unChristian

unChristian by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons

 

“Living life together, learning to become the people Christ intended, being real about our faults-and our continual need for Jesus’ grace-are powerful antidotes to unchristian faith among a new generation”.   This is just one of the many powerful statements that author, David Kinnaman, challenged me with as I read his book.   Based on extensive research, he estimates nearly 50 million adults have significant emotional or spiritual baggage with so-called Christ followers, which in turn translates to having their picture of Jesus degraded.  I want to live my life differently!  I want my words and my actions to boost the reputation of Christianity but more importantly, I want them to boost the name of Christ.

 

Having grown up in the church, reading this book, made me rethink much of my faith and how I reach out to others.  I don’t want to live in my Christian bubble, while the next generation seeks diligently ways to penetrate that bubble and show me the world they live in is different.  I realized that I have spent much of my Christian life focusing on standing in judgment of those that don’t quite “measure up”, when in reality, I don’t measure up, that’s why I need Jesus! 

 

As Mr. Kinnaman led me through my thoughts on hypocrisy, homosexuality, salvation, politics, and judgment, I realized that change will not happen overnight, in fact, change will not happen over the period of the next few weeks or months, but if I press on towards identifying how Christ wants me to change, He will begin to make a difference.   As the author states, “we don’t please Him by pretending to be perfect or by taking offense at outsiders, we please Him by making Jesus real to people, even those who don’t like us. 

 

In the afterward of unchristian, Mr. Kinnaman asks several noted leaders in the faith what they hope Christianity looks like in 30 years.   Mike Foster, president of Ethur, states, “”I look forward to the day when Christian hangouts won’t just be Sunday morning church services or praise-band practices, but instead Tuesday night potlucks at the local homeless shelter.  One day they world will ask, “where are all those Christian freaks at?“  I pray our answer will be, “we’re over here helping in the ravaged slums of Africa and happily drilling wells in Haitian villages, and guys, we’re going to be here a while”. I hope that as I continue to seek how he wants me to live and how others look at my life, not matter where he leads me, that I’ll be able to answer, “I’m going to be here for a while”