Wildesign Group Architects Inc.

I picked up Dan Kimball's new book based on the title alone. After all, Jesus started the church and feels pretty strongly about it. Suggesting "They like Jesus but not the church," is like saying "They like Starbucks but not coffee." They may like going to Starbucks for the atmosphere but they'll eventually encounter a coffee or tea product in some form. It you truly like Jesus, you'll eventually encounter the church. And maybe that's the problem! Perhaps the church is presenting a deficient or misleading perception of Jesus.

Dan Kimball, a pastor at Vintage Faith Church, has stimulated our thinking in the past with his books, The Emerging Church, and Emerging Worship. Now, he challenges us regarding perceptions of the emerging generation. Some of what he says may offend you (p. 19-20). But don't let the offense cause you to close the book. Kimball realizes there will be opposition--his opening account describes vocal disapproval while speaking to a group of 500 pastors--so he's included a helpful appendix, "Criticism of this Book." In fact, maybe that's the place to begin reading. With caveats understood, you won't waste time critiquing what he's not suggesting.

Even the strictist critic will appreciate Kimball's heart motivation,

"I've even been challenged that I should not listen to them [emerging generations] because they are expressing worldly opinions. I am always saddened when I hear this, because when someone jumps to that conclusion, they are saying there's no hope for people in our culture" (p. 258).

Such critics should probably recall Jesus' words, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners" (Mark 2:17-NIV).

Prodded with an evangelistic motivation, Kimball talked with the emerging generation--those in the late teens to thirties (p. 12). The book is based on their stories; it's not just a bunch of statistics (pp. 18-19). This is good, because statistics make us say "wow" but stories motivate us to action.

From the stories, Kimball identified six perceptions emerging generations have of the church (addressed in chapters 5-10):

1.  The church is an organized religion with a political agenda

2.  The church is judgmental and negative

3.  The church is dominated by males and oppresses females

4.  The church is homophobic

5.  The church arrogantly claims all other religions are wrong

6.  The church is full of fundamentalists who take the whole Bible literally

Whether or not these perceptions are true, they create a new hurdle for emerging generations to clearly understand the gospel.

So how do we overcome these hurdles in spreading the hope of Christ? We'll consider Kimball's approach next time.