When the Church Leaves the Building

By David Fredrickson

Book Overview

This is the story of a man and congregation that valued God's life above their own experience and the amazing journey that led them to undertake. They discovered what most people only dare to dream.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1595940790
• ISBN13: 9781595940797
• Release Date: July 2006
• Publisher: WingSpan Press
• Length: 212 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Best read concerning today's churches.

This book helped me understand why I no longer want to support the mega churches.

When The Church Leaves The Building

This book is one of the most authentic and honest portrayals of the life of someone in full time church ministry. It is told using a fascinating allegory that turn out to be an actual encounter the author went through. The conclusion and the decisions the author makes is quite remarkable. I would recommend this book to any full time church minister or thinking about going into full time ministry.

Returning to Jesus Christ's Kind of Leadership

True Christian Leadership (The following are a few pages from a book which reveals a new kind of leadership emerging within the Body of Christ. It is not really new, but the "traditions of men which make of word of God of no effect" has so bound up the Church and its leadership that it seems brand new. It is merely returning to the leadership examplified by Jesus Christ and His disciples nearly 2,000 years ago.) (pages 71-73, chapter 5, "Follow the Leader" from the book When the Church Leaves the Building by David Fredrickson). "Not long before I began to write this chapter, a woman called to tell me a strange dream she had. The setting was a large room where people had presumably gathered for a church function. In the center of the room was a man who seemed to represent the pastor. He was completely unclothed, yet was evidently unashamed although everyone was staring at him. Most peculiar of all was the fact that he had female parts where his male reproductive organs should have been. Finally he noticed the dreamer looking at him and he turned away embarrassed. "The dream might well symbolize the sad condition of many religious institutions of today. Misplaced and thus impotent, they have little to give. Instead, they are continually seeking to draw resources to themselves while their adherents go hungry and the lost are left without the precious seed of the gospel. Though the Word is preached, the broken bread and poured out wine of the preacher's life is often missing. "Yet when a leader shares his moments of brokenness with those he walks with, it can be bread to those hungering for a satisfying relationship with Father. Jesus implored Peter to feed His sheep as and expression of Peter's love for Him. It would be safe to assume that he fed them with more than words before he made his final contribution as a martyr. "I must confess that I have suffered a great deal of mental anguish generated from my concern of what others thought of me. Often I would awake during the wee hours of the Monday morning regretting something I had said Sunday morning. Would the people still judge me to be just as capable a leader? Would the stupid remark detract from the high regard they had for me? I found myself searching for ways that I could be "transparent" without exposing the full extent of my selfishness. While hating the idea of being placed on a pedestal, I nevertheless clawed at the sides like a cat lest I should lose my perch! "The freedom and peace that comes with resting where I've fallen is a precious gift I will fight to keep. Inviting people to be a part of the good, bad and ugly of who I really am is helping to tear down the walls of separation that were built unintentionally by the religious class system I once served. How refreshing and nurturing it has become to "hang out" with brothers and sisters, equals, friends, to share our life in Christ together and to see Him more clearly because of it! (The following account is an example of th

Incredible testimony by one who has been there.

What this book reveals, among other things, is there is good reason God selected David Fredrickson to be a leader among those leaving the institition, and for a very practical reason - David has a breadth and scope of experience that makes him virtually invunerable to criticism, by those remainging in the institution; criticism that will sound like this: "If he had only tried such-and-such a technique!", or "There are churches overseas, doing it right; he could have modeled his own church after them." and etc. David's varied international experience, and the willingness he displayed to try new approaches to "doing church", clearly demonstrates that he didn't leave the institution lightly; or for lack of trying to make the "system" work. I think the book has multiple benefits: First, if you believe, like I do, that David Fredrickson (I am acquainted with him and his ministry through the website wwww.familyroommedia.com) is powerfully anoited to lead the way for those leaving the failed church institutional paradigm, than this book powerfully establishes David's credentials to be such a leader. Second, it is a powerful account, from the perspective behind the pulpit, of what it means to give yourself heart, mind and soul to the church institution, and then come face to face with the truth that the system (at least as practised today) just doesn't work. Amazing to me is that David even led his own church to eventually abandon all traditional style, with David sitting in the pews along with flock (David leading as minimally as possible), and even this extreme approach failed to produce the fruit of true Christ discipleship, and achieve the goal of significant spiritual growth and maturity among the flock . In this book David fails to offer much guidance as to: "Now what?", once you have left the institution, but he freely admits he himself has more questions about the future than answers. He simply challenges the reader to beleive, as he does, that perils of the journey ahead are worth risking, when the goal is finding the place of true abiding in Christ, as Christ intended. I feel confident, that when all is said and done, that this book and David's name will appear in the pantheon of important books and people in the movement away from a failed church paradigm, and toward the new thing that Christ is birthing. Read this book and come along for the ride. Perhaps you too are a leader waiting in the wings, and this book will inspire you on to great works for the true Kingdom that Christ is building. Another good book to check out on the same theme is: The Way Church Ought To Be - Volume I: Ninety-five Proposition For a Return to Radical Christianity