Given the lumps that Christianity has taken in popular media lately, the last book a pastor or church leader may want to pick up is one titled "10 Things I Hate About Christianity."

However, don’t let the title turn you aside from reading author Jason Berggren’s musings on faith. He addresses the distaste for using such a strong word, noting that he could never take seriously "10 Things I Really, Really Don’t Like About Christianity."

"I had to say hate because it best represents the challenges that hit me, and how I feel when they do," he writes. "And I had to believe there were people out there like me. People drawn to bare-bones honesty, people who get tired of pretense and hidden agendas."

This comes not from a wild-eyed critic of the Church, but a former associate pastor. In addition to serving as a small group leader at Andy Stanley’s Atlanta-area megachurch, he has wrestled with the troubling aspects of a life of faith. They are the kind of perplexing issues that can’t be resolved with a bumper sticker.

The book gives a glimpse into the views of younger adults, whose dropout rate I discussed last week, and their search for honesty and authenticity among God’s people. Berggren says it’s his attempt to share in the open the things many think about behind closed doors.

As the author puts it: "I’m convinced that many, many people are moved by the teachings of Jesus. They want to believe. They want to follow. They just got disconnected on some level, and they can’t work through it."

Whether you agree with this assessment or not, it seems obvious that young adults are open to discussing the Church’s problems without thinking that represents heresy or rebellion. And, judging by the large numbers who fade away, a refusal to talk about it encourages them to leave.

In addition to his sense of humor, Berggren is an engaging writer. He touches readers in the first chapter with an exploration of his youthful experiences with a troubled classmate who ultimately committed suicide. The encounter serves as a vivid reminder that all churches are engaged in matters of life and death.

He also explores such topics as prayer, the Bible, sin, and the written and unwritten "rules" that seem to govern so much of church life. One of his observations that hits the mark: the never-ending arguments over which scripture translation to use are silly (not to mention counter-productive to reaching those outside the Church.)

I particularly enjoyed Berggren’s chapter on rules, since an overemphasis on them can easily slide into the kind of legalism that kills the Spirit and ruins churches.

Though it is just as easy to go to the other extreme and excuse away all kinds of behavior with a "we’re not to judge" outlook, the idea that keeping rules can secure salvation runs directly opposite the message of the gospel.

Berggren maintains a balance here by turning the 10 "don’t’s" into a list of "do’s" and noting that rules can have benefits. With the right perspective, he says they can deepen devotion and strengthen a relationship.

When you get to the essence of the spiritual hunger of our times, "relationship" heads the list. That is one message that rings clear through Berggren’s book—we all want a relationship with God, even in the messy world called our lives.