At the beginning of the year I was told about a project by Jeremy Myers. He was trying to gather stories from followers of Christ who have left the church, who are switching churches, or who are reform their understanding of “church”. I decided that I would write my own story about leaving the church and submit it to the project.
To my pleasure, my essay was accepted for the project and after a few rounds of edits I had a final draft. I happen to have the first essay in the “Leaving Church” section of the book, titled, How Seminary Helped Me Leave Church. My close friend and mentor Alan Knox also wrote an essay in the “Reforming Church” section of the book, titled, Part of the Continual Work of Reforming the Church. The book is due to be released on December 1st, 2012 but it is available for presale today from CivitasPress. I did not receive any financial benefit or promise of financial benefit for submitting my story, nor did any other author (to my knowledge). You should seriously consider buying this book. Especially if you have been questioning the idea of “church”. There are 36 essays in total, split almost equally between each subject.
Millions of people are “leaving church” each year, but they’re not giving up on god. Most of these people are pursuing more intimate and personal relationships with other followers of Christ. Finding Church explores these stories of people leaving, switching, and even reforming their basic understanding of church. It will open your eyes to a growing trend in culture for people to take responsibility for their faith.