Jim and Casper Go To Church

I bought this little book the other day, and I'm really excited about reading it. It's called (as the title above suggests) "Jim and Casper Go To Church". It's about a believer and an atheist who decide to visit churches around North America and write about their experiences and perspectives on what they witnessed. I've read the first three chapters, and it's been very intriguing reading, especially considering that two of the three are really big names in churches these days: Saddleback Church and Mosaic.

I would like to talk about a certain aspect of each chapter, but before I start down that road, let me give you a few excerpts from the introduction that I thought were interesting:

- "In spite of my desire for people to encounter Jesus, I spent most of my time functioning as a moral policeman."

- "I was so busy chasing the elusive Three B's of pastoral success (buildings, budgets, and butts in the seats) that I hardly had time to focus on anything else. In fact, I outright ignored the people that Jesus himself primarily came to connect with - the people Jesus misses the most."

- "Too often, conversations we have about our beliefs are too much like debates, and we spend our time looking for chinks in the conversational armor, spaces where we can insert an argument or launch a rejoinder."

- "Generally speaking, ordinary Christians don't like arguing their friends into becoming Christians. It just doesn't feel right. To be sure, we buy the books and really do want someone doing this kind of work. But the idea that we should demand a verdict from non-Christians seems like an approach a lawyer would take - and you know how people feel like lawyers. Ordinary Christians like me know that when you start defending the faith, you also start losing your friends."