Dying Church Living God

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eBook$7.98
A Call To Begin Again

Chuck Meyer

160 PP | 6' x 9"
Paper
ISBN: 978-1-896836-39-3

Make a new church. That's the challenge Chuck Meyer lays down for readers. He writes that the institutional church we know so well is dying. In fact, it may already be dead. Its structure and theology make no sense today, and haven't for decades. It has ceased to be an adequate instrument for the Living God who refuses to be bound by it, to it, or in it.

Dying Church, Living God is a provocative, radical look at the church as it enters the 21st century. "In the midst of all this enormous change, the Church still conducts worship services at hours based around 19th-century milking schedules...There is an incredibly deep spiritual hunger gnawing at people" that Chuck Meyer believes the church must address.

Acknowledgement of the death of the church and the inevitable resurrection is both the premise and the promise of this provocative, enlightening book.

Chuck Meyer, Author

During his life Chuck Meyer gave 200-300 speaking engagements a year on the hard topic of death and dying and managed to have audiences rolling in the aisles. A graduate of Earlham College, Union Theological Seminary, and the University of Bridgeport, he got his practical education working in a New York prison and a Texas jail. He was Vice President of Operations and chaplain at St. David's Medical Center in Austin Texas, he is the author of 10 books, including murder mysteries, humor, and titles on death and grieving. When he married Debi Ludeman, daughter Michal (age 6) came along as a part of the package. She inspired him to write. Unfortunately, this gifted author died in a tragic car accident in 2000.

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Media Reviews

Tom Harpur, Author of Prayer

Meyer is a prophet. His book is a radical yet overwelming postive word for the faithful and the lapsed of organized religion...the most searingly honest, courageous call to genuine church resurrection I have yet read.

William C. Spong, DD, Professor, Episcopal Theological Seminary

Chuck Meyer's call for the Church to begin again is a provocative work. Not to take his suggestions with both alarm and renewal would be indeed unfortuate. Clearly he loves this institution which empowers him to speak these prophetic words.

Wayne A Holst, PMC

Meyer writes as a visionary. He offers few concrete examples of how things will take shape. But his enthusiasm is contagious.

Peter Griffiths, Rural Roots

Meyer challenges both focusing on the "exact words" of scripture, as well as discounting the Bible as a source to guide us. He argues that we need to read, understand and listen to the "message of scripture" rather than worshipping it one word at a time.

Some people may not like the book Dying Church, Living God. I know some may find it offensive because it challenges some of their thoughts and images about God. It does not challenge Christianity. It challenges its institutionalized and structural forms, and the rigidity of thinking often found in it.

Meyer maintains the "dying church" will not change its downward slide until it enters into an honest struggle with itself, lets the old structures, die and experiences a resurrection of a new form of God's church, guided by the Holy Spirit.

Stephen Beecroft, Stoney Creek News

As a lifetime Anglican (with a few explorations into other denominations, I find this book thought provoking. There are lots of questions for one to ponder. Every Christian, including clergy, should read this challenging book.