"Rogue Saints" (Jerry Herships)

TITLE: Rogue Saints: Spirituality for Good-Hearted Heathens
AUTHOR: Jerry Herships
PUBLISHER: Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2019, (114 pages).

His first book, "Last Call" was about his personal journey from an altar boy in Church to show business, gigs, bars, and various game shows to make ends meet. He returns to the ministry albeit with a difference: going out people who congregate at bars and pubs. He shares his story of "from serving drinks to serving Jesus." In this follow up book, Herships continues by giving us a closer look at what his unconventional ministry looks like. More importantly, he tries to help us find out our big purpose in life through connection and community. He tells stories of people who would be considered "misfits" in many churches. Just knowing that there are people with bigger problems than our complaints about life, will easily put our worries in perspective. In an uninhibited "in the face" manner, the author makes it clear that he does not stand for rules and restrictions about how to do ministry. He even admits to wanting to bash "shitty church." Preferring to let the ends justify the means, he kicks off by reminding us that our starting point for theology should not be "original sin," but "original blessing." We don't start off by thinking how bad we look but how good we have been created. We are created in the image of God. He does several counter-intuitive things such as labeling people as "heathens," choosing unbeliever to be part of his leadership team; even adding in cocktail mix at the end of each chapter. The objective of the book is to help us find a way to serve God through meaningful connections with the community around us, especially in the uncommon places.


Herships shares five different kinds of spiritualities at work. All of them are about connecting to life outside of the four walls of the conventional church. The spirituality of yoga is part bashing of "bad church" and part exhortation of revitalizing our worship. Unfortunately, his bashing goes beyond "bad church." He goes against basic doctrines of hell, contemplative disciplines, and other church-type worship and puts forth the notion of good works that not only church members could do. He quickly flies into the famous Micah 6:8 passage that urges people to do justice, love kindness, and to walk humbly. He even defines Christians not on the basis of their statement of faith, but on the basis of how they live like Jesus. The spirituality of running refers to the practice of serving others. He shares a touching story about a certain village where people were compassionate about saving babies that float along a river. Eventually, one guy became so flustered that he decided to look for the source of the continuing problem, to look for the one who kept throwing babies into the river. While it is good to do good works, we need to go to the source of the issue. For instance, just giving money to the poor is not going to help in the long run. We need to find out the problem of poverty in the first place. The spirituality of horses blasts the kind of "church talk" we often hear about love and goodness. Instead, Herships pushes away talks about hearing, about studying, about being a fan of Jesus, but to replace all our talk with living like Jesus. In other words, don't just talk about horses of love, what love can do. Run like horses to proclaim the love of Jesus. The spirituality of fly fishing is about "a continual exercise in hope." The active word is exercise. Exercise our humility. Exercise our smallness. Exercise our worth in faith. Finally, the spirituality of painting is about creating a church that "doesn't suck."

My Thoughts
This book contains rogue ideas to shake up any complacent church. On the positive side, the author is unafraid to bash what he calls "bad churches" that talk more than act; that are stuck in old ways; that ignores the changing societal needs; that prefers to live for themselves instead of for Jesus. Page after page, he does not mince words when he criticizes the conventional church. He makes it uncomfortable for many so as to make them sit up and rethink about their ministries. Sometimes, a good reminder needs a faith electrocution, not a pillow nudge. This is what Herships has done. Before anyone picks up this book, be ready for some in-the-face words from the author. Perhaps, a warning label needs to be attached that says: "Warning: tough words for the church inside."

On the negative front, he does go overboard at times, Despite his disclaimers that say he is not bashing churches, only bad churches, the way he bashes the conventional church show otherwise. For all his good observations and counter-conventional-church stance, I suspect that the language he uses and the theology he claims may alienate his good intentions. Truth is, there are all kinds of people in every Church, including genuine members serving society at large on weekdays. His generalization of "bad churches" could very well prove to be unloving.

The sleepy Church do need to be woken up from time to time. The author believes that he is the alarm clock, the "devil's advocate," the agent of change to make the church more aware of the need to love people with action, not just words. It is a clarion call to live like Jesus and to fulfill the call to do justice, love kindness, and to walk humbly for all of our lives. My recommendation: Read this book with an open mind. If you are easily offended, avoid this book.

Jerry Herships is the founder of AfterHours Denver, a faith community that meets in bars and pubs. He often speaks at seminars and workshops about non-traditional ministry outreach. He desire to connect with people where they are.

Rating: 3.75 stars of 5.

conrade

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This book has been provided courtesy of Westminster John Knox Press and NetGalley without requiring a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.