Interrupted: When Jesus Wrecks Your Comfortable Christianity

I adore Jen Hatmaker. As an almost 60-year-old who grew up in the Southern Baptist Church (mom and husband both on staff, myself a church pianist/organist for 40 years) and became more and more disgusted with the judgmental, political bent of the denomination over time, I find her approach to loving people and focusing on Grace to be just what I need to be the Christian I believe Jesus calls us to be as presented in Scripture. Her chapter on the post-modern generation is the best description I've ever read, and it finally makes sense to me. My comfortable Christianity was interrupted several years ago, and this book helps me continue to seek the direction God is moving me toward.

This book did exactly what it said it could....wrecked me. I found myself many times about to hyperventilate because I couldn't catch my breath after reading a paragraph or several. I will never look at communion the same way. I have heard preachers throughout my life say "Jesus said, this do in remembrance of me" but Jen brought it to life. I felt as though I was there, with the disciples, listening to Jesus personally say it to me. I was in awe and it simply took my breath away.Jen Hatmaker has a way of just getting to the point. She doesn't hold back but she does so in a way that would make you just want to smack yourself upside the head and say "Duh! Yes!!". I left Interrupted with a renewed spirit and soul, open to whatever God is leading me to do. Jen has said if there is only one of her books that you will read, this is it because this is the one that shares it all. It shows what the Hatmakers went through during this transitional phase in their lives and how their church, Austin New Church was born. I recently attended their church (this past Sunday in fact) and they. are. doing. church. Oh are they doing church! Get this book. Don't hesitate. But it's not for the weak or faint...because you will indeed be wrecked!

Jen Hatmaker is my imaginary BFF. One day we will meet for real and be real-life BFF's, but for now I read her stuff and pretend that I'm talking back to her cause she is just that profound. I find myself re-reading Interrupted 3 or 4x per section just to make sure I am digesting everything that she has to say. This is REAL Christianity and Jen has REAL insight. This is not a book to be checked out from the library and returned because it's one that you will find yourself remembering a passage from and wanting to re-read and highlight and add notes in the margin! This is a gift to give that someone who can handle it in your life, who wants to know REAL Jesus. This is the starting point for uncomfortable discussions about church and "the way we do things" and "don't question it; this is the way it's always been." There are so many quotable portions of this book you need to truly sit back in a Tibetan monastery somewhere in the Far East to make sure you meditate on all the #truth that she writes in this one. Read it late at night when you need deep thoughts to keep you up; read it on the beach when you need to escape; read it to make you want to live the missional, Jesus-filled life that you always wanted but never knew how to live. Read it to love church and question Christians. Read it to love Jesus and the people He loved. Read it because Jen's funny, and heartfelt, and amazing. And one day we will be BFF's and share shoes and stuff...

There is a meaty, thoughtful, insightful book about how local churches can more effectively win disciples here. It's roughly 180 pages long and it's as good as anything I've read so far this year.Unfortunately it's in a 240-page book, in between passages apparently designed to make the reader think that the author is cool and quirky and funny and someone the reader would want to have a backyard barbecue with or, Hatmaker having planted herself firmly in the by-women-for-women aisle of the Christian bookstore, a glass of wine on the couch with.If you are a church planter and can tolerate the cutesy stuff, this is well worth your while.

This book will be buzzing around my brain for a while. As a Christian who lives in a diverse, poverty stricken, racially decided city, this book is very relevant to me. Hatmaker discusses the true purpose of the church (hint, it doesn't happen on Sunday morning) and questions conventional church methods and mentality.Hatmaker's wit is sometimes razor sharp, and she comes down hard, very hard, on traditional evangelicals. I don't find the harsh criticism to be helpful in furthering her cause, but I have seen it before in many Christians who come from very conservative backgrounds, as she states that she did. She could extend more of the grace she eloquently speaks of to this portion of her fellow believers. In her defense- she seems to recognize this.That being said, my cynical and sarcastic brain enjoyed her humor for the most part, as it echoed the flavor of my own. More than that, I enjoyed the refreshing reminder to do more. Not to know more or to feel more or to be more confident, but just to do and do it more. For others. That doing more for others because of Christ will be more fulfilling than anything else that we do correctly inside of a church building.

I always love books by Jen Hatmaker.She knows God like I want too

read this!

Firstly, having to pay $21 for a Kindle book is just way too steep! I couldn’t quite relax into the book ... there was no consistency, too scattered and I felt the content was all over the place: serious, deep, shallow, too flippant in parts, the anecdotes were thrown in to make a point yet, read like they were added to make a point (contrived)? I so enjoyed bits and pieces and the concept is undeniably Jesus focussed ... but I get nervous when Christians celebrate Halloween, tattoos and interdenominational collusion’s. I so wanted to enjoy this, but it left me wanting just a good, well written testimony about an incredible Church plant ...

This is an excellent book I enjoyed that the chapters were short easy to read and very applicable to daily life. Will suggested to all my friends!

This book is written in the easy-to-read, light-hearted way that Jen Hatmaker is know for. However the topic is one of the most important a Christian should ever grasp. It has truel been life changing for me. I will be recommending it to every Christian I know.