Life in the Grove

I found this to be an engrosing story of  a young man, Stephen Lengu, who grew up in poverty near Salisbury, Zimbawe in Africa.

Stephen grew up much differently than I did. At best, he faced a harsh environment consisting of a country torn by a “liberation movement”, a broken home, and neglectful parents. With no education, and forced to eat from garbage cans and live in chicken coops or under bridges, he seemed doomed to a life of violence and neglect.

One day, on his way to bomb a bank, he and his gang decided instead to bomb a church meeting.  From this moment he was convicted and found the Lord.  His life was forever changed (not unlike Saul’s conversion to Paul on the road to Damascus, Acts 9:3-9). He could no longer persecute God’s people, so he reached out to them, spreading his limited experience about his merciful God.

The story contains many difficult circumstances surrounding his youth, but progresses as Stephen finds those who see his heart and mentor him until he becomes an evangelist, not only in Africa, but also the rest of the world. The book also contains the touching account of two white women who rejoice after hearing Stephen preach at their church. They were overjoyed, as the two of them had prayed that a black youth would be saved by the Lord the very evening Stephen and his gang had attempted to blow up the church meeting. To their joy it was revealed to them that it was Stephen for whom they had prayed.

For me, this book is a testimoney to God’s love for all His children and underscores the redemptive power of the Spirit. I consider it a must read for Christians interested in the possibilities that exist for Christ in developing countries, for those who would like a contemporary lesson in conversion or would like to experience the redemptive power of God’s Mercy, Love and Care.

I know there are others within the congregation who have also read this book. It would make interesting reading if any of you feel like commenting on this review in any way or to share what ever view or impact this book may have had on your Spiritual or personal walk.

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I have found the church library to be an extremely good resource for Christian literature. I recently read Standing On The Rock by J. M. Boice. I found this book to be a very good reminder of why the written word is so important.

If you have put off reading the Bible this authoritative read may be just the thing. For me, it helped clarify the importance of the written word, how the Bible shapes Christian thinking and how others perceive it today. It’s a great source for enabling a person to respond to the many questions posed by others about the Bible.

Dr. Boice was truly a remarkable biblical scholar. He was pastor of the historic Tenth Avenue Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. Before his death he had published nearly forty books including an excellent Commentary on Romans.

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Chapter 2 of David Kinnamon’s book “unChristian” lays out the survey results of young people ages 16 to 29 who are outside the Christian faith, showing how they perceive Christians.

One person outside the Christian faith said, “Most people I meet assume that Christian means very conservative, entrenched in their thinking, antigay, antichoice, angry, violent, illogical, empire builders; they want to convert everyone, and they generally cannot live peacefully with anyone who doesn’t believe what they believe.”

The three most common perceptions of the surveyed outsiders are: 91% believe Christians are antihomosexual, 87% think they are judgmental, and 85% say Christians are hypocritical.

By and large, these perceptions are shared by young churchgoers: 80% say Christians are antihomosexual, 52% believe Christians are judgmental, and 47% think Christians are hypocritical.

A thirty-five-year-old believer said, “Christians have become political, judgmental, intolerant, weak, religious, angry, and without balance. Christianity has become a nice Sunday drive. Where is the living God, the Holy Spirit, an amazing Jesus, the love, the compassion, the holiness?”

Kinnamon concludes this chapter with reasons why perceptions matter and especially why what those outside the Christian faith think about Christians matters. It should also be noted that what young Christians think about other Christians matters a great deal in relation to the future of our church.

Should we (as Christians) care what people think? How can the Good News be shared if the messenger is so disliked?

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Following our introductory post on David Kinnamon’s book “unChristian,” here’s the next post covering Chapter 1. David Kinnamon is president of The Barna Group, which provides research and resources that facilitate spiritual transformation in people’s lives. The book is the culmination of a three year statistical study of thousands of interviews and surveys. The stated purpose is to understand non-Christian’s unvarnished perceptions of Christians so that they may be effectively engaged and pointed to Jesus based on what they really think, not what we assume about them.

The studies by Kinnamon focused on the 16–29 year-old segment of the U.S. population (approximately 24 million people). Forty percent of this age-group are not Christians—that is, they do not self-identify as Christians. This is a far higher percentage than in the older generations.

In addition, those of this age-group inside the church are also skeptical of present-day Christianity. Apparently, not only is the church failing to effectively communicate the “good news” of Jesus Christ to those outside the Christian faith, it is failing to disciple it’s own young generation.

Kinnamon states that he does not advocate that the church or individual Christians try to become more popular, but rather understand how to to be effective agents of spiritual transformation in people’s lives. By carefully considering how firmly people reject—and feel rejected by— Christians, we might become inspired with ways we can make a difference.

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A study by The Barna Group conducted among 16- to 29-year-olds shows that a new generation is more skeptical of and resistant to Christianity than were people of the same age just a decade ago. Analysis of this research is reported in the book unChristian by David Kinnaman. According to the article on the Barna website:

The study shows that 16- to 29-year-olds exhibit a greater degree of criticism toward Christianity than did previous generations when they were at the same stage of life. In fact, in just a decade, many of the Barna measures of the Christian image have shifted substantially downward, fueled in part by a growing sense of disengagement and disillusionment among young people. For instance, a decade ago the vast majority of Americans outside the Christian faith, including young people, felt favorably toward Christianity’s role in society. Currently, however, just 16% of non-Christians in their late teens and twenties said they have a “good impression” of Christianity.

One of the groups hit hardest by the criticism is evangelicals. Such believers have always been viewed with skepticism in the broader culture. However, those negative views are crystallizing and intensifying among young non-Christians. The new study shows that only 3% of 16 - to 29-year-old non-Christians express favorable views of evangelicals.

The Proportion of those “Outside”
Christianity is Growing with Each Generation

Even young Christians are catching the negative perceptions.

Among young Christians, many of the negative images generated significant traction. Half of young churchgoers said they perceive Christianity to be judgmental, hypocritical, and too political. One-third said it was old-fashioned and out of touch with reality.

Combine that with this study that finds that Negativity Is Contagious and the Christian church is facing big problems.

“Though we may not care to admit it, what other people think about something can affect what we think about it. This is how critics become influential and why our parents’ opinions about our life choices continue to matter, long after we’ve moved out. But what kind of opinions have the most effect? A new study reveals that negative opinions cause the greatest attitude shifts, not just from good to bad, but also from bad to worse.”

Because Cedar Grove is committed to Reach… Teach… and Release… we must understand what the broad community thinks of Christians and change these negative perceptions if we are to be accepted as having anything worth paying attention to.

With this as an introduction, we’ll post a few more articles in the days to come reviewing the chapters in this book.

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