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A Review of Jump: Into a Life of Further and Higher. Efrem Smith. Paperback: David C. Cook, 2010. Buy Now: [ Christian Book.com ] Reviewed by Chris Enstad. |
Efrem Smith was the pastor of Sanctuary Covenant Church until early 2010 when he was named superintendent of the Pacific Southwest Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church. Smith is a dynamic speaker and can easily move across, over and through denominational lines to bring a humble, yet powerful, delivery of the Gospel to many, many ears.
Smith led Sanctuary Church to become a powerful presence in north Minneapolis; a neighborhood otherwise known for its decline and stagnation over the past few decades. Sanctuary Church was a laboratory for Smith’s philosophy and theology; gifts that he has now taken with him to the Pacific Northwest to teach, learn and jump with the congregations in that territory into a new life together.
I write all of this as an introduction to this author because when one picks up Smith’s book, Jump: Into a Life of Further and Higher, one quickly realizes that that are holding in their hands the blueprint of the life of a phenomenally gifted church leader as well as a “how-to” guide for those in church leadership themselves. This book can be used as both a personal devotional guide, as well as a resource for the leadership of local communities, to truly confront what I have come to see as the fatal flaw in many, many congregations: a fear of failure has led to many great ideas sitting on the shelf for lack of someone just grabbing on and JUMPING into whatever future those ideas may hold!
One of Smith’s greatest gifts is his vision for a truly multi-ethnic, reconciling Church. Indeed, his ministry has always been one of helping communities see beyond their present circumstances into a different tomorrow.
The book begins with a retelling of the story of an African impala at a zoo. In nature impala’s can jump thirteen feet high and thirty feet out to avoid predators, however, the zoo keeps them behind walls only three feet high. How can this be? Well, you see, from a very young age the impala’s are trained to believe that they can’t jump over the wall and among the means of teaching this is to keep the animals from seeing where they would land on the other side. If the impala can’t see it’s landing spot, it won’t jump.
One can imagine how many different ways this story applies to the life of a person, a pastor, or a congregation! Indeed, Smith comes back to this story in some rich ways throughout the book but the one that hits me the hardest as a believer and a church leader is right away at the beginning, “I look around today and see believers all across the land behind three-foot walls. Like African impalas, they’ve been taught one thing or another, many times things completely unscriptural, that keeps them from jumping into the life God wants for them.” (21)
Later in the book Smith returns to the impala story in describing congregations, “Some of us are hesitant to build multi-ethnic, reconciling communities because we don’t know where we will land. What if tension arises? What if I say something offensive? What if I’m misunderstood? What if it turns out like last time[…]?”(97)
The point, for Smith and for us, is not to waste time and energy fretting about what might lie on the other side of the jump but to just JUMP.
Sanctuary Church is just such a church and as much as this is a memoir of Smith, Sanctuary Church is the offspring of Smith’s entire family jumping into the vision of a community living beyond the safely segregated church’s we see today. For Smith this included giving up the safety of the all-black church just as he was asking whites to give up the safety of their all-white churches.
Jump: Into a Life of Further and Higher is a deeply moving memoir of a husband, father, pastor and leader. It is the story of a congregation that decided to jump into an unknown future. It is one of the few modern memoirs of the current cadre of celebrity church-leaders that reflects the deep love of a man for his Church and for the ministry of pastoring, planting and leading a people into a reconciling relationship with each other and the world.
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Chris Enstad is the new Fiction and Poetry editor of the ERB and Senior Pastor of Elim Lutheran Church of Robbinsdale, MN. His blog can be found at http://livingtheresurrection.typepad.com
C. Christopher Smith is the founding editor of The Englewood Review of Books. He is also author of a number of books, including most recently How the Body of Christ Talks: Recovering the Practice of Conversation in the Church (Brazos Press, 2019). Connect with him online at: C-Christopher-Smith.com
 Reading for the Common Good From ERB Editor Christopher Smith "This book will inspire, motivate and challenge anyone who cares a whit about the written word, the world of ideas, the shape of our communities and the life of the church." -Karen Swallow Prior Enter your email below to sign up for our weekly newsletter & download your FREE copy of this ebook! |
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