Blog Tour: "Your Church is Too Safe" by mark Buchanan

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Mark Buchanan. Your Church is Too Safe: Why Following Christ Turns the World Upside-Down. Zondervan, 2012. 240 pgs. 

Mark Buchanan believes there is a visible gap between life in Jesus and the life we live, between the Church of Jesus and the churches we have. In his own words, "What happened? When did we start making it our priority to be safe instead of dangerous, nice instead of holy, cautious instead of bold, self absorbed instead of counting everything loss in order to be found in Christ?" This, then, is a book for those who wish the church looked more like the kingdom of God. 

What follows, then, are 18 chapters of pleas, stories, examples, and explanations of what it means to be the true church of Jesus Christ. Buchanan shares with us how Christ makes all things new, how Christ calls us to trust and work for healing and reconciliation and forgiveness and love, and how this will get us into trouble. 

A friend of mine commented that this book could be a bit of a jump over the shark tank (I didn't get the reference the first time he used it either; just google 'jump the shark thank'). I'm not sure about the marketing side of things, but as far as content goes this book is definitely not a grasp at success from the edge of failure. No, this book was quite good. It is filled with mature insight and wisdom, compelling biblical exegesis (of the pastoral, not academic, type), and a vision of what the church could be that ought to get any pastors heart beating faster. It may be that I feel particularly strong about this because the book lines up very well with some of the things I have been learning lately and many of the ideas we have been moving towards in our church, but either way I would definitely recommend this book. 

If I must critique then I will say this: the book lacks a clear line of thought or organization. I was always interested in what I was reading but I didn't always know how it connected or where Buchanan was going. 

Conclusion: 5 Stars. Recommended. This is a book worth reading, especially if your a pastor. 


Thanks to http://engagingchurchblog.com for allowing me to be part of this blog tour and providing the book for review. 

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