commitment to reunite the children he had grown to love with their families, but this would be no small task. He would risk his life on a journey through the legendary mountains of Nepal, facing the dangers of a bloody civil war and a debilitating injury. Waiting for Conor back in Kathmandu, and hopeful he would make it out before being trapped in by snow, was the woman who would eventually become his wife and share his life’s work.
Little Princes is a true story of families and children, and what one person is capable of when faced with seemingly insurmountable odds. At turns tragic, joyful, and hilarious, Little Princes is a testament to the power of faith and the ability of love to carry us beyond our wildest expectations.

 

I think that part of what I liked about this book was that I could see the legitimate transformation of the author during the story. He doesn't sugar-coat his initial selfishness, naivete, and inexperience. From a spoiled young adult who decides to go to Nepal for a few weeks in order to justify taking a year off of work to play and travel the world, to a person who spends everything he has (and asks other people for money) to get back to the country and keep his promises. I laughed at how naïve he was initially and how little he knew about Nepal or interacting with kids. This is the kind of true story that’s better than fiction- finding out that one of the supposed orphans that he knew actually wasn’t one, but that the other orphans were. This book is a reminder that the answers in real life aren’t always easy. Conor frequently has to wait for the slow wheels of bureaucracy to turn in order to rescue some of “his” kids. He misses a crucial helicopter ride by an hour after waiting through a fruitless week and making a grueling hike on a bum knee. Parents who feel they have no option other than to trade their children to traffickers are reluctant to bring them home because they can’t afford to feed another mouth and the children are well cared for at the orphanage. I learned a bit about a part of the world that I don’t know much about (Nepal) and about a topic that I’ve never researched (child trafficking). Oh, and there’s a love story too.

At this point I've read so many books about people who started charities or foundations (3 Cups of Tea, etc) that I feel like I should start donating to small charities every month and just rotate the ones that I donate to.