The Next Christians: The Good News About the End of the Christian Era

In 2007 Gabe Lyons collaborated with David Kinnamen in unChristian a book that showed us the reality of societies views about those who label themselves Christian. Since I had a friend gift me a copy, I have quoted and referred friends and others to this important text and their advice for overcoming the poor impression that society has of Christians. In The Next Christians not only tells us how to overcome negative Christian stereotypes, but he tells us who will destroy them. Lyons leaves his reader excited for the next movement of God through the next Christians, the restorers. These next Christians struggle against the reality of the world seeking to restore creation to what it ought to be not what it is. The restorers place high value on truth, justice, and beauty. Lyons describes in detail the key characteristics of restorers including their high value on calling, community, countercultural behavior, active engagement with culture and a firm foundation in Jesus Christ. If Christianity has lost its relevance by removing itself from the center of culture, the restorers are our best hope to return saved people to the culture conversation.

The Next Christians is a phenomenal book. Lyons has an ability in his writing to connect all of the dots to things we have all seen in our churches and society in large. As he writes about examples of restorers he knows you begin to think of those in your own life. Those examples that come to mind only further show the truth of Lyons’ writing. Additionally, the book is easy to read due to the engaging material. Honestly, as I got to better understand some of those I interact with, I got excited. I was also challenged with questions about myself as a potential restorer, where I am fighting against the restorers, and how can my own background help sharpen restorers. Lyons’ words lead me to celebrate much of what I do, and also grieve my own non-restorative tendencies. What more can we ask of a book other than lead ourselves down a path of self reflection? The Next Christians also helps reinforce books like Not Like Me. The Next Christians provides a general behavioral overview of restorers, while Eric Bryant in Not Like Me describes the relational toolbox of restorers, though he never makes that claim. The Next Christians is an important book that we as the church need to be discussing and acting on so we can move the Jesus conversation back to the center of the cultural dialogue.

Review Copy Provided by WaterBrook Multnomah

Bad Public Relations

Recently I ran against a bad case of PR. I was sitting in church practicing silence and solitude. Instead of mediating over the verses presented to me for my consideration, I found myself stuck on the transfiguration.

In short summary, during the transfiguration, 3 disciples (Peter, John and James) witnessed Jesus in his glory and in conversation with Moses and Elijah:

28About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. 29As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. 30Two men, Moses and Elijah, 31appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. 32Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. 33As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, "Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah." (He did not know what he was saying.)

34While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35A voice came from the cloud, saying, "This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him." 36When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves, and told no one at that time what they had seen (Luke 9:28-36, NIV).

Here is what struck me. John, we all know about John. He wrote a gospel and epistles and Revelation. Jesus proclaims him beloved. We know a lot about John and his life after the resurrection compared to the majority of the other twelve disciples. John has gotten some great public relations and rightfully we respect him and hold him up as an example to this day.

And then there is Peter, the Rock. He wrote Epistles and his post resurrection actions are documented in Acts and by tradition. We respect Peter, study Peter both his failings and triumphs. And Peter has gotten some great PR.

But then there is James! What about James. He is not the same James who had an epistle added to canon. Acts does not carefully chart James’ movements to help shepherd the early church. Though we can likely assume he was one of the decision makers when Acts refers to the disciples. But beyond being a Son of Thunder with his brother the Beloved, it’s not like we study James’ life intently as an example of holy transformed living or gave him a great nickname.

But why not. Jesus showed James his glory. Jesus not only allowed James into his inner circle of 12 but even added him to the inner inner circle of just three men that got to see this event. So we have to assume that Jesus knew what was in James’ heart and what great work was ahead of him. Jesus chose to reward James by sharing with him this moment. And I have to assume that James did not leave this event changed. I have to assume that after the resurrection, like John and Peter he looked back on this moment and gained strength. And I have to assume that James did great and wonderful things. But again, we don’t elevate him to the position of respect that we do Peter and John.

