Good Faith:
Being A Christian When Society Thinks You're Irrelevant and Extreme (2016)
by David Kinnaman & Gabe Lyons
The moment I saw the cover
of this book – with Kinnaman and Lyons as its authors – I grabbed it (bought 3
copies) and proceed to the counter (BookXcess always have the lowest price).
Why? Because I've read their previous remarkable book, unChristian (2007), and was greatly helped by their insights,
interviews, research studies, and Biblical understandings. With this one, I'm
not disappointed! "I love this book,"
recommend Francis Chan, "It is a
timely reminder that Christians don't have to conform in order to survive. It
encourages those of us with deep convictions not to cower but to boldly speak
truth with wisdom and love. Radical followers of Jesus can be relevant."
Oh yeah!
From the first chapter,
this book aims to address these questions: "What does the future hold for people of faith when people perceive Christians
as irrelevant and extreme? In what ways can faith be a force for good in
society? How can people of faith contribute to a world that, more and more,
believes religion is bad?" From the outset, Kinnaman and Lyons
convincingly show that many people increasingly view religion—any religion—as
"extreme" and "irrelevant." This forces "good
faith" Christians to be more intentional and prepared in their
interactions with the world. Although the future becomes more hostile, faith
can be good in society through ongoing mercy-care and the Gospel proclamation.
Both authors also say that Christians can contribute to this world by holding
firm to their confession and convictions while striving to live peaceably with
all. In essence, Good Faith =
How Well We Love + What We Believe + How We Live.
The way forward, they
suggest, centers on good (yet difficult) conversations around those areas that
people identify as "extreme" and "irrelevant"
characteristics of Christianity. The book focuses on four areas: (1) Neighborliness
and intolerance in public life; (2) Relationships; (3) Sexual ethics; and (4)
Church and religion. Each area has multiple chapters devoted to it and is
spangled with personal anecdotes from Kinnaman and Lyons's life accompanied by
the wealth of data they've acquired over the years. It makes for a compelling,
easy and enjoyable read. There are a lot of commendable aspects of this book
but I'll focus on only two of them:
Firstly, this book does not give readers with false
hope. Kinnaman and Lyons are men of
faith but also very realistic. They are not suggesting that if Christians could
just be nicer and more winsome and more engaging the world would like us more
and everything will turn out good. They know how the world treated Jesus, and
what He said about the world treating His disciples. They write, "It's not enough to be nice… it's no longer
sufficient for Christians to be winsome. Being winsome is not bad. It's good.
But aiming for niceness as our ultimate goal can give us a false sense of
making a difference… Nice doesn't overcome the perception that Christians are
crazy." The world will hate us no matter how nice we are. That's not
an excuse for us to be compromise or uncaring but it does call us to be winsome
while remaining unwavering in our confession and convictions.
Secondly, this book appeal for Christians to admit our
failures. This is by no means a major
thrust of the book, but it is there... The church should be the leaders in the
world to show the "good faith." After all, Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. There are plenty of sins to confess. It's of no use to scream
about the speck in someone else's eye without removing the plank from our own
eyes first. Has the church always been a place of grace for those who have had
abortions? Same-sex attractions? And those who suffered unspeakable racial
injustice? Not as a whole. The church has, at times, been too slow to speak and
act, and complicit in abuse and shame. Instead of saying, "yeah but"
as justification for the Christian's sins of commission and omission, we should
confess our sins and God who is faithful and just will forgive our sins and
cleanse us from all unrighteousness. "We
must be the people of God who, rather than being defined only by what we are
against, are also defined by what we are for."
There a lot more you can
learn about our ever-changing culture that may affect you and me as Christians
in the world today as presented in this book. No matter where you are (although
the context and research studies of this book are mainly from America), Good Faith is a great place to start.
The book is helpful and insightful on the cultural front. You may disagree with
some of their antidotes, you may experience differently, you may dislike their
approach – but you'll be encouraged to "led by love, grounded in biblical belief, and ready to live as
counterculture for the common good, we trust that our good faith will be used
by God to renew the world."
This book is divided into
3 parts:
Part 1:
Understanding Our Times
Chapter 1: Bad Faith, Good
Faith
Chapter 2: Irrelevant
Chapter 3: Extreme
Chapter 4: The Tension We
Feel and Why
Part 2:
Living Good Faith
Chapter 5: Love, Believe,
Live
Chapter 6: The Right
Questions
Chapter 7: Who Will Lead?
Chapter 8: Assimilate or
Accommodate
Chapter 9: After the
Revolution
Chapter 10: Marriage,
Family, and Friendships
Chapter 11: Life, Death,
and Disability
Chapter 12: Race and
Prejudice
Chapter 13: The Gay
Conversation
Chapter 14: We Can't Live
without Intimacy
Chapter 15: Five Ways to
Be Faithful
Part 3: The
Church and Our Future
Chapter 16: Firm Center,
Soft Edges
Chapter 17: Church in a
New World
Chapter 18: Faithful in
Exile
THINK BIG.
START SMALL. GO DEEP.
