The Next Christians Book Review

Gabe Lyons, despite referencing Twilight—I don’t know the author and am not bothering to look it up—in the same sentence with works from Dostoevsky, Hugo, and Tolkien as works worthy of reading (pg.56), has written a book that needed to be written.  And, more importantly one that needs to be read and put into practice.

After taking the reader on a suspenseful two-chapter introduction the writer arrives at the beginning of the story.  While it is not a novel, it reads as much like a story as it does a Christian living/personal growth book.  The story begins with Lyons meeting with a producer from Lionsgate Films “to weigh in on their strategy to reach Christians” (p. 29).

The producer wanted Lyons to “help her make sense of the twenty-first century Christian” (p. 29).   In his presentation Lyons gives a very coherent and accurate portrayal of the broad spectrum of twenty-first century Christians.  He divides twenty-first century Christians into two categories: Separatist Christians and Cultural Christians.  While describing subcategories under both Separatist and Cultural Chrisitians he explains that there are four parts to God’s story: Creation; The Fall; Redemption; Restoration.  Furthermore, he shows the reader how Separatist Christians tend to focus exclusively on The Fall and Redemption, while Cultural Christians tend to focus exclusively on Restoration.  The presentation culminates with the introduction of a third genre of Christians known as Restorers.  These Restorers, argues Lyons, are the next Christians and pursue all the aspects of God’s story.

Lyons contends that there are six characteristics that make up the “next Christians”.  Lyons juxtaposes each characteristic with what he believes is the characteristic’s antithesis, beginning each antithesis with the word “not”.  What is unique about Lyons’ list of antitheses is that they are not what you would expect.  For example, by definition the opposite of provoked is not provoked.  Instead, Lyons uses different words for each antithesis: provoked, not offended; creators, not critics; called, not employed; grounded, not distracted; in community, not alone; countercultural, not relevant.  Lyons’ discussion of  these six characteristics create the back-bone of the book with a chapter devoted to each. 

I was thoroughly stretched and challenged with the first five characteristics and what it means to make them part of our lives.  I want to be provoked, a creator, called, grounded, and in community.  However, I was not convinced that I want or even should be countercultural.

This may be redundant but I wanted to point out that Lyons states “…relevance is the exact opposite of countercultural (p. 170)”.  If something is the exact opposite then by definition this means that they are mutually exclusive.  Webster’s defines relevant simply as “pertinent”, while   countercultural is anything that is in opposition to the culture.  If we applied the Webster test to other five characteristics and their antitheses we could have a similar argument that each is, in fact, not mutually exclusive.  The difference however, is that for the first five characteristics Lyons made a believer out of me despite the lack of the characteristic and its antithesis not being mutually exclusive.

I was further perplexed by the example Lyons uses on the following page as an example of this.  “Today, the latest influence on the pop culture-driven church is the push to be involved in social justice work.  Many churches that have showed little interest in justice work before are now simply following the latest social fad.” 

First of all, I fail to see social justice as the latest social fad.  Half the world’s population still lives on less than $2 a day.  Moreover, capitalistic markets, the epicenter of greed, continue to drive the world economy.  If Lyons would have showed some evidence that social justice is the “latest social fad”, perhaps I would have been convinced.  As it stands I remain skeptical.

Secondly, if we were to list themes of the Bible I am confident that social justice would make the short list.  I can’t help but believe that Lyons could not have chosen a poorer example for his contention that the next Christians are countercultural, not relevant.  If being countercultural means not being relevant by not following the “the latest social fad” of social justice than I am going to fall on the side of being relevant 100% of the time and so is Jesus.

Finally, we find this quote in the chapter devoted to counterculture, “Sin has corrupted every aspect of our world—from devastating hurricanes, earthquakes, and decaying trees to the depraved hearts and minds of humankind (p. 174 emphasis mine)”.  Really?  Lyons is associating sin with natural disasters?  I personally believe this was a momentary lapse of focus in Lyons’ writing.  Still its inclusion left me not a little irked and confused.

To be fair, given the rest of the book, it is impossible to think Lyons is in anyway opposed to social justice.  Also there were a few things that I could take from the chapter that can help me grow and mature in Christ.  The chapter on being countercultural just did not hold the weight as the other five.

The one other criticism I had with this book regards the four parts of God’s story, aforementioned in this review.  Lyons argues that the next Christians are immersing themselves in all aspects of God’s story.  However, he spends most of the book focusing on how the next Christians are living their lives in accordance with the Restoration part.  Of course the Fall and Redemption parts are covered at the beginning and Lyons effectively argues that all Christians doing a good job of incorporating these parts.  I was disheartened though, that there really was no discussion regarding the first part of the story: Creation.  I am hopeful that this may be a future book.

My aforementioned superficial criticism on good literature, not addressing the fourth part of God’s plan/story: Creation, and the penultimate chapter notwithstanding this book challenged me to look at myself and explore what it means to be a follower of Christ.

I received this book free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.