Kelly Bean - How to Be a Christian Without Going to Church: The Unofficial Guide to Alternative Forms of Christian Community

2014 by Kelly Bean

Published by Baker Books

a division of Baker Publishing Group

P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

www.bakerbooks.com

Ebook edition created 2014

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansfor example, electronic, photocopy, recordingwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

ISBN 978-1-4412-4653-0

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

The Scripture quotation labeled ESV is from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2007

The Scripture quotation labeled Message is from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson, copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. All rights reserved.

Kellys book is a significant gift, gathering into one place the real-world brilliance and experience of fellow travelers who are asking the question of church.

Wm. Paul Young, author of the New York Times bestseller The Shack

Bean has done something of the impossible here. That is, she really has compiled a balanced and informing, clear, and more or less comprehensive guide to todays alternative Christian communities. Even more important though, it seems to me, is the fact that she has laid open for full scrutiny the mind-sets, religious perceptions, and soul-filled motivations that undergird such communities and their individual constituents. Beans approach, while admittedly sympathetic, is also born of hard-core, personal experience, and she speaks with both the integrity and authenticity of one who has suffered in the course of arriving at her summations and conclusions. I could wish that every Christian today would read this one.

Phyllis Tickle , author of The Age of the Spirit and The Great Emergence

Kelly Bean is a wise, whimsical, and revolutionary iconoclast. Anyone concerned about the life of the church or the dwindling and precarious role of Christianity in our culture will find her thoughts sufficiently provocative and compelling. Her invitation to a non-church faith and faithfulness is a radical reexamination about what it means to be intentionally oriented to the life of Christ in community rather than a pattern of church attendance. This book will call some to leave what is really not church, and it will call others to reengage the meaning of being a redemptive church.

Dan B . Allender , PhD, professor of counseling psychology and founding president of The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology

Alarming numbers of people are leaving the church. For some this is a loss to mourn, but for others this represents an amazing opportunity to pursue a more authentic and embodied faith. I believe our hunger to be the church and not just go to church reflects a larger shift in our culture toward a more integral consciousness. In How to Be a Christian without Going to Church , Kelly Bean chronicles the stories of many who have left church institutions to create new communities of care, spiritual formation, and neighborhood engagement. Kelly doesnt dwell on whats wrong with more traditional church expressions or make harsh distinctions between old and new forms. Instead, she celebrates the possibilities with examples from her own life and the lives of her global network of friends. She addresses critical questions we should consider and reminds us that being a Christian without going to church actually requires greater commitment and intentionality. I wish this book could have been written twenty years ago. It would have saved me from a lot of frustrated groping in the dark for new alternatives. For those who struggle with church as they know it, this book can awaken imagination for all that Christian community can be. Kelly Bean writes with a wise, gentle, honest, and persuasive voice that we should pay attention to.

Mark Scandrette , author of Free , Practicing the Way of Jesus , and Soul Graffiti

Despite her provocative title, Kelly Bean loves the church. Indeed, she loves it so much she yearns for it to become more and more the sign, instrument, and foretaste of Gods redeeming grace it was intended to be. Packed full of inspiring stories and deep insights, this book will help those struggling to remain in institutional churches, and those whove left, to understand the challenge we all face today and to set some markers for the road ahead.

Michael Frost , author of Exiles and The Road to Missional

Some people are leaving traditional Christian congregations to become more faithful and devoted followers of American consumerism. But others are leaving traditional congregations for better, completely unexpected, and wonderfully inspiring reasons. Kelly is the best person I know to tell you about some incredible options.

Brian McLaren , blogger, speaker, author of We Make the Road by Walking

I interact regularly with people of all shapes, sizes, and faith traditions. They love God but have found themselves on the fringes of many church systems. However, their desire for a deep and active faith remains real and strong. In this challenging and engaging book, Kelly Bean acts as an expert guide for exploring the diverse possibilities for living a vibrant Christian faith outside of traditional confines. Filled with real-life stories of creativity, community, hope, and justice, How to Be a Christian without Going to Church offers inspiration and ideas that challenge our souls and call us to practice. In a changing landscape of spirituality and church, this book offers a fresh breath of hope and possibility for our future as Christ-followers.

Kathy Escobar , copastor of The Refuge and author of Down We Go : Living into the Wild Ways of Jesus

Being outside the box is overrated. Its inside the box along the edge where prophetic leaders do their thing. In this book Kelly Bean has established her credentials as an inside-the-box but along-the-edge leader. From her history with the church, her experience as a leader, her life as a wife and mother, and her journey out of the institutional church, Kelly offers wisdom and guidance. This book is part personal journal, part chronicle of the church in our time, and part spiritual guide. All the way through Kelly is both fair minded and nonreactive toward an institution whose authority shes earned the right to question. Walter Brueggemann is famous for calling prophetic leaders to both critique and energize the church. Without question Kelly Bean is a prophetic leader.

Jim Henderson , coauthor of Outsider Interviews and Jim and Casper Go to Church , CEO, Jim Henderson Presents