Gabe Lyons is founder of Q, which serves to educate Christians on their historic responsibility to renew culture, and author of
The Next Christians: The Good News About the End of Christian America (Doubleday, 2010). His first book,
unChristian, was co-authored with Dave Kinnaman and revealed exclusive research on pop-culture's negative perception of Christians. His work represents a fresh perspective on Christianity's role in culture and has been featured by
CNN,
Fox News, the
New York Times and
Newsweek. Gabe, his wife Rebekah, and their three children reside in Manhattan.
God is working, the question
awakening us to what God might be up to...
digging deep and going deep fast... not the entertaining laughing speaker
the riveting point- where we sit today in society, what an enormous opportunity to be faithful to the gospel and credible to neighbors, peers, who don't want to be Christians
this is not like any other time you have been, this time has not existed for those that are alive today...
today's expectations are different from what we may have grown up in... do you have a great appreciation for the faith you were brought in, do you have a deep understanding for the differences that do exist...
a tendency to feel negative and burdensome... feeling like I'm being told things that I didn't necessarily want to hear... understanding for the hope of Christ..
"I am one of the most optimistic for this generation"-
"southerner planted in New York City with 3 children, compeltely different environment than what we knew in the South (Atlanta)"
we are called to be missionaries, entering the mission field...
first thing a missionary does in a new environment (mission as it relates to place)
CONTEXT-
language
customs
religion and worship practices
thoughts/loyalties to where they are from
must do the same thing for our America culture
Anglican Church from Africa- sending missionaries to America to address the issues and mores
PERCEPTION OF CHRISTIANS
slide of movie poster for Saved!- recommended to watch it, gathering opinions for the church, it is the perception that exists..
slide for movie poster for Jesus Camp- capturing a week long (we never think of it with the lens
UNCHRISTIAN- (a mirror to the church) 16-29
Antihomosexual (first term thought of) 91%
Judgemental 87%
Hypocritical 85%
Sheltered (out of touch) 78%
Too Political (that republican/rightwing) 75%
Proselytizers (insensitive) 70%
Antihomosexual- perception: "Christians show contempt for gays for lesbians"
special targeting or contempt for this group
Judgmental- perception: "Christians are prideful and quick to find faults in others"
hold them in disregard unless they live in our standard of living
Hypocritical- perception: "Christians say one thing but live something entirely different"
if we were more honest and authentic then we could overcome the claims of hypocrisy
Get Saved!- perception: "Christians are insincere and concerned only with converting others."
Non-christians are thinking that we are not like Jesus intended (or at least their perspective)- we have become self-righteous, we have forgotten grace
(many have and do attend church)
CULTURAL LANDSCAPE
Pluralistic Postmodern PostChristian
POST CHRISTIAN
we moved from the bullseye to the sidelines... cultural takes place outside or away from the church...
school took place at the church, business decisions, town hall, hangout on the weekend... church's have moved from the city center physically and relationally
how do we fulfill our calling when we are no longer at the center of the city...
POSTMODERN-
"skeptical towards certainty" anyone that claims to know the singular or whole truth absolutely or certainly... not just rejecting what is said but also the one saying it... most people are responding to the amount of intellectual arrogance that is embedded in the presentation of truth
"we are going to have to get really good at living in the nuance" in the "in-betweens" that it w
you are being faithful by responding to the holy spirit and living in the moment of being in lives and allowing for God to show and make room
PLURALISTIC
all faiths are celebrated and seen as equal to one another
this is the new reality... multiple faiths at play and everyone is fighting for their turf
the scary statistic is that at 18
the people who are returning to the church are the ones that have been trained and cultivated depth and faithfulness
faith is holding up as they enter into these environments
exposed and tested in the marketplace of ideas
understanding the gospel in the most deep of ways... the gospel has much to say about what we are doing with our lives here... much more than just the hopeful afterlife
redemption plays out in our life now... it will make more sense to those who have written off
RESPONSES TO CHANGES IN CULTURE
-Separatist- circling the wagons, christina music industry, christian movies, our own little world, living with our own types of people,
"US against THEM" the them are the enemy... judgmental nature comes out in this kind of thinking
-Cultural- "I am spiritual but i don't want to be apart of organized religion"
part of being an american is being christian, i serve, i volunteer, societal good, - faith is a heritage that is passed down, just a familial thing"
NEXT CHRISTIANS
THE NEXT CHRISTIANS MUST KNOW THEIR STORY
the best hope for Christians is to know our story... it gives us a basis for everything... meaning and purpose
it is going to give your students, your churches, and YOU a basis
Creation > Fall > Redemption > Restoration
Begins with Creation- God the Father
Genesis 1:26-28
Corrupts @ Fall- sin enters in- Satan the Accuser
Redemption - Jesus the Son
Colossians 1:19-20
Restoration- Holy Spirit the Guide
partnering with the Holy Spirit to be a apart of the work of the kingdom
living a way that is more true to being human than any other way that we have discovered
a group of people that would be committed to that
Rev. 21-22 makes it clear that the ultimate purpose of redmeption is not to escape the material world, but ot rnew it, God's purpose is not only saving individuals, but also inaugurating a new world based on justice, peace, and love, not power, strife and selfishness- Tim
