booklogging

Jamieson, Ian. 2004. Journeying in Faith; in and Beyond the Tough Places. London, SPCK. 0281055890. £11.99

This is a kind of follow-up further reflection on the author's previous book A Churchless Faith. it follows up people after five years and it follows up some of the concerns that the previous book identifies. What is most different is the more 'devotional', less sociological approach. This book is more an attempt to offer perspective and help to those who have left EPC (Evangelical, Pentecostal, Charismatic) churches and yet not the Christian faith.

The image of the desert is explored as well as darkness. There is some use made of Fowler's stages of faith. Jamieson mixes personal statements from a variety of church leavers and in places puts this alongside scriptural passages and the experience of saints and other prominent Christians. There is a real advocacy for the church leavers who in most cases have left because their churches could no longer hold them or their questions or their sense of disconnection. It may be an indictment of such churches -though it is not part of the scope of this book to explore how to hold and care for these liminal people. In fact it may be best to allow what happens to many of those described and given voice through this book; they organise support groups -a kind of informal house church, if you like.

I can't help feeling that it would be good to make some kind of connections back to the left churches so that growth and learning, blessing and permission giving could be part of the scene, or that pastoral support could be given, as and if appropriate wit out grudging time/energy 'lost' on 'malcontents'.

If there is a weakness, for me it is that two or three times the biblical parallels and reflections seem to slip a little to close to the preachy mode that many church-leavers find difficult. On the other hand I really enjoyed the interweavings of contemporary films and novels as points of reflection.

I have to confess a personal interest he also. I have been part of a 'liminal' group of Christians holding Christian faith dear yet not always finding normal church easy or even possible. I recognize the kinds of questionings and sense of misfit between my faith and what normally goes on in most EPC (and other) churches. I have been held in place in formal church by two things: one is being paid to minister in it (sometimes sadly; acknowledging that what I am called on to do would not necessarily nurture my faith, longing to see life inspired into them). The second is by being involved in alternative worship. In the light of this latter, I would have be even more interested to see how Jamieson's analyses would be received and perhaps apply in alternative worship communities.

This is an important book for us to consider as part of our collective thinking about our church in cultural change. Church leavers give an indication of both where we fail to be church and how we might improve our serve. There is a challenge too in the implicit critique of structures and church cultures as well as the apparent growth ceiling that has evidently become part of EPC churches. This latter point is important since it also seems to affect those in church leadership and the investment of time and money in training and support may be wasted [and how sad that I feel I have to put it that way in order to get attention from the institutional church]. It is hard to emphasise how important this book and its predecessor are in exposing a malaise near the heart of much of our church life. One that scarcely get recognised because the people most affected are the ones who quietly slip away and don't get followed up because busy church leaders make a priority of those who are 'easier' or more directly amenable to standard pastoral care -if the leavers are not in fact scapegoated as backsliders which is most unfair a label to apply to most of the people we meet in the pages of the book. Are you ready to take the challenge? Then read the book.