Book Review: Jim and Casper Go To Church

Jim is a veteran minister. Casper is a committed but open-minded atheist. They visited megachurches and some smaller churches around the country to answer the following questions:

What do first-timers see?
How are they treated?
What are the central messages they glean?
How do they process the experience?
On what basis do they decide whether or not to return?
What is, and how compelling is, the call to action?
How is the Bible integrated into practical examples of living the faith?
What prior knowledge and belief does the church assume attenders possess?
Is the church more interested in conversation or conversion? In dialogue or debate?
How accessible is the heart and mind of the ministry?
Is the church engaging people or performing for them?
How realistic is the teaching? Is it the result of proof-texting or contextualization?
What is the church’s capacity for listening?
Is this a body of believers who are more interested in serving or in being served?
What makes a church genuine and authentic in its interaction with people?
How honest are Christians in discussing the cost of following Christ?

Quotes from the book:

Some professed Christians are not exactly following Jesus but are instead following religion. These people should more accurately be called religionists. Atheists are more honest about their unwillingness to follow Jesus. (p. xxv)

(At Saddleback Church) I silently wondered why we Christians seem to believe that it’s our God-given duty to appear unusually happy – especially at church…Casper and I shook hands with everyone who offered them, grabbed our programs (which Casper called brochures), and looked for a place to sit. (p. 3)

The preacher asked everyone to ‘greet the people around you.’ Well, I don’t mean to throw cold water on your church thing, but frankly, I thought that was lame. Why do you have to tell people to talk with each other anyway? Why didn’t someone voluntarily approach me? (p. 5)

(At Willowcreek – about Bill Hybels’ offering disclaimer) “He (Hybels) made first-timers feel okay about not kicking in when he said, ‘Visitors, just let the plate go by.’ I think that’s important: You don’t ask someone to pay for your services sight unseen.” (p. 41)

(At Lawndale Church in inner city Chicago) I realized that ‘get saved’ evangelism was designed for suburban folk. It had little meaning in an urban context…People in the city are not encumbered primarily with feelings of guilt. Their deepest feelings are of hopelessness.” (p. 65)

At Imago Dei, Casper said: “Imago Dei is not trying to get you to join them, so much as they’re trying to join you. I really like that.” Imago Dei talked about inbreaking. Inbreaking is joining an existing community action, while outreaching is inviting them to join yours. (p. 95)

We can find out what groups in our community are already doing to make life better for people and join them. Rather than start groups, we could join their groups. Rather than join groups to convert people, we could join them to connect with and serve people. This was one of the most innovative observations that emerged from our work together. (p. 164)

Giving isn’t really giving until it interrupts your lifestyle. (p. 96)

We Christians spend so much of our time trying to get others to see the light that it never occurs to us that we may be living in a fog. (p. 102)