Book Review: I am a Follower

I Am a Follower: The Way, Truth, and Life of Following Jesus by Leonard Sweet

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I am a Follower:  The Way, Truth and Life of Following Jesus by Leonard Sweet makes some great points about how in the twenty-first century we find focus on leadership.  Jesus didn't call us to leadership, He called us to follow.  This book explores that theme.  The author has some fantastic quotes in this book, and I often found myself reaching for a pen and notebook to jot some of them down.  At the same time, I also felt the book was aimed more at those in church ministry positions than those of us who are just members of the church.  While I realize this is to emphasize they should be followers and not focus on leading, it still felt a bit more like church leadership material than I would have liked.

That said, I did really enjoy this book.  The quotes were fantastic.  There were a lot of ideas that I will be thinking about for some time.  This would make a great group study for a church board or group of pastors, especially from different churches as it would bring the focus on Jesus and not on denominational differences. 

This book is divided into four parts:  The Place, The Way, The Truth, The Life.  After each section are "Interactives"  (commonly known as discussion questions in other books)  The other thing I didn't like about this book is the sections within these four parts were somewhat short and I am a reader who will sit down and read for an hour or more at a time, and this made the reading not flow quite as well for me.  However, I realize others would very much like this because it allows for it to be digested in short bits. 

Overall, I did very much enjoy this book and would recommend it to anyone in a church leadership position.

FTC Disclaimer:  I received a free review copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.   It in no way influenced my opinion.