In the following Advance interview, co-authors Jonathan and Jennifer Campbell take us inside The Way of Jesus, one of the newest books in the Leadership Network Publications series, produced with Jossey-Bass. The Series delivers innovative concepts from today's preeminent thinkers, practitioners and pioneering churches.

ADVANCE: Simply put, how do you define The Way of Jesus?

AUTHORS: The life of Jesus. Living out of my identity in Christ. To live in communion with Christ and in community with others who simply desire to listen and follow Jesus as his Spirit leads.

ADVANCE: What new ideas regarding religion and spirituality will we find in the book?

AUTHORS: Most who write about the church today are writing from within Christendom. They are quick to point out the faults and failings of the religious system, and then leave it at that. They do not show another way. We have sought to offer hope and a pathway toward embodying new wineskins for the new wine of this generation.

ADVANCE: Publishers always ask, "What is the market for this book?" What's your answer?

AUTHORS: This book is for spiritual seekers--both East and West, churched and de-churched--who long to experience community and a holistic spirituality. We write for those who are moved by their spiritual longings and intuitively know there has to be another way of growing spiritually.

ADVANCE: What are some of the groundbreaking ideas that may surprise readers?

AUTHORS: Hope lies in going deeper than what most religions offer. We have seen the gospel embodied in a variety of ways. The more we experience the power of God at work in Western and non-Western contexts, the more we appreciate the power and simplicity of the gospel to take root in any culture or among any people.

The gospel of Jesus answers the spiritual and relational longings of all cultures (specifically the needs for identity, love, community, truth, and power). Only as the church dies to itself and lays down the image it thought it was to be or has become will it have the opportunity to be organically reborn as the Body of Christ in new and different cultural realities.
ADVANCE: What do you hope the reader takes away from your book?

AUTHORS: We hope people will see that Jesus is enough, and take courage to gather a group of fellow pilgrims and continue the journey along the way of Jesus. As Philippians 3:16-17 says in The Message, "Now that we're on the right track, let's stay on it. Stick with me, friends. Keep track of those you see running this same course, headed for this same goal."

ADVANCE: The subtitle suggests "the way of Jesus" may forge a new path for some Christians.

AUTHORS: The book is our "travelogue" of what we have experienced and discovered in our journey of learning to live outside the "system" of organized religion. We realized we were not alone and were encouraged to share our story, especially after meeting so many other spiritual pilgrims along the way. We wanted to offer hope for those who were searching for a deep and meaningful spirituality; those who had become disenfranchised with what religion offered them but couldn't and didn't want to quiet the voice within them that longed for a relationship with God.

ADVANCE: How did the book come about?

AUTHORS: We've been amazed at the number of people we have met around the world who are on their own journey of deconstruction and discovery, breaking out of the complexities of religion to get back to the powerful simplicity of life in Jesus. They likewise have seen the widening gap between talking about Jesus and walking with Jesus. It's not that they are against church; they are just making more room in their lives to experience the living reality of Jesus in community with their family and friends.

Jonathan and Jennifer Campbell have been pioneering spiritual communities together for more than twenty years. Jonathan has served as a pastor and church planter, and has consulted with hundreds of churches as a strategist, trainer and professor. Jonathan, a Ph.D. from Fuller School of Intercultural Studies, draws much from what he and Jennifer have experienced with spiritual sojourners from both Western and non-Western cultures.