They Like Jesus But Not the Church: Insights from Emerging Generations

I have been saved for over 10 years now and even work as the secretary at my church. I've been on this quest the last year or so of trying to seperate God and religion which are two totally different things. Working in church and seeing "christians" daily, I understood the quote in this book by Gandhi that says "I like your Christ, I do not like your christians, your christians are so unlike your Christ" I have found it to be my experience that church-goers can be some of the meanest nastiest people you want to be around. The sad part is, there is a world out there that sees it. He brings out the fact that outside the "bible belt" most people between the ages of 18 & 30 haven't been raised in church. The only view they have of christians and church is what they see on tv, which you can agree is not so nice. You have the bazillionaire televangelist, the god hates fags sign holders, the politicians and preachers who's platform is morality, yet they are caught with prostitutes and drugs, the very thing they wagged their finger at. No wonder they don't want to become one of us. I don't want to be like that either! It's interesting to hear some of the stories in the book. It's made me take a long hard look at myself and my influence. My life may be the only bible someone ever reads. I sent out emails to everyone in my address book asking them to give me their opinions on Jesus.......and church.......the replies have been staggering. It's amazing how we church-folk will right off and condemn non-church goers, when if we do what he suggests in this book and ask them what they think....we might be shocked to find out that they know alot more about God than we give them credit for! One of my favorite preachers has said often, "wanna know why people don't go to church? - Because they've been." The church as a whole needs a wake-up call, and this is one tool to do it. HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK.

Who in the church wouldn't be attracted by such a title? This is significant sharing of probing into the emerging generation's perception of Christ and His Bride. Kimball achieves his goal well of not only sharing the results of his probe into this perception, but more vital his implorement for the pastors to get out of their office and hear this perception themselves through developing relationships. This perception is driven by media molding of Christ and His church into something as Kimball states is not what most of us in the church truly are, but what the media projects and what a small minority of Christians project. So, we the majority do well to listen to this, heed his admonition to begin developing our own EG relationships so that we might deliver another Christ and His Bride for them to consider. As Kimball rejoices so do I in the attitude these EGers have, an intellectual curiosity towards Jesus. I tested this out with an EGer in my congregation, and she concurred with what Kimball reveals. How long have most of us Christian pastors longed for people like these who want to explore with us "IN DEPTH" the Holy Scriptures! For this alone, the book is valuable and so we thank God for Kimball's efforts. He exhibits a fine Christian attitude in wanting to reach the lost, but not at the expense of truth. Kimball practices admirably the faith by not making missions vs. doctrine an "either/or" proposition by a "both/and!" To be expected since the author and I are not of the same theological confession, we have theological differences. Primarily, my concern flows from his statements of the popular distinction between "major and minor" doctrines. This is the often touted: "Unity in all major doctrines of the Bible; diversity in those doctrines which are minor, and charity in everything." Although this seems very reasonable and worthy from a purely intellectual, rational, commonsense level, I find no Scriptural support for it. For example, most would place the Sacraments in the "minor" doctrine category. To those of us who believe the precious gospel is in the Sacrmanets, this is untenable. John 17 clearly presents our Lord's thinking on what unity He and the Father have on doctrine. Does anyone think the Father and Jesus divide their doctrine into such major and minor categories? This points out an area that likely would need much exploration with EG dialogue as with anyone, what is the role of intelligence and reason when it runs square into Scripture? Are God's thoughts and ways of doing things to square with ours? Isaiah 55 is vital here. The church is grateful to the author for his work and his gracious challenge to the rest of us to follow his lead. I'll be off to the coffehouses and etc. myself to begin talking. Read this if you haven't yet.

I am just one small voice but I am hoping that this review will be helpful to people who are seeking to find the true heart of the Gospel. It is unfortunate that many people will approach this book with many presuppositions about Dan Kimball and the whole emergent movement. I believe Dan is simply giving us a picture of Christ's philosophy of ministry from a Biblical perspective. This book was very helpful for me because often times I view ministry as a structured program instead of just loving people. There have been many times I have come across arrogantly and judgmental while sharing my faith. Coming from a conservative background I would say that in his book Dan communicates sound Biblical doctrine while at the same time addressing some very important problems with the Christian sub-culture. If you consider yourself conservative please take the time to read Dan's book without any presuppositions. From his writing I can see that Dan genuinely cares about people and is trying to give everyone an accurate picture of God from a Biblical perspective. Thank you Dan for taking the time to write this book.