Now in-depth research, i.e, Wikipedia, shows that James by tradition had a great influence in spreading the church to Spain and was martyred for his efforts. But tradition and history leads me to simply assumption. And my assumption is…James did important things we should all greatly respect. But we fail to place him on the pedestal of John and Peter.

So, what do we learn from this. How about this…..praise doesn’t matter. James did not need accolades to do his important work. James did not need studies completed on his character in order for his efforts to matter. His work glorified Jesus and transformed himself and others. His work was eternal, more eternal than any praise that could be given by men. James mattered to Jesus no matter what raises, plaques, ribbons, gift cards, statues, brand new corvettes or other awards men failed to give him. In the end, seeing Jesus in his glory was more important praise than James could have ever received from men. Jesus’ smile is the best reward any of us can have.

Why I Hate Podcasts

Over the last six plus years I have been lucky to have a job that allows me to listen to a lot of podcasts on a daily basis while I complete my job duties. Over that time I have found some great advantages and disadvantages to having the time and access to teachings electronically. Today I want to provide my take on the disadvantages of podcasts.

Burnout

There is so much to chose from that eventually it can become too much. And when you become overwhelmed with the sure volume of teachings available online the easiest way to keep from drowning is to turn it off. It is so much easier to move to sports or other less serious topics available on the internet. With the variety of content available online one can simply ignore teachings and not use podcasts as a tool for growth but something that can simply be ignored.

Local Church Discounts

I love the men that I have called my pastors. They have mentored me, they have poured themselves into my life unconditionally. But they have not always been the most studied or charismatic speakers on a weekly basis as the best teachers one can find online on a weekly basis. Let’s face it, the local pastor is simply more likely to have an off week than a teacher God has blessed with gifts that make them as polished as any inspirational speaker who does not need to live by a van down by the river. Our local guy likely lacks the staff and resources that would make him an every week hit. By exposing yourself to fantastic teaching, one can begin to take their local church pastor less seriously or begin to ask why he/she isn’t as good as (insert favorite name here) that I listen to for free online. Basically, if you expose yourself to enough excellent teachings you can begin to take your local teacher less seriously. And this is a major fault on the listener’s behalf. As good as a speaker may be online, that person is not participating in your life on a daily basis and does not love you on the personal level that one’s local pastor does.

Are You Hearing Me

There are things that I don’t want to talk about. There are things I don’t want to think about. When those subjects come up on a teaching, well it’s pretty easy to find another teaching. The reason they hurt is because I NEED TO GROW IN THIS AREA. Since I need to grow it hurts, hey growth is not always fun and happy. I am a completionist, so eventually I return to that message that I don’t want to hear. But the timing may not be a growth moment by the time I return, listening at a time when my focus on the teaching is fairly superficial. However in the local sanctuary, if I was to turn off the message by walking out of dosing off, let’s face it my pastor and everyone else in my community is going to know. In effect, in my community I’m a captive audience, the same cannot be said for a podcast when I control the volume and play buttons.

Selective Listening

When you are listening and multitasking, you don’t always hear everything. And so the speaker’s message can easily get lost. And then you the listener miss the point. The additional hearing problem is when taking in so a bunch of teaching, which is really easy to do it’s pretty easy to forget or ignore the speaker’s main point or call to action. Simply put, I have heard so many talks that it is impossible for me to be impacted on a personal nature by all of them or even most of them. The best I can hope for is that I am being marinated in great teachings that hopefully sharpens my mind, frees my soul and strengthens my relationship with my creator.

These disadvantages should not stop one from interacting with content online. Instead the listener needs to be aware of the blind spots and traps one can fall into by primarily relying on podcasts for teaching instead of engaging in a religious community.

Not Like Me: A Field Guide for Influencing a Diverse World by Eric Michael Bryant

Eric Michael Bryant in Not Like Me connects authentic relationships with impacting others for Jesus. Bryant provides a call to engage those that don’t look like us, share our culture or even believe the same as us. In fact he goes so far as to call us to love those people that the Christian mainstream hates. He notes that typically we push away people that don’t think or behave as we do removing our ability to influence them. Bryant instead points out the need to engage these not like me people in true friendships. He urges us to love people without judgment or conditions, realizing that though one may not have a relationship with Jesus, that God still loves that person unconditionally. This is the example that we must follow. Bryant shows that only be entering true relationships with people not like us can we have a lasting impact on their lives and help to show them the power of Jesus.

