The Next Christians

October 4, 2010
Lyons (un Christian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity and Why It Matters) garnered attention in 2007 with fresh research quantifying evangelical Christianity's image problem among American youth. His newest book aims to "restore" U.S. evangelicalism by elevating a generation of leaders marked by six traits suitable for a postmodern, pluralistic, post-Christian America. Evangelicals will need to be "provoked, not offended; creators, not critics; called, not employed; grounded, not distracted; in community, not alone; and countercultural, not relevant." Lyons surrounds his argument with engaging personal stories; he also draws on the successful community model of William Wilberforce's Clapham Hill group, the theology of N.T. Wright and Dallas Willard, and—surprisingly—the sociopolitical strategy of gay rights activists to demonstrate where this youthful evangelicalism is rooted and what effective cultural engagement might look like. It's possible to fault Lyons for his almost exclusively male and predominantly white role models. They don't represent future U.S. generations—evangelical or otherwise. However, for those following what church growth expert C. Peter Wagner called the "new apostolic reformation," this is an important book for the shelf.

Starred review from October 1, 2010

The United States is swiftly becoming post-Christian (if it ever was Christian), and many in the church have responded by either isolating from culture entirely or embracing it wholeheartedly. Lyons (founder, qideas.org; coauthor, with David Kinnaman, Unchristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity and Why It Matters) focuses on the church's reaction to this new generation of Christians and on the radical changes some church members are making to engage it. Eschewing both extremes of separatism and wholesale blending, the author outlines a "middle way" of restoration, of being a Christian who engages the younger Christian culture in a meaningful way while remaining clean of personal defilement. Lyons defines these "next Christians" by six characteristics: "[they are] provoked, not offended; creators, not critics; called, not employed; grounded, not distracted; in community, not alone; [and] countercultural, not relevant." VERDICT This analysis of the coming wave of Christianity will be enlightening to those outside the church and encouraging and challenging to those within it. Readers of N.T. Wright, Tim Keller, Rob Bell, and Bob Briner will appreciate this book. Highly recommended.--Ray Arnett, Fremont Area Dist. Lib., MI

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