There was a famous Christian not too long ago who went by the name Clive Staples Lewis. He was better known as C.S. Lewis. His most well-known, non-fiction work was entitled Mere Christianity – a look at some of the reasonable and practical evidence concerning the truth of Christ and the Christian faith.

A few years back, a not-as-well-known pastor-teacher, Michael Spencer, released his first and only book, Mere Churchianity. You can see the play off of Lewis’s title. Michael was the beloved Internet Monk where he had been blogging for quite a few years. Spencer was probably more known for his posts, The Coming Evangelical Collapse, than anything else. Hey, it made the Drudge Report back in March of 2009!

The unfortunate thing is that, right before Mere Churchianity was released in June 2010, Spencer passed away due to cancer. He never was able to hold a copy in his own hand.

But his legacy continues, both through his book and his blog.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I began reading Mere Churchianity. It’s ultimately aimed reaching those who have left the church or are considering. It’s also a call to the evangelical church of America to carry a Jesus-centred spirituality, not a circus-centred, institutional focus.

Though I’ve read quite a bit from the Internet Monk blog and do have a sense of Michael’s heart, I thought it would be good to engage with the book. This is mainly due to the opportunity I have to team with Michael Bell, from the Internet Monk community, to produce a second book from Michael Spencer.

Spencer took on a life-time project of knowing Jesus better primarily through the Gospel of Mark. Spencer loved all 4 Gospels, and the whole of the Scripture. He was simply drawn to Mark’s Gospel. And so, with Michael Bell leading the project forward, I am looking to work as a secondary editor to help assimilate close to 1000 pages of blog posts, written Bible studies, and transcriptions of audio teachings and sermons on the Gospel of Mark. The finished product will be something of a layman’s commentary on Mark.

I’m sure we’ll keep you updated on the project, but it should be an exciting opportunity. But I’m glad to delve in to Spencer’s first book to help me really understand the heart and mind of a shepherd-teacher-prophet within American evangelicalism.

And, interestingly enough, you can currently purchase a paperback copy of Mere Churchianity for only $5.60 on Amazon. Check it out!