I need to thank Ian personally for this book (I received it as part of the Soularize experience) as once again a book came at the right time for me. I met Ian briefly on a boat in the Bahamas on our way to swim with sharks, but never knew this was his work.
To give you a run down, the book centres on a character (Pastor Chase) who is the founding pastor of a large protestant church in the New England area. Chase, as you find out early is going through a lot of questioning on what the church is to be and during a passionate moment, vomits these ideas all over his congregation. (Sounds like something I would do). This leads to a forced leave of absence so he can work through where he is at, and allow to elders to assess whether he should stay on.
After working through some of the issues with family (and getting hurt by a lot of church members) he decides to leave the country and go visit his uncle in Italy. In Italy he studies with a number of Saint Francisan monks and they begin to shape the way he sees the world and ultimately the church.
If I was to write a book in order to teach a way of life, this is how I would do it. The story was very well written and believable (more believable from an American stand point, as I have heard how churches are down there, but understandable as a Canadian). And for me it was a great way to get introduced to more of Saint Francis, a Saint I really only knew as a few famous quotes. Near the end when Chase is connecting back up with his old church, I felt that Saint Francis was given way too much credit in his speech, but other than that I loved this book entirely.
On my CP scale I give it a 4.5/5, and recommend it to any church planter, leader or whatever that needs a pilgrimage to work through how they feel they about how the church should be and the role they should play in it.
My friend mike made a short mention on his blog about this book as well.
