Gabe Lyons. The Next Christians: How a New Generation is Restoring the Faith. Doubleday: 2010. ISBN: 9780385529846.
Meet the Author
Gabe Lyons is the founder of Q, which serves to educate Christians on their historic responsibility to renew culture. Q, an outgrowth of the now defunct Fermi Project he co-founded with his wife, began offering national gatherings in 2007 and launched Qideads.org in 2009. Previously, Lyons served on the team that co-founded Catalyst, which claims to be the largest gathering of young church leaders in America. With David Kinnamon, he co-authored UnChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity…And Why It Matters (2007), which revealed that most American young adults have unfavorable impressions of Christians. The Next Christians: How a New Generation is Restoring the Faith (2010) is a response to UnChristian and the first book he has written on his own. Lyons’ work has been featured by CNN, The New York Times, Fox News, and USA Today.
Book Basics
The Next Christians is a must read for those seeking to explore examples of the current reformation of the Christian experience in America in the twenty-first century, which Lyons terms restoration. While his earlier work, UnChristian, relied heavily on research, focused on what is or is perceived to be wrong with Christians and Christianity, and was sound modern scholarship this new book relies heavily on stories of real people, focuses on what is or what he perceives to be experiences that exemplify Christianity in its intended form, and is told in a primarily postmodern way. The book is divided into three parts. Part one provides an overview of how Christianity in America has changed in recent years and how the faith has become sidelined in American culture. Part two is the strength of the book; it includes a chapter on each of the six characteristics of the next Christians or those who embody what is right about Christianity. Part three suggests that the work of restoration now underway is setting the stage for the next big shift in Christianity and calls upon individuals and faith communities to move in this direction through properly emphasizing what matters most and embodying the characteristics outlined in part two. This book affords readers an opportunity to interact with the stories of well known and largely unknown followers of Jesus, explore the supportive biblical texts, and consider the possibility of restoration.
The six characteristics of the next Christians also known as restorers:
- provoked, not offended: Christians are proactive not reactive
- creators, not critics: Christians act to construct something new not just destruct that which is undesirable in culture
- called, not employed: Christians expand influence to all spheres of life rather than utilizing it primarily in the church and also reclaim a rich understanding of vocation
- grounded, not distracted: Christians commit to spiritual disciplines and ongoing growth rather than shallow discipleship that fails to stand up to cultural temptations
- in community, not alone: Christians are involved in authentic Christian community and engaged in their geographic Community (Lyons uses the upper cased Community when speaking of a place)
- countercultural, not relevant: Christians engage rather than withdraw the existing culture as salt that seeks to restore the common good
Lyons writes extensively about culture, cultural engagement and cultural restoration. While he adequately explores how Christians have historically interacted with culture and rightly suggests that going forward Christians must be intentionally involved in all “seven channels of cultural influence” (media, education, arts and entertainment, business, government, social sciences, and church) in order to create and/or restore culture, he doesn’t explore the commonly accepted idea that culture is created only or at least primarily by elites. Instead, he simply encourages all believers to impact as many channels as possible.
So What?
Christianity has undergone dramatic changes in recent years especially with respect to its role in American culture. Rather than utilize data showing declines in the traditional measures of church health, especially church membership, Lyons joins a growing group of people who understand that the health of Christianity in a postmodern age can never be measured using such modern metrics. At times, Lyons sounds like a strong advocate for the Restoration Movement, which seeks to restore the New Testament church and which has influenced me (you can read my how my faith was influenced by three such groups: Churches of Christ, Disciples of Christ, Independent Christian Church). In general, he seeks to encourage his readers to live out their faith by engaging rather than retreating from culture.
- How do you think the Christian movement (all denominations, traditions, and groups as a whole) in America can begin to reverse the current trend of declining numbers and cultural influence? Are Lyons’ six characteristics helpful constructs around which all Christians can and should unite? Why or why not?
- Based on the listing and brief explanations of the six characteristics above, would you characterize yourself as a restorer and a part of the next Christian movement? Why or why not?
For those wanting to engage the idea of Christians and culture more deeply, I encourage you to consider reading James Davison Hunter’s To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, & Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World (2010). You can read my review here.
Note: For more information about The Next Christians, visit the book’s website.