Everyone who takes the Christian faith seriously should read this book and be prepared to do some sober reflection. Whether a pastor, youth worker, elder, deacon, lay leader, or church member - those who take Dan Kimball's book to heart may very well need to make some significant changes in their approach to outreach and evangelism. In They Like Jesus But Not The Church, Dan Kimball first points out the convicting and humbling truth that the longer one is a Christian, the less likely one is to have significant friendships with those who are not Christian. Instead, most Christians today find their lives consumed with church-related activities - and those whose primary jobs are ministry-related are often the worst offenders. How can anyone know what the needs of the unchurched are unless they are involved in trusting relationships with them? The church in America has become nearly irrelevant to most 20- and 30-somethings. Yet those who follow Jesus rarely venture outside our cozy Christian comfort zones to learn why. Unless individual Christians are actively engaged in open and trusting relationships with non-Christians (without a conversion agenda), the life-changing gospel message won't effectively be spread merely by changing our worship service structure, format, or atmosphere. Furthermore, most Christians tend to compound the problem by generally taking one of two approaches to evangelism: either we see every non-Christian as a potential target, and if we spend any time with them at all the goal is to "seal the deal;" or we isolate our faith from our everyday lives and generally avoid faith- or church-related conversations with anyone other than our church friends. One of the biggest strengths of this book are the voices of many people (most in their 20s and 30s) with whom Dan Kimball has spent hours in conversation. He has developed trusting relationships and most importantly has really listened to where they're coming from when they talk about Jesus, the church, and Christians. Dan's goal was not to convert them, but to hear them. And likely, in doing so, he began to remove some of the stereotypes about Christians and the church that they might have held. It is surprising and refreshing to learn of the positive and often even accurate views many people outside the church have about Jesus. In general, they deeply respect him and his teachings. But they see the church as very un-Christlike, and the church must not ignore their perceptions and feelings. Whether or not their ideas about the church being homophobic, male-dominated, judgmental and negative, or having a political agenda are true of all churches or any single church, the reality is that these perceptions are a significant barrier to trust in the church and acceptance of Christianity. Dan does not compromise his orthodox beliefs as he interacts and engages with the people and the issues, and neither does he advocate that any church or individual compromise. But he is willing

If you love Jesus and love the church, I strongly encourage you to read this book with a humble heart and an open mind. First let me say that the author, Dan Kimball does not pull any punches on sin or soft sell in this book. I believe this is the heart cry of God in our polarized generation to rebuild bridges to those that have lost respect for the church. I urge you to view this book as a mirror as you read it. Like a mirror it will show you yourself as you read it. Those interviewed in this book are both intelligent and varied in the walks of life that they represent. They range from: * A coffee house barista * A lead singer in a rockabilly band * An advertising director for newspaper * A molecular biologist Their honest open thoughts about how they and the world outside the biosphere of Christendom views us is both heart breaking and helpful. I am glad that there are those out there who still like Jesus even though they have difficulty identifying with and relating to the church. After reading this book I was both humbled and convicted at my own shortcomings. I was also reminded by this book, that we sometimes avoid giving people intelligent answers to their tough questions. We need to admit that we aren't perfect and don't have all of the answers, but are willing to make an honest effort to find them and humbly apologize when we are wrong. This is just this book's effect on me personally. There is so much more to this book than I am sharing here. It reminds me of a recent movie titled "The Island". It was reminiscent of the first Matrix movie. It was about this underground commune of clones that didn't know that they were clones. They were told that the outside world was contaminated, so they couldn't go outdoors. Their life was marked by sameness and not questioning the status quo. Their one dream was to one day when the lottery that everyone was automatically entered in and go to the island, a paradise free from contamination. I am sure I don't have to explain the parallels to what some view the church as from the outside and from those within. There was one clone among a growing few that questioned everything in his world mercilessly bringing the accepted norm to task. He eventually was the one that found the real truth and freed the other clones from the underground controlled bubble that they lived in. I see the author of this book as that lone clone questioning his environment in a world of clones where most are too content or too afraid of bucking the norm to ask sincere questions. I hope this long winded review has whet your appetite to read this book from cover to cover. We can counteract the negative images of Christians by allowing people to get to know real Christians in their real world. We can do this by building real relationships with them without any ulterior motives other than love and a desire for their well being in this life and beyond. The author Dan Kimball is optimistic about the church, her innate goodnes