Life After Church: God's Call to Disillusioned Christians [Paperback]

Brian Sanders (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 8, 2007

Life without church. It's getting easier to imagine. And maybe you already left. A leaver, then. Committed to Jesus, not an institution. Perhaps you've left your church in spirit, remaining in the pew. Outwardly silent. Secretly bored. In either case, Brian Sanders has a word for you. Out of his own experience as a leaver, Brian distills the complex problem into two viable options:

• Stay. Remain in your church with the blessing of Christ and in the power of his great vision for the church to come.
• Take the path of revolutionary leaving. Move purposefully, seeking the kingdom of God that is beyond institutions.

Whether Sunday mornings find you alone in a one-bedroom apartment or isolated in a church of thousands, Brian reminds you to keep listening for God's call. Reform the church that is Christ's. Be it from the inside out, or the outside in.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Wow!!! Sanders has my attention. And the book never gets bitter or ruthless. It expresses the pain, not of unrealistic idealists who are not able to be satisfied, but of honest men and women who see what the rest of us do not want to see, for whatever may be our reasons. Read this book. Read this book. Read this book." (Don Bryant, pastor, Coastal Church, Hanover, Massachusetts )

"This is the only book I know of that is about leaving church, not in the sense of tossing in the towel, but of thoughtful, deliberate, wise leaving because one's heart burns for the kingdom more than one's local church does. This book is not crazy or angry; it's thoughtful, judicious, and programmatic for those who want to pick up stakes and do church differently, more radically." (Scot McKnight, from jesuscreed.org )

"I'm blown away by Life After Church. I've never yet seen a book of its kind that addresses those who 'stay' in church and those who leave! It's a significant book." (Mike Morrell, editor, The Ooze, and emerging church coordinator, Not For Sale Campaign )

"Hopeful, prophetic, Brian Sanders speaks for the many among us who long for the kingdom of God--but find ourselves frustrated by the church as we know it. In Life After Church he offers a gentle, constructive and hopeful vision of how we can reform ourselves as a body to be the hands and feet of Jesus in our world. Simple but not simplistic, prophetic but not angry, Brian's writing is honest about the struggle to live authentic faith, striking a careful balance between honoring the past and inviting us to imagine what could be." (Mark A. Scandrette, author, Soul Graffiti, and executive director and cofounder, ReIMAGINE! )

"For anyone who really believes Christ is Lord and head of the church, this book is a real roller coaster. At first I found myself angry and defensive in response to Sanders's critique, and yet I also found myself resonating with his deep longing for the church to be more. For those of us staying, Sanders and his 'leavers' articulate important questions. They are critical questions for the leaders of any church that desires to be faithful to its Christ-given mission and relevant to a new generation." (Candie Blankman, pastor, First Presbyterian Church, Downey, California )

"There is a growing awareness of the extent of the 'back door' problem facing many churches. It is often assumed that church leavers represent either the disgruntled transferring to other churches or those who have abandoned their Christian faith. In reality, many are leaving churches out of disillusionment and frustration to continue their spiritual pilgrimage. Brian Sanders tackles this important topic with a clear, analytical mind. He identifies the complex process of leaving a church, and suggests practical ways it can be done in a responsible manner. Most important of all, he argues that leaving must lead to a fresh vision and renewed commitment to Christ, community and the kingdom of God." (Eddie Gibbs, author, ChurchNext )

"I love this book; I hate this book. I love this book because Brian's longing heart is so big he can write a sentence like 'God's vision for his church is so magnificent, so beautiful, that we can never leave it without leaving him.' I hate this book because it might encourage disillusioned people to leave the church--and as Brian says, that would be leaving God behind too. But if you're wrestling with the church, Brian is a great wrestling coach." (Kevin A. Miller, executive vice president and publisher, Christianity Today International )

Product Details

• Paperback: 191 pages
• Publisher: IVP Books (October 8, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0830836063
• ISBN-13: 978-0830836062
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #745,036 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Brian Sanders is the founder and Executive Director of the Underground Network, an international coalition of missional churches united by the prophetic call to love the poor, reach the lost and seek biblical justice. The Underground Network is rooted in Tampa, Florida where he lives with his wife Monica and their six children.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tackling a tough topic with grace, July 15, 2008

By 

FaithfulReader.com (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Life After Church: God's Call to Disillusioned Christians (Paperback)

In some religious circles, there is no greater heresy than walking away from church. For that and many other reasons, some Christians go through the motions week after week, attending church services that leave them feeling spiritually numb, hollow, or worse. But others have chosen to make the exodus, because to stay would be to live a lie. Brian Sanders calls these people "leavers" --- Christians who love God but who cannot in good conscience continue to be a part of a traditional church.

Sanders knows these leavers well, because he is one of them.

A member of an intentional faith community in inner-city Tampa, Florida, Sanders walked away from church 10 years ago. Early on in the book, he offers this commentary on church as we in America know it: "I still can't fathom what it is about traditional church services that people like. All of it seems so tedious to me --- on the best days tolerable, on the worst painful." What he knew then, and what he has discovered in the intervening years, is that many Christians share that perspective. Some have left the church, but others remain, often out of guilt --- and then they compound the guilt by feeling guilty about continuing to attend services under false pretenses. It is to both the leavers and the seriously disaffected that Sanders addresses his book.