I have to be honest; I have wanted to read this book from when it was first issued as Peppermint-Filled Piñatas. I’m very happy to say I was not disappointed. Bryant writes what we know in our own hearts, without a relationship with people we cannot expect to successfully impact them. But not only must we have a relationship, we must have a relationship built on love, respect and honesty not one based on a hidden agenda. By being honest we learn more about others and ourselves. Bryant reminds us that Jesus immersed himself amongst those that the religious establishment considered outsiders. And he angered that establishment as he moved salvation past a religious system of dos and do nots to a relationship with a living God. Not Like Me reminds us the simplest and best way for us to introduce someone to a friend, is to be a friend first.

I think this is an important work. Bryant urges us to move past our fears and preconceptions of others, others that we look down at, don’t understand and honestly fear for their cultural and moral choices and to look at people. Basically, he challenges us to look at people as people, not as sinners. By following Bryant’s charge and advice on friendship building we can find that key to demolishing the negative opinions that general public has of Christ followers especially charges of hate filled and judgmental. Not Like Me reminds us that like Jesus to save people we must first love people.

Why I Love Podcasts

Over the last six plus years I have been lucky to have a job that allows me to listen to a lot of podcasts on a daily basis while I complete my job duties. Over that time I have found some great advantages and disadvantages to having the time and access to teachings electronically. Today I want to provide my take on the advantages of podcasts.

Anytime Anywhere
I can listen at work. I can listen in the car. I can listen on a plane. I can listen in the living room. I can listen mowing the yard. I can listen on the train. I can listen walking. I can listen in the bathroom (though maybe I shouldn’t). I can listen at work at my desk. I can listen on the moon. You get the point. I can listen to this content anywhere where my MP3 player has power after a charge. As long as I have device power, I don’t need or require a cord or access to another device. I could be listening while standing in a cave, and that’s a powerful and convenient tool for enriching one’s spirit and mind. Podcasts and MP3 device liberate me from having to be at a set location and time to access content.

Great Teachings
Podcasts allow you access to teachers and preachers that geographical location would never make available to you. I have lived in both predominantly rural and urban areas during this six year span, but I have always lived distantly from those pastors and leaders I enjoy listening to. Without podcasts, I would not have access to those who unknown to them are helping to spiritually mentor me. Additionally, since these podcasts represent a number of diverse churches they have guest speakers that are either prominent or up and coming that I may not typically seek out on my own. While some of these speakers may be hit or miss they have also introduced me to authors that I would have not have typically sought out. And it was all free.

Variety, Variety, Variety
I listen to a variety of speakers from a variety of denominations with a variety of styles. Additionally, they have differing topics they empathize more than others. Creation care is one great example. For some of these speakers creation care is something that humans are very much a part of with calls of action to actively actively participation in stewarding the environment. For others, they do not stress the care of creation, or advocate the trashing of creation, but place it as a secondary issue behind salvation. Additionally diversity has introduced me to new ways of interacting with theology. I had courses in systematic theology, but it was through podcasts that I was introduced to narrative theology and I love a good story. Additionally, I was able to take in different teachers with different styles preaching to different kinds of communities. The great thing is when you take in so much variety, it becomes easy to see what matters most to us as a “Christian Culture.”

Churchless Does Not Mean Message less
I have been churchless my friend, but the great news is now I’m found. During that time I visited several churches, and during periods of burnout I visited nowhere. But during that entire time span despite not having a community I was not left without teaching and preaching. There really is no excuse for not accessing good teaching and preaching anytime anywhere thanks to podcasts and a little internet access.

These are all great reasons to start browsing the large library of teaching hosted on the internet.