unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity... and Why It Matters by David Kinnaman, Gabe Lyons
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Book Reviews of unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity... and Why It Matters
Book Review: UnChristian- what non-Christians think about you.
Summary: 4 Stars
If you work with youth or young people or even young at heart you need to read this. It's most important revelation is that this is what they think of Christianity, Christian and ultimately me. I want to love people to Jesus not bash them in the head to church. By understanding their views I can better do more of the former and less of the later.Book Review: We're still doing it...
Summary: 3 Stars
Yet another book trying to keep the focus on man instead of God. We have a book at the house from the 1940s (yes, the 1940s) calling the Church to see the danger of our man-centered Gospel.
It isn't about us or what the public thinks of us, it's about God. If we're a surrendered people and our desire is to point all people to Him, as Jesus said, "If I be lifted up I will draw all men unto me", then we should expect the masses to reject us. Jesus said the majority would reject Christianity; He said the way was wide that leads to destruction, and narrow that leads to life.
Jesus never chased after anyone. He told it like it was. He's a God of Love, but also a God of Truth, and we will all face Him someday.
The very first word He preached was, "Repent". This will never be popular with people who want God on their terms.
Should the Church change it's message? Only if it is preaching anything other than "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand...". Should the Church change it's focus? Yes, back on God where it belongs. Should the Church change it's approach? Yes; we need to get out of the brick and mortar building and live it out on the streets.
Jesus taught the truth in love because He cared where the "sheep without a shepherd" were headed. To the woman at the well, He, without any reservations or hesitation, told her that she was living with someone who wasn't her husband, which she knew was wrong. He didn't condemn her, but reminded her that she was headed in the wrong direction and started sharing God's truth with her. That's the Gospel, folks.
It isn't an "us against them" mentality. It is a "I do what I see My Father doing" mentality that we need to foster in God's people, and send them out on the streets where the people are. We need to be lighthouses pointing people to God, not to religion.
The real book that needs to be written is: Are we willing to count the cost? Are Christians willing to give up their lives like our Example did to reach the world for God? Expect rejection and persecution. It comes with the territory. Jesus was the most humble, loving, person alive, but he also drove the money-changers out of the temple with a whip, because He loved His father first. (There's a reason why the first 4 commandments are the first 4, did you realize that?) It cost Him his life, of course. Are we willing to count that cost, ourselves?
Book Review: Sobering
Summary: 4 Stars
As an old Mosaic (almost 22) and a born-again Christian according to the criteria of the researchers, I found this book to be deeply sobering. It expressed some of the tension I have felt since high school, and helped explain why so many in my generation are resistant to the form Christianity has taken in the last two or three decades.
I was encouraged by the fact that most "outsiders" are not resistant to the message of Christianity, especially the message of Jesus (at least on social issues), but rather they are resistant to the way self-professing Christians act, especially when those actions don't line up with what Jesus taught. This gives me hope because if we lead by example and live according to the teachings and spirit of Jesus, this generation will flock to Him because this generation is longing for a transforming power to take on the massive challenges of our world today.
I also take heart in the fact that these perceptions can change, given a wide repentance of attitudes and actions on the part of Christians, especially those in leadership. The issue of homosexuality is a perfect case study: the over-40 cohort of leadership in the American church has not adequately given those under 30 a dynamic, life-affirming viewpoint and approach to understanding and wrestling with the issue of homosexuality. It's either "Hate the sin, love the sinner" (which comes across as insincere and even mean to outsiders), condone the sin, or condemn the sin, none of which fit with our way of doing things and viewing reality. We (the under-30 generation) are more loyal to our "tribe" - our network of friends and friends-of-friends (think Facebook) - than to institutions. So if our best friend comes out as gay, and our church says to "Love the sinner, hate the sin", we have a very hard time coming to terms with that. We feel intense loyalty to our friend but a lingering loyalty to the institution of our childhood. More often than not, the institution (the church, marriage, traditional sexual mores, etc.) is cast off.
