Gabe Lyons believes that a better, more restorative Christianity is on the horizon, and that Christians dedicated to the Word will find a better way to reach a hurting world.

I liked the ideas and enthusiasm. But I was bugged by a lack of curiosity about power structures that oppress women and minorities, advocate anti-choice policies, and exile queer members from belonging in a loving environment. Maybe hindsight is 20/20? I am, after all, reading this booking 2019.

This is a book written before Trump, before #metoo and before the rotten fruit of Evangelicalism wilted off the vine. A quick Google search shows that Gabe Lyons did not support Trump in 2016 and indeed was concerned about Evangelical enthusiasm for him, but there just isn't a hint that there is a need for self-examination and repentance before evangelizing others. I'd recommend either a new edition with a timely forward or a new book to analyze these hypotheses a decade later. ( )

Book Title: "The Next Christians”
Author: Gabe Lyons
Published By: Multnomah
Age Recommended: 17+
Reviewed By: Kitty Bullard
Raven Rating: 4.5

Review: This book brings a necessary hope to Christians and gives a brighter outlook for future generations. The author writes in such a way that you don’t feel as though you are being preached at. He shares his vision in an insightful and approachable way that makes this book a genuinely great read.
Christians that feel there is no hope for their religion left or for the love of God, should definitely get a copy of Gabe’s book. ( )

Great book,

I've long thought that Christians have lost influence in culture, but more importantly we have lost respect in the public forum. I'm defining respect as being something earned, influence as being something wielded (often through political power). The first question this book addresses is whether Christians should even aspire to effect society. The answer in the negative would create sectarian, secluded Christians who avoid "the world" e.g. the Amish. The answer in the positive leads us to more questions. Should Christians then try to make "the world" more like "the Church" or should Christians seek to gain respect in the greater culture (or what the author refers to being a "restorer").

This I think is the key question of this book. Although it might not be phrased in quite this way. The author exhorts Christians to focus on first things first, being counter-cultural, but not for the sake of evangelism. The first-things-first approach would encourage counter-cultural Christians for the sake of greater faithfulness to the scriptures and relationship with God. The evangelism should naturally follow as a secondary goal. I would agree. It is clear that the Bible beating, religious-right, moral majority have done greater harm for the Gospel than good. Most Christians statistically are barely distinguishable from the rest of secular society. They look at pornography as much, or more than the average person, have an equivalent divorce rate, and are just as charitable as their secular counterpart. Except, they are looked at as anti-homosexual, judgmental, hypocritical and generally are known more for what they're against than issues they support.

I would recommend this book to any Christian because I think it is perhaps quite prophetic about future of the direction of the Church in the Third Millennium A.D.

The only reason why I decided only to give four stars instead of five is that I think the author could have done a better job at emphasizting that his principles could be taken too far. People could be so focused on being "next Christians" that they compromise the gospel, his example of the creator of the "to write love on her arms" cutting Jesus out of the story on the inside of the shirt to continue to be sold by Hot Topic. Jesus is the whole point of Christianity, and the author here never states that there are ever any lines in the sand to be made in how we as Christians make our stand within society for Christ. The early church advanced, not simply because their exemplary lives within society (as the author notes), but also on the bloody backs of martyrs. Compromising how we communicate the gospel for the sake of effecting our world in positive ways should only advance so far. The great commission is every single Christians' responsibility, not just those gifted with the gift of evangelism or teaching. The basic gospel story is something every Christian should be able to explain and the sharing of which no Christian should be afraid to share boldly. ( )

The author of this book has basically divided Christians into 3 groups. Separatist, Cultural or Restorers. He has had some unpleasant experiences with "Separatist" in his life and thus he is definitely writing as a reaction to his personal experiences.
Theologically, his book is problematic as think that Jesus came and died to bring the world back to the Garden of Eden. He ignores the idea of propitiation and substitutionary atonement altogether. In his "restoration story" on page 54-55 he characterizes the redemptive story as if there was spilled milk on the floor that needed cleaning. He misunderstands the Garden of Eden, therefore he misunderstands Israel and he rebellion and exile. He misrepresents Christ goals and therefore his aim at evangelism is basically non-existent and his hope to fit in a world that hates Christians is fully functional.
In this authors view, the role of the Christian is to fit in and "only when necessary use words". Frankly speaking that's not evangelism that's just how not to be jerk. ( )

Before I get into my response to this audio book, I thought it might help you to know the angle I'm coming from: Firstly, I'm not a trained theologian or minister or an expert in ecclesiology (theology of the Church). But I guess you could call me a hobbyist, and my interest in these things is sincere, so by all means, speak up and share your ideas about this stuff, whatever they might be. :-)

Secondly, as a pastor's kid I've heard of revivals, scandals, trends and dangers within Christendom for more than 20 years. So I have to admit, there is a small, exasperated voice in my head saying, "What new twist is someone putting on my faith this time?" But that isn't the only thing bouncing around in my head when I meet a new book about the Church. The other voice, which is much more compelling (and friendlier!), reminds me to stay curious, humble, and open to whatever God might want to teach me. And it reminds me that I've had my own doubts about Church and western Christianity over the years, and just maybe this author will help shed some light on what I've already felt in my gut about the problems I've witnessed.

That being said, the waters were a little rough for me in the first few chapters of The Next Christians, where Gabe Lyons summarizes the state of American (this could apply to Canadian Christians too, so I'll just say "NA", short for North American) Christianity. He describes the many sub-groups of Christians by the way they relate with secular society, but these descriptions seem over-simplified. While he mentions their strengths, he ends up casting each group in a rather negative light in an effort to contrast them with what he calls the "next Christians." So that's the main hiccup I ran into as I digested this book.

Moving right along, I was fascinated by his idea that over the last few decades (or the last century, even) NA Christians have put the gospel message out of balance, focusing on salvation but minimizing the other half of the story: the restorative piece of God's work. God's end goal is not just for us to be saved, but He also restores our souls, minds, hearts, and relationships in the process, and He will bring restoration to the world at the end of time as well.

Bringing restoration back into focus alongside the message of salvation, Lyons says, helps regular Christians (like me!) finally understand our natural impulse to create things that are beautiful and to fix things that are broken, like our neighborhoods, homes, workplaces, hobbies, (Facebook pages?), and anything we can get our hands on to beautify. This point really hit home for me, especially because I still carry a little bit of the shame of being thought of as 'liberal' (in the sense that people want to spit after saying it) because of my relentless drive to preserve that which is beautiful (like nature) and speak up for people who are down on their luck or oppressed. So in my case, it's refreshing to be reminded that God created us to enjoy and want to do these things, because by doing so we're reflecting His nature; we were made in His image, after all!

The rest of the book delves into the many different attitudes and activities these "next Christians" engage in. His stories inspire me and they've got me brainstorming about changes I might make to my own life. Gabe also narrated the audio version of his book, which added a personal touch.

Now obviously, I can't summarize all the angles or the depth of the author's points in the confines of my short review, so you'll just have to pick up a copy for yourself to see exactly what Lyons is trying to say. ;-)

Many thanks to christianaudio (http://christianaudio.com) for providing a free audio download of this book for review. ( )