When Matthew Paul Turner started talking about his new book on his blog, the title alone captured my interest. Churched: One Kid’s Journey Toward God Despite a Holy Mess. If you grew up Baptist, especially in the south, you can probably understand why it caught my attention. I discovered Matthew Paul Turner’s blog through his wife Jessica's blog who I met at a scrapbooking event. I really enjoy his sarcastic sense of humor that comes across on his blog.
Now growing up I didn’t attend a Fundamental Baptist like Turner did, but I did grow up attending a rural Baptist church. And the legalism can be present in any church. I think deep down we all know that spiritually we’re a mess. Many times churches are unaware of how they can mess us up even more. I know this is very unintentional. All the rules you were expected to follow in order to be a good Christian can heap loads of guilt and feelings of never being ‘good enough’ onto anyone. Somewhere amidst all the legalism and rules the concept of God’s grace and love can get lost. So I understood a lot of what Turner writes about in Churched.
Turner takes a very humorous look at the experiences of his childhood. I laughed out loud several times. (I’m also amazed at his memory of situations as a young child.) It really impressed me, though, that Churched lacks any of the bitterness you might expect from one having gone through those experiences. Even though he writes about his parents and their devotion to their denomination, the respect and love he has for them is quite apparent.
I would like to have read more about how he went from Fundamental Baptist, where even Contemporary Christian music was considered an abomination, to being the editor of Contemporary Christian Magazine and where he is now. He explained why he didn’t in an interview that he did here and I can certainly understand and respect him not wanting it to become a ‘how-to’ book.
Near the end of the book Turner writes about the church he and his wife now attend, “It’s not a perfect church, but I’ve grown up some and realized there’s no such thing as a perfect church.” It reminds me of a piece of advice I overheard someone giving a newlywed who was struggling with the switch to her husband’s denomination. “If you focus on all the negatives and things you don’t agree with, you’ll miss all the blessings that this church has to offer.”
I have already promised to loan my copy to a friend to read or I would do a give-away. You should definitely pick up Churched, though. You can also read a great interview with Turner here.
On the surface Churched might seem a humorous look at one guy’s life growing up as a Fundamental Baptist, but it also really makes you think.
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