The author stated that - while every generations becomes more liberal in its youth and gradually becomes more conservative - the current generation of late teens and twentysomethings is somehow different than past generations were at their age, given the massive amounts of technology, marketing, violence, and other media that we have literally grown up around and within. That to be 23 years old in 2008 is very different than what it was like to be 23 in 1988 or 1978. Only time will tell if this assertion is true or not, but I have a feeling it may be true.
Overall, this is a very good book for a) parents of Mosaics and Busters, especially Christians, who need to understand the makeup of their childrens' culture and values, and b) Christian Mosaics and Busters, especially those firmly in the Christian "bubble", who need a kick-in-the-pants and an understanding that the way we are doing things (as far as "evangelism" and even how we express our faith in general) simply is not working for our generation.
I agree with the main thrust of the book: That young outsiders have certain perceptions about Christians that do not line up with the teachings of Jesus (judgmental, anti-homosexual, pushy with conversion, hypocritical, etc. instead of caring, loving, forgiving, humble, etc.), and that these perceptions both inhibit Christians' ability to effectively reach that generation, and repulse young outsiders from even considering the faith. And also, that the fault is not entirely with outsiders (as outsiders they don't understand first-hand the richness and depth of love that can only be found in God through Jesus), but blame also rests on Christians - both Boomers and Gen X and Y - for not incarnating the teachings and spirit of Jesus in our lives, "losing our soul" in our quest to maintain our fast-crumbling cultural and political hegemony in American society.
We can reverse these perceptions: let's get to work!
Book Review: A book every Christian should read..
Summary: 5 Stars
I think I've been waiting for this book for a long time. I think about all the "Christians" I've met who have been so bitter, so self-righteous, so mean-spirited, so quick to damn, that if you're not careful, your view of the church and Jesus himself can get very jaded. I found I wasn't alone.
David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons' book unChristian explores the disgust many people (with particular emphasis on the younger generation) have with Christians, and how this image has evolved. UnChristian shows that most 18-29-year-olds view Christian faith as hypocritical, insensitive, out of touch with reality, boring, confusing, irrelevant, bigoted, too political, old-fashioned, and the list grows. Maybe you've heard these labels yourself. Maybe you've heard these labels about your own church. And at some point, one or more of these labels applies to each one of us personally.
Of course the problem is the image of Christianity, rather than real, living faith in Jesus Christ. They like Jesus, but not the church. It's not God, it's these Christians they can't stand! But the responsibility in how that image has come about lies on the shoulders of many Christians, of all traditions and backgrounds. Too many things over the years have often taken priority over strong, sincere discipleship. They've taken priority over our first love. Kinnaman points out that in matters of the heart, in lifestyle -- from abusing someone, to viewing pornography, to saying mean things behind someone's back -- younger Christians (ages 18-29) are virtually no different from their non-Christian counterparts.
I can imagine many Christians getting angry about this book. But don't toss it aside, even if you're prepared not to agree. Listen to what Kinnaman and Lyons are saying, seriously, thoughtfully, prayerfully.
It's not too late. Whatever the reason for this image of Christianity, the image can change. It's time to stop ignoring the culture's frustration with us and our churches. There are many ways we can get real, strip ourselves of whatever drives our culture away, and reach out.
This is our wake-up call.
Book Review: Read it and I Still Hate the Christians
Summary: 2 Stars
I was force fed Chistianity for the first 16 years of my life. I'm still trying to shake off the horrors to this day. I read this book thinking I would at last find a way to forgive the church for the way it treated me and the damage it did to me all those years ago. I found myself becoming only angrier. I read this book and I still hate the Christians..perhaps even more. I'm sure that many agnostics and atheists aka thinking people may have come to their non-belief due to the way they were treated in the church as a child. The nonsense, the fears, the silly doctrine, the lies. I am one of those people. Christopher Hitchens makes more and more sense each day. Lewis Black said it best during his "Red, White and Screwed" routine. "God is a prick!"