The "leavers" Sanders writes about are not people who have simply left one church in search of another, but rather those who have left church itself --- or, as he puts it, "the experience of church as we know it." He quotes one contributor who compared church services to the movie Groundhog Day, in which the main character is forced to live through the same experiences day after day after day. To many Christians, that is what church life amounts to --- an endless cycle of sameness, a far cry from the fire within that burns with a longing to see the transformational power of God manifested in their lives.

Sanders addresses a host of arguments against leaving the church, all of which he has wrestled with. But after years of rationalizing his reasons for going or not going to church and berating himself for disliking it so much, he discovered there was one question that kept nagging at him: Was it possible that God might actually be leading people to leave the church? "I'm sure that we should remain committed to the church, as the body of Christ, its head and the mission that it has been given, but so much of what we call 'church' simply isn't," he writes. That said, Sanders is much less critical of the church than you might expect. He simply dreams of more.

Sanders describes the five stages most "leavers" experience: contentment with a specific church; disaffection, when, for example, the church fails to practice what it preaches; threshold, when the person leaves physically but not emotionally; closing the door, when the emotional connection to a church is finally severed; and new beginning, discovering a vision for a new expression of faith. He follows up with a comprehensive look at the reasons people leave church, a section I consider to be must-reading for anyone in church leadership, especially pastors. Sanders is writing about people whose reasons for leaving church are profound and complex, so you can forget the notion that these individuals left because they were expecting to find the perfect church. What you will find are thoughtful and insightful reasons that have grown out of a deep desire for a more meaningful way of living the life of faith.

Sanders offers helpful guidance to those who are considering leaving church as well as to those who have chosen to stay, providing the latter with practical suggestions on how to reform the church from within and maintain their joy in the process. For those who have chosen to leave, Sanders provides a chapter on how to leave respectfully and graciously.

--- Reviewed by Marcia Ford

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Title Delivers What It Says But...., February 19, 2009

By 

John R. DiLullo (Medford, MA USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Life After Church: God's Call to Disillusioned Christians (Paperback)

Brian Sanders delivers what the title of the book is: Life After Church. It does exist and it can happen. Before I get to the "But...." let me say what I like.

He gives some good advice on what can be a painful time. Some of what the book talks about I have been way past for some time now, like the question of "should I stay or should I go now?" (I'll leave my review of The Clash for some other time <smile>). If you find yourself in that situation then give the man a read. You just might find a little stability in a turbulent storm. I also like the empahsis on the Kingdom of God. That was the emphasis in Jesus' ministry and we need to understand it a little better if we claim to be his followers. Another thing I like is, for those of us who have already left, the advice to make something better, not just tear down what we don't like about traditional church structures. I have seen enough of that in my own spiritual pilgrimage. It doesn't take much to point out obvious failures but making a viable alternative sometimes gets lost. And, of course, trying to find people who are willing to let go of the comfortable methods and structures we were raised with and go with something else.... well that's another story.

Now comes the "But...." In chapter 4, Brian Sanders shares what he feels "church" is in a New Testament sense. To have it involves worship, community, and mission. If you only have 2 out of 3 then it's not what church is in a New Testament sense. It might not be bad but you can't call it "church' either. I agree with that 100%. In the New Testament, "church" NEVER meant a building or a meeting time for religious activities. It always meant a gathering of people, called together for a specific purpose. I agree completely with what Brian Sanders says about "church" in chapter 4. I can also say that I have never experienced "church' in a New testament sense after being a follower of Jesus for over 30 years. I've been to religious country clubs that called themselves churches and I've had religious CEOs that called themselves pastors. But I've never experienced anything remotely like what the New Testament calls "church". The bottom line is this: if where you are going doesn't measure up to what the New Testament calls "church" then my question is, why are you still going there? In my opinion, this is where Brian Sanders gets a little wishy-washy. I don't understand how you can tell somebody to stay somewhere that does not measure up to what the New Testament calls "church". Maybe I have this belief because I spent 25 years trying to change things from the inside of what most would call "church" and never got anywhere.

This is why I could only give 3 stars. I'm not saying this is not a good book. I think it is. I do not want to discourage someone from reading it. Anyone who finds themselves disillusioned with what they have experienced as "church" should do themselves a favor and read this book. I just don't agree with all of Brian Sanders conclusions like I'm sure he wouldn't agree with all of my own.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Maybe We Have It Backwards, January 16, 2009

By 

H Rich (Korea) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Life After Church: God's Call to Disillusioned Christians (Paperback)

Do you know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you love God? Do you want, and try, to become more like Christ each day? Do you feel like your local church is helping you, or hindering you? If you have ever wondered if you are the only one who feels disconnected from God during church services, this book is for you. If you sit through a "worship service" and wonder what abundant life would be like, this book is for you. If you have ever wondered why you are so frustrated with church, this book is for you. So many times, we as church leaders accuse those who leave the church of being uncommitted and backsliders. Maybe, just maybe, people are leaving the church to find God. Maybe we have it backwards. Read this book.