Churched - Book Review

I'm participating in a blog tour for the book Churched: One Kid's Journey Toward God Despite a Holy Mess by Matthew Paul Turner. Having read one of Matthew's earlier books, The Coffeehouse Gospel, and communicating with him a couple of times via email, I wanted to help him out as he promotes his latest creation.

It's a quick and fun read about growing up in a fundamentalist church. It's humorous and scary at the same time. Humorous because of the wacky things people do to convince others to be saved, e.g., a Barbie burning and the annual boxing match between the pastor and Satan. Scary because some believers are so driven by rules and legalism that they drive others away, e.g., KJV only, hellfire and brimstone preaching, haircuts and other fashion rules.

I confess that I kept reading Matthew's essays wondering when he was going to get to the point. Typically, in a non-fiction Christian book, you don't get a funny story without some spiritual perspective at the end of each story. Sort of like a sermon illustration. But Churched allows you to see the absurdity of it all without Matthew having to point out the obvious. The final chapter is the best of all. I'll not give away the ending but suffice it to say that Matthew is still with us even after his sometimes unbelievable experiences in the fundamentalist church.

For an entertaining read into the sub-culture of Christian fundamentalism, I would recommend Churched.