ABOUT THE BOOK:
There is something missing in the church today. Stuck in a rut of routines and rituals, the church is caught up in doing what it is “supposed to do” but is lacking the true essence of what it is supposed to provide: life. Real faith--and a real relationship with Jesus--is not about playing by the rules, attending services, and praying before meals. Real faith is more than religion. Believing there is a way to breathe life back into the church, Tyler Edwards adopts a contemporary and entertaining metaphor--zombies--to highlight and challenge the problematic attitude of today’s believers. Written for the discouraged, disenfranchised, and anyone unsatisfied with their same-old church routine, Zombie Church challenges readers to turn away from hollow religious practices, which characterize “zombie Christianity,” and turn toward a radical relationship with Jesus. While other books have addressed legalism in the church, this is the only book that effectively capitalizes on a popular entertainment genre in order to diagnose and correct the problem. Realizing that even his own church is part of that problem, Edwards has written an accessible and often humorous book that will help believers change the Spirit-draining (or life-draining) habits that stop them from achieving a full, fulfilling life in Christ.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
About Tyler Edwards: Tyler Edwards is the lead pastor at Cornerstone Christian Church in Joplin, Missouri, where he works to help people learn how to live like Jesus, love like Jesus, and look like Jesus—so they carry out the mission of Jesus to the world. He graduated from Ozark Christian College with bachelor’s degrees in both Biblical Literature and Christian Ministry. He has written articles for Lookout Magazine, spoken at various campus ministry events in Missouri, and served overseas in Mbale, Uganda. Tyler loves cheesy horror films. He is particularly fond of movies like Dawn of the Dead, The Signal, and 28 Days Later, where zombies run wild and threaten to infect an entire town. Connect with Tyler on Facebook.
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The Review:
My Ranking: 5 out of 10
Ages 16 & up
The moment I read the synopsis of this book I knew it was a must-read for me. The church today is one of the biggest things that really gets me fired up. I find that a lot of churches today have little to do with actually leading people in the Truth to God. Generally, they are more what I call selling religion, preaching what people want to hear rather than what they need to hear. When I read about this book, I thought that that was where Edwards was going with this, but sadly it wasn't. It was the exact opposite.
To be honest, as I read the first few chapters I was absolutely loving it. It wasn't until my mom picked it up and read it in a different light, also skipping to the end to see if her ideas of what Edwards was getting at was true, and told me her thoughts that I actually realized how this book was not what I was hoping it would be. It did have good points about the lifelessness in churches today, but he wasn't going for the way I was taking it -- he was trying to further the idea of mega churches.
After I realized this, the following chapters were read in a whole different light. I actually didn't finish the book because I began disagreeing with what was being said; not necessarily because of what was said, but because I now knew what he meant by it and I disagreed.
But, because my thoughts and beliefs are my own, I do think that many people would really enjoy this book. He did have some excellent points about how lifeless the church is now. If you would enjoy a book that encourages church growth above all and talks about the lack of passion in churches today, you might like this book. You can find it here.
4 comments:
It's interesting that it's the younger generation that is spurring the churches to be real.
desertrose5173 at gmail dot com
Thank you for your review. I am not sure where you got the idea that I was writing to promote mega-churches. I personally like mega-churches but I also like small churches. I am a pastor of a church of 120 people on a good week so I am not sure what light gave you that idea. What I do like is churches caring enough and having the resources to actually show the community the love of Jesus in a practical way. I like that bigger churches often have the ability to do that in a bigger, more significant way as they have access to more resources but the point made throughout the book is that God changed the world with 12 below average guys (hardly mega). Frankly I have no interest in promoting how big or small a church should be but how active and dedicated they should be to carrying out the work of the gospel and following after Jesus. The point of this book is to say that churches have in many ways gotten away from a Jesus centered lifestyle and from teaching the values and priorities of the kingdom of God in favor of other less significant things and that our focus needs to return to a central foundation of Christ.
I must say: your interpretation of my intention or point is exceptionally far from the truth. That said, it is good to know how certain statements can be perceived or misunderstood and I shall be mindful of that in future writings so as to not inadvertently distract people from the point of what I am trying to say.
God bless and thanks for your review.
As a faithful member of a church that is stuck in the "rut of routines and rituals", with 50 or so years of commited parishioners, I must disagree with Mr. Edwards' assessment of today's traditional church. Many churches appear dead because Christians have gotten it into their heads that church should be a party of fun and entertainment instead of reverent and full of genuine, joyful worship without the need for lights, a band, and disco music.
While Zombie Church made some excellent points, as there definitely ARE dead churches out there, I think the author's intentions were exactly what you stated. Mega-church centered. The bigger the church, the more Christians, the better the outreach. It's just not that easy because if you took those church's bands away, took away the fancy lights and the excitement, their membership would drop EXORBITANTLY and they'd realize that their hard work, their time in outreach actually produced little. Very few contemporary church goers are commited enough to The Body to continue to go to church once the entertainment factor is removed from the equation.
Today's younger generation, while no doubt meaning well, generally has no appreciation for the rituals and routines that made up the early church. To them it's just boring.
Good review, Jane.
Hi Jane, I just wanted to drop by and let you know that I awarded you blog award and you can pick it up at my blog http://labornotinvain.blogspot.com/2011/11/tell-me-about-yourself-award.html Great blog :)
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