Exploring Faith and Community: A Journey Through Searching for Sunday

Dani Nelson: I've had this book on hold at the library for a while now. Funny enough as my spiritual safe space blew up around me, I get a notification it's available. (Isn't it funny how God works sometimes?) This book spoke to me so much more than I could have anticipated. It made me feel like I'm not alone. It made me want to share it with everyone I know. If you're debating reading it, please do. I would say especially if you're like me and have questioned things in church, but let's be real here.. You have.

United States on Nov 09, 2023

Celpea: A bed time read. she has a great understanding of theology, but spiritually I found it had little depth. This was about her spiritual journey over a good number of years. I wouldn’t pass it to a friend to read though.

United Kingdom on Oct 11, 2023

Leah: What a healing relief to read this book! I feel freed from all my guilty feelings about church! There is a path forward. I don't have to give up faith. And I don't have to fit in the box either. I devoured the book in three days. I found it very well written, very relatable, and thought provoking. I am still thinking about it two weeks after I finished reading.

Canada on Jan 17, 2023

Tristan Sherwin: I’m green with jealousy of Rachel’s ability to put heart, mind and soul to paper in such an open, deep, accessible and honest way.

Within Searching For Sunday, Rachel Held Evans openly and vulnerably, with honestly and sensitivity, shares her story of losing faith and rediscovering her faith by beautifully articulating the sacraments of: Baptism, Confession, Holy Orders, Communion, Confirmation, Anointing of the Sick, and Marriage. But it’s not so much her faith in Jesus that is the focus of this episode of her journey, but of how her commitment to Jesus causes her to struggle with the church.

I really loved this book. I loved it because I’m at home in books that are prepared to wrestle with doubts, disappointments, questions and pilgrimage. I loved it because it’s a journey and not just a great read. I loved it because it gnawed at me, chewed me up, and spat me out on many an occasion; whilst also putting some of me back together. I loved it because it’s a book that speaks with conviction and experience about the ways in which resurrection never ceases to move in our lives.

That’s not to say I agreed with it all. But I don’t read books seeking...

United Kingdom on Jan 22, 2016

W Scott McAndless: I do not make it a habit to review or recommend books, but reading this book by Rachel Held Evans has made me think that it might well be time to think of changing that policy.

Searching for Sunday is the story of one woman's journey from her beginnings in the American Evangelical Church tradition through doubt, crises of faith, rejection, despair and hope. It is a very contemporary story of Christian life that has many parallels in the lives of various people I have known. The subtitle of the book is, "Loving, leaving and finding the church," and I just find that there are so many of us who are living in the very difficult and challenging space between those three verbs.

While Evan's book ventures into a number of areas of doctrine, theology and especially sacramental practice, it is at it's heart the story of a personal journey of disruption of what was once taken for granted, the loss and despair that come with that, and an unrelenting faith that prompts her to hold onto what the church can be and not fall into despair. Evan's very personal journey will definitely find many parallels in the lives of Christians everywhere.

So here is my recommendation: You...

Canada on Jan 18, 2016

FPerry: I had ordered Searching for Sunday in advance, shortly after reading Faith Unraveled. I consider Faith Unravelled something of a milestone book, not for the world of books as much as for me, as it reflected much of what I was feeling in my own life at the time, growing more and more troubled with Fundamentalism that I had wrestled with much of my life. Searching for Sunday is a more "mature" book, less of the diary-like story telling of Faith Unraveled, and more a relaxed look at a what, for RHE, seems to be a comfortable landing place. I felt it didn't address some significant issues that she obviously had to get past, like the crucial fundamentalist issue of inerrancy of scripture. Perhaps that was just as well, as we can debate such things forever... fundamentalists always retreat into the miraculous for a too easy answer, or fall back on "we can't know the mind of God", and we go on and on. There are areas of scripture that I can't live with, other than to write them off as not divinely inspired by the God I have known, and RHE obviously had to come to similar conclusions. We can both live with that, but I doubt many fundamentalists can. Fortunately, we're not saved by the...

Canada on May 13, 2015

Jessica Brazeal: This was the perfect book for me in the present moment. If I said nothing else about Rachel Held Evans' new book 'Searching for Sunday,' I would say this: this book made me feel like I am not alone.

This book hit the spot in my heart that has been so wounded, so hurt, and so incredibly scared and spoke words that comforted, validated, and encouraged. This book made me feel hopeful and brave.

The timing could not have been better. I had the privilege of meeting Rachel just a week before I began reading. She spoke at a conference that the agency where I work hosts and I got the chance to spend an evening talking with Rachel over dinner the night before she presented. You know those times where you meet someone new and realize that there are kindred spirits all around that you may never realize until you meet one of them by chance? That's what happened. Rachel and I began counting all the many things we shared in common and the very similar belief systems that we come from. I think at one point at dinner we decided we were brain twins.

I loved this, not just because I made a new friend, but because a week later when I read her comforting words, they meant all the...

United States on Apr 24, 2015

Mike McHargue: The Church is dying, and you know that because every pulpit, Christian blog, skeptic's website, and news media in America delivers that message like a skipping record. The church is tearing itself apart over the authority of science, patterns of abuse, and the "gay issue." Mention any of these issues on Facebook, and dozens of people will be happy to tell you what "Jesus really meant," or why "religion is harmful and headed for extinction."

Rachel Held Evans dives head first into these waters in her latest book, Searching for Sunday. I should mention that this is no unbiased review–I'm both a fan of Rachel's work and fond of her as a human being. This is a vital book: a vision for a church that rises to face this era, and it's by far the most powerful writing that Rachel has done. That's saying something, as Rachel's skill with prose is something I envy almost every day.

Rachel's voice is often associated with two very different streams in the world of Christianity: Evangelical and Progressive. For many Evangelicals, Rachel is often a thorn in their side, a voice shouting over the fray that undercuts some uncomfortable issues. For this same reason, she's a rally...

United States on Apr 14, 2015