Review:

I will say this right off the bat... it is MUCH easier to review a book when you have a bone (or several) to pick with it. You can disagree with this, criticize that, and pretty soon you’ve got a solid, thought provoking, critical review. It is much more difficult to review a book that you agree with and affirm but I will do my best. Darn you Mike for making this difficult!

Mike Erre, pastor of Rock Harbor (www.rockharbor.org), a church in Costa Mesa, California is very aware of consumer Christianity. He lives in Southern California for Pete’s sake, home of the MEGA-CHURCH! Drawing inspiration from his local context and the recent Green Day song of the same title Erre has fleshed out the difference between the Jesus of suburbia that we worship in the typical western/Christian church and the revolutionary Jesus of Nazareth that often gets overlooked.

The book is based on this premise:
“My primary contention is this: Much of what passes for modern, western Christianity isn’t of Jesus. We can (and do) lose Jesus right in the middle of prayer meetings and worship services. We can miss him in the Bible and in the church. As the Scriptures remind us, not all worship is pleasing to God, not all church services are attended by Jesus, not all teaching is sound teaching, and not all prayer is “in Jesus’ name.”

Is it possible that we lose sight of Jesus within our ministry and church context? Erre states that not only is it possible, but it’s happening in hoards of churches (large and small) throughout America. In fact, much of what you know about Jesus growing up in a capitalistic, western context and mindset may be tainted or even completely wrong. There are mainstream churches that appear completely orthodox in their theological statements but are actually worshiping a false Jesus, without even knowing it. It is extremely alarming how easy it is to lose sight of Jesus, even in the church.

As most of us would say, the American dream is not a synonym for the Kingdom of God and furthermore often conflicts with the sacrificial and life-giving message of Jesus and the revolution of the Kingdom of God on earth. I know many of you reading this do not think this is earth-shattering news but believing this and acting in light of it are two completely separate things. We say we do not believe in consumer driven Christianity but we shrink wrap and sell everything we create so we can make a buck off of other struggling churches. Or we build ourselves huge buildings that look more like malls that will meet all of our needs so we don’t have to go “out there” but can stay in the comfort of our bubble. As many of you have discovered, consumerism, comfort, safety, all of these ideas are very much alive in Christianity today.

So what’s the problem? It’s not conducive to the message of Jesus!

Jesus of Suburbia paints a disturbing picture of the shallow, self-help, consumer message of many of our churches today contrasted with the revolutionary message of Jesus but it doesn’t leave us in the dark without hope. The consequences to our unfaithfulness to the message of Jesus are great but it’s not the final word. How do we turn it all around?

Erre argues, rightly, I think that it will take re-experiencing the life changing, revolutionary movement of Jesus on this earth in our churches. He says, “We have never really embraced the message and movement of Jesus Christ as a call to revolution. Instead, we have gotten comfortable with a watered-down, whitewashed, religiously safe version of him.”

Jesus of Suburbia should be required reading for everyone who is bothered about the direction the church is heading and for all those who hunger to be a part of the revolutionary movement of Jesus.

Interview:

(If the interview with Mike doesn't appear in a flash player above, click here)

Dustin recently interviewed Mike Erre about Jesus of Suburbia HERE:

Dustin Bagby lives in Portland, OR, blogs at www.dustball.blogspot.com, is married to his beautiful wife Kelli, is a huge Chicago Bears and Cubs fan, is a participant at The Evergreen Community, and is currently an MDiv student at Western Seminary.

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