Review of CHURCHED by Matthew Paul Turner

      So I read Matthew Paul Turner's book, CHURCHED.  I had to take my time reading the book, not because it was hard to read.  Indeed it was witty and insightful and actually a very easy book to read.  What it wasn't was easy to DIGEST!
     I laughed with and cried with Turner through out the book because I could relate to his heart's cry which I think was best captured when he said, "What I'm hoping to find in a church is a place all about joining God in the resurrection story.  I want to be a part of the solution, not the problem."
     That's what made CHURCHED difficult to digest. It describes a church that is self-absorbed, closed and narrow in its focus.  It made me stop and think about my own church, what kind of church am I a part of?  There certainly are elements of self-absorption and narrow-mindedness, but for the most part we are a church that is learning how to embrace the grace of God and extend that grace to everyone within our sphere of influence.
     That's what Turner is looking for in a church.  A church that is honest and open and genuine in its pursuit of God and in its presentation of the Gospel to the world around.