Guest Blogger Book Review: "Churched: One Kid's Journey Toward God Despite a Holy Mess"

"Churched: One Kid's Journey Toward God Despite a Holy Mess"

A memoir, with a dose (or twelve) of cynicism, that doesn’t live up to it's subtitle.

I picked up "Churched" from the Blogging for Books program with WaterBrook Multonomah, just out of curiosity. It looked like an interesting read, which I will note here, it was.


I started reading the book as soon as I got it. It was very interesting, telling Matthew Turner’s childhood experiences growing up in a conservative church. It’s pretty much his autobiography… with about a tablespoon (or two) of cynicism added to it. 

It starts with the author in a sauna, where he meets a guy with a tattoo of Jesus spitting fire out of his mouth. A conversation ensues, which leads you to believe that in the end of the book our author is different than he is in the beginning . Wanting to see the change between the beginning and the end, I read through this book quickly. 

It was very interesting with a lot of funny and witty stories. Although these stories are written in a cynical light, there is a very good point in the end, in which he admits that no church is perfect. However, he still hasn’t really recovered from his ‘holy mess’. 

I expect this book will be rewritten in a few years with an actual ending that makes a point, because hopefully by then he will be past this, and will have become a more mature follower of Christ. This book almost makes a really good point at the end…but ends up a bit short of a bulls eye.

Disclaimer: I received Churched for free through the WaterBrook Multonomah blogging for books company in exchange for doing a review.

(Today's book review was by guest blogger/avid reader/book reviewer par excellence, Erika Fletcher, my 15 year old daughter.)