What if Jesus Was Serious About the Church?

Title: What If Jesus Was Serious About the Church? A Visual Guide to Becoming the Community Jesus Intended

Series:What if Jesus Was Serious

Author: Skye Jethani

Genre: Christian Nonfiction, Theology, Devotional, Christian Living

Publisher: Moody Publisher

Source: Moody Publisher

My review:

Skye Jethani has become an "auto" read author. I have read the first two in this series, and when I learned What If Jesus Was Serious About the Church? was out, I immediately went looking for it.  

In America the church has become a corporate enterprise.

Each section is between 2-3 pages with Scripture verses at the end of each section to enforce the points that the author was making in that particular section. The book is divided into five sections, with multiple subsections related to the heading of that part. Each of the five sections is related to specific passages of Scripture. It is easy to read and understand.

 I want to remind us all, regardless of our Christian heritage, what Jesus intended for His Church to be. That means looking behind the layers of history to the essential qualities and practices of the church outlined by Jesus Himself, and then reapplying these to whatever context we find ourselves in.

One of the reasons I love these books by Jethani is because he gives us much to ponder. He lays out his points, backed with scripture. They are relevant and true. The church needs a major overhaul and in many cases, it is not representing Jesus well.  Jethani is not telling us how to fix the issues, but he is highlighting them. We are responsible for our own responses, especially when we know the Truth, we can't ignore what we know to be true.

Just as it is possible to attend school and not be educated, it is entirely possible to be churched and not be living in communion with Christ-especially when church is defined institutionally rather than communally.

Thank you to Moody Publishers for the opportunity to read this book. I was not required to give a positive review. All thoughts and opinions are entirely my own.

★★★★/5

Synopsis (Goodreads): 

Researchers have uncovered the following three trends: First, distrust of institutions, including the church, is at an all-time high. Second, young people raised in the church are leaving at alarming rates and not returning. Third, loneliness and social isolation are at pandemic levels. What’s the connection? It appears that an entire generation is starving for the very thing the church is called to provide but has chosen to look for it elsewhere. Why is this happening? Following the model set by What If Jesus Was Serious?—short readings and engaging illustrations—What If Jesus Was Serious about the Church? looks at what the Bible really says about the church, its purpose, and the impact of its modern captivity to consumer values. Rather than an event, a building, or an institution, the New Testament calls the church to be a community living in communion with God and one another for the sake of the world.