Thursday, December 23, 2010

The Next Christians - a Great read

cover.gif When I first heard about this book I knew that I wanted to read it. I love learning about trends among Christians and the Church, especially the Church in America. What I expected was good news about where the Church and Christians were going and some good stories about what they are doing, and some bad news about where we're still falling short. The Next Christians contained all of that, but I got so much more.


For me, this turned out to be a book that helped me grow spiritually. Specifically, Lyon's six characteristics of Restorers gave me a great picture of how things should be in my life. I was specifically challenged and moved by the chapters on Called, not Employed and Grounded, not Distracted. The book is worth reading just for those two chapters.


I was also appreciative of his discussion of the full Gospel. There is much talk about the Gospel, but very little definition of what the Gospel actually is. I love the idea that the full Gospel involves Creation, the Fall, Redemption and Restoration. We usually leave out Creation and Restoration, and that is one reason why I think folks are disinterested in Christianity. We're not sharing and living out the full Gospel.


This book is an easy read with great stories. I highly recommend it. This book was provided courtesy of Blogging for Books.

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