Chapter 3 in my book, Close Your Church for Good, is called “The Church Must Die.”
Please note that due to some of the feedback I received on these posts, this chapter was radically revised for the final edition of the book. These changes will only be available in the print or eBook version when it comes out.
Here are the posts that come from this chapter:
- The Body of Christ
- 1 Corinthians 12 – Part A
- 1 Corinthians 12 – Part B
- Public Relations
- Lawn Trash
- Living in the Kingdom
- In Car Nation
- Accusing Jesus
- Vision Casting to Death
To read the content of any other chapters, check out the post which contains the Table of Contents to Close Your Church for Good.
Good posts! I had not read them until today. Based on discussions with friends who do not follow Jesus, I doubt that most church people really understand how they are perceived by people who do not follow Jesus.
The book “UnChristian” speaks to this. I’ve been present when this book was discussed in Bible discussion groups and among a group of pastors. I heard the same response to the book – “they’re wrong!” The pastors group thought updated music, more teen programs and (you know the list) is the answer. To my credit, I kept my mouth shut and did not ask “And how is that working out at your church?”
Expensive properties, engaging in politics and the culture wars, child abuse, sex scandals and just generally being on the wrong side of many issues in the opinion of the vast majority of the public do not endear the church to many people. My opinion – the church looks a lot like a lot of things, but not a lot like Jesus. Who do we know who has really grasped what it means to look like Jesus and is living that way?
Yes, I read unChristian and liked much of what was in the book.
I still have a lot to learn about living and looking like Jesus.
Do you know anyone?
I’ve looked for the book in completed form on Amazon and other sites to no avail. Is there any way to read it without having to click back and forth to the table of contents here in the blog series? I’ve gotten this far with it and would like to read the entire book (or set of blog posts if it never got published). My church is currently in the throes of deciding whether to carry on, and your insights thus far have definitely been helpful to me personally. Thank you.
Hi Dean. Yes, but the book became several books. You can pick the one(s) you want. You can find a list of them here:
https://redeeminggod.com/books-jeremy-myers/
Just scroll down a bit to the ones about church.