Chuck Bomar - Losing Your Religion: Moving from Superficial Routine to Authentic Faith

If you have ever dug through trash to find beauty, then youll understand what Chuck Bomar is doing in Losing Your Religion. Dig with him through the trash of your Pharisaism and you will experience the pain of discovering how much religion runs your life. Keep digging and you will experience the joyous freedom of becoming who God has already made us to be.

Gerry Breshears

Professor of Theology, Western Seminary, Portland, Oregon

Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant stuff. The term paradigm-shift comes to mind. In Losing Your Religion, Bomar offers us an exit ramp from the tired, worn out, inauthentic, anti-creative freeway of religion. But he doesnt stop here. He pushes and pulls us back to the way of Jesus the life-giving, healing, Kingdom way of life that were all craving. Its not always an easy road, but Bomars voice is there to guide us one paragraph at a time.

John Mark Comer

Author of Loveology

Pastor for Teaching and Vision, Solid Rock Church,

Bridgetown: a Jesus Church, Portland, Oregon

Chuck Bomar gives practical guidance on how to make sure we have not subtly missed the joy and vibrant life of what it means to follow Jesus. If anyone wonders if they might be following Christianity but not following Christ, this book can change everything for you.

Dan Kimball

Teaching Pastor, Vintage Faith Church, Santa Cruz, California

Author of They Like Jesus but Not the Church

A convicting book full of invitation, Chuck writes about what he is personally living and helps us trade in our religion for the genuine article of life-changing faith that God has created for us to live in, with and by.

Rick McKinley

Lead Pastor, Imago Dei Commmunity, Portland, Oregon

Author of This Beautiful Mess

This book grabbed me by the chin and made me look deep into its eyes as if Jesus was trying to get my attention. It worked. From beginning to end, Losing Your Religion made me desire again a real, honest relationship with Christfor me, my kids and my church! It provides a bold and practical road map for deconstructing faith grown old and rebuilding it into a thing of freedom and beauty. Ill come back to the biblical truths here over and over again.

Ron Merrell

Teaching Pastor, Heights Church, Prescott, Arizona

2013 Chuck Bomar

Published by Baker Books
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.bakerbooks.com

Baker Books edition published 2014

ISBN 978-1-4412-2370-8

Previously published by Regal Books

Ebook edition originally created 2013

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.

All Scripture quotations are taken from the English Standard Version, Copyright 2001. The ESV and English Standard Version are trademarks of Good News Publishers.

To my three beautiful daughters: Karis, Hope and Sayla.
Your daddy loves you.

I first want to thank my wife, Barbara, for bearing with me over the past 12 years as Ive wrestled with the differences between embracing religious routines and really living in the faith, love and hope God has for us. I love you very much.

I want to thank my staff at Colossae Church for entering into this wrestling match with me. Justin, Ari, Adam, Sean, Dave and GeoffI appreciate our conversations about our faith, more than you know.

Geoff, thank you so much for walking through every word of the rough draft of this book with me. I appreciate your feedback and willingness to take the time to help me iron out much of these thoughts.

As I write this, Im sitting on a plane somewhere over Middle America. Ive just come to the end of Chucks book, and I cant help but stare out the window at the cities below. Then I take a look at my co-passengers seated around.

I wonder.

I notice the flight attendants forced smile. I take note of how wide my sleeping friends mouth hangs open. I watch the new father a row ahead making ridiculous faces to placate his child. I sense all the strange and joyful, annoying and authentic world of activity in, outside and around me.

And after what Ive just read, I question: How many of us really know why we do what we do? From the honest to the insincere, were all aware of the things we do on some level, but how many of us are aware of whats truly running our lives? More than the what, are we in tune with why we do what we do?

After all, life is not action, its reactionso the real question is, What are we reacting to?

Are we living lives that respond to the fear, guilt and pride this world cultivates in us, or have we been seized by the power of a great affection? Has the love of Jesus freed us to live lives that spring out of gratitude for Him?

These are serious questions to be sure, but they are the questions we must ask if we ever want to dig down deep enough to see whats really happening in our hearts. In the pages that follow, Chuck does a masterful job deciphering the motivations that pulse behind our everyday spirituality. As somewhat of a minister myself, having played for churches all across the country, Im so grateful for the truths that Chuck reminds me of. We all could use some reminding, couldnt we?

I simply pray now that God would use Losing Your Religion to help you see whether youre living for God, or because of God. And my friends, theres an ocean of difference in between.

Mike Donehey

Lead singer, Tenth Avenue North

This book is not about pointing fingers at other people (and especially the Church); its about each of us looking in the mirror at ourselves, individually. Despite my best efforts to keep that point clear, as you read, you may get confused about this. So I thought I would mention the true focus at the start.

C. S. Lewis once said, Show me a man that is well traveled and I will show you a man that knows the lies of his own village.

Ive found this to be true as Ive traveled to 26 countries. The differences in how people think about life in other cultures can be revealing. Learning about these differences can serve to open our eyes to the flaws in our own thinking and approaches to life.

Im hoping this book will serve as a mirror to reflect aspects of our church sub-culture that are off-base. When I say that, Im not speaking of other people; Im speaking about each of us as individuals. We each make up the sub-culture we live in.

I have a growing concern that more and more people who call themselves Christians are unintentionally slitting the wrist of their faith. In a pursuit to be faithful, they try to will themselves into embracing habits and routines and disciplines they believe will cause them to be a better Christian. Although this seems like the right thing to do and seems to be the norm for our culture, its actually suicidal.

It is this concern that leads me to write this book. I think people are dying to be made alive again in their faith. I know countless people who long to be freed from the religious chains that bind them, yet they cannot seem to put their finger on what chain is actually around their neck.