As I prepare to leave for Phoenix this weekend, I also found out a podcast aired today that I appeared on for Reports from the Spiritual Frontier. Love that name, by the way. It’s an extensive interview on my journey and the passion behind Beyond Sundays.
I’ve been deeply touched by the conversations I’ve had with many about this new book, and the comments others have been making about the book and how it is touching their hearts. I am grateful to those who have written to share their thoughts. Here’s a sampling:
From Lisa in South Carolina:
I just finished Beyond Sundays. God touched my heart so many times while reading it, bringing to mind times from the very beginning of my Christian walk that He brought people into my life and the relationships ran deep almost immediately and still do to this day! Then He brought to mind those that He brought along side of us through our college days, preparing for full time ministry and we were blessed with deep friendships again that have remained. And when my husband got his first position as pastor, we were blessed to gain more deep relationships and quite a few of them felt the urge to walkway from organized religion when we did. Those friendships are still vibrant today. As I finished reading this book, I thought how blessed we have been to have been living relationally with others all along, it made the transition to the freedom He has given us easier than others have had who that felt that hunger for more and only had surface level relationships to draw from for support. Thank you for putting the heart God gives you down in print to encourage the faithful and to explain His pull on our heartstrings to those who don’t understand but are curious enough to read!!
Diana on Facebook:
I truly believe this is your best work. This book spoke to my heart in a very special way. It confirmed things I’d been thinking. You spoke the truth in a clear, simple, yet elegant way, not only about the church at large, but about walking in the Spirit and in the Kingdom. I encourage everyone to read this book. (I have ordered a case to share as God leads).
Amy on my blog:
I can’t put this book down! I read the first 8 chapter the first night! It’s such a great summary of what the Holy Spirit was beginning to show me over the past few years. Jesus used this book to stir up a fresh Love for people in my soul. Time well spent for sure!
Jeremy on Amazon.com:
In light of the ground-breaking and church-altering study by Packard and Hope in their book about the so-called (but poorly named) “Dones,” Wayne Jacobsen’s book encourages these “Dones” to continue following Jesus outside the four walls of institutional Christianity.
While many are using the research and ideas in “Church Refugees” to change the way Sunday morning church is done so that the “Dones” might come back and start attending again, Wayne Jacobsen praises the “Dones” for leaving so that they might better follow Jesus, love others, and live in a daily relationship with God and others, as we were called to do.
Note very carefully that Wayne is NOT saying that the “Dones” are right and everyone who stays in the Sunday morning church service is wrong. He is saying that both can be right, and both should celebrate and rejoice the choices of the others to follow Jesus. He wants both groups to stop looking down their noses at each other and judging one another.
Toward this end, Wayne addresses many of the issues and concerns that people have about no longer attending the Sunday church service, and ultimately encourages people to follow Jesus and loves others within their relationships, whether this is in a pew on Sunday morning, or by hanging out with friends during the week.
If you are a “Done,” or feel that Jesus is leading you to something more than just the Sunday morning church service … read this book.
If you still enjoy and benefit from the Sunday morning service, but wonder why others are leaving, it is also important that you read this book. It will help you understand that they are not leaving the church, nor are they abandoning Jesus.
Oh, and by the way… one of the things I loved MOST about the book was the long list of Endorsements at the front … none of which were best-selling authors, mega-church pastors, or popular bloggers and podcasters. I assume they are all “Dones.”
You can find out how to order Beyond Sundays here, in print or e-book.
An update on Jenny Rowbory: http://www.jkrowbory.co.uk/2018/02/a-lot-has-happened/
wayne; I am finishing the book and realize anew why I love the small group etc, as opposed to large “sermon” oriented meetings. Wayne I absolutely love the interruptions!. Much more later.