My great friend Gabe Lyons has a new book coming out next week, and I want to make sure everyone knows about it.
The Next Christians: The Good News About the End of Christian America exposes a whole movement of Christians whom he calls "Restorers"- Evangelicals, mainline Protestants, Orthodox, Pentecostals, Catholics, and others- who desire to be a force for restoration even as they proclaim the Christian Gospel. This group of Next Christians wants the label "Christian" to mean something good, intelligent, authentic, and beautiful.
You need to buy this book. Gabe has a perspective that is fresh and authentic. As another good friend Scot McKnight said "If I had to pick one leader for the next generation for Christians, it would be Gabe Lyons. If I had to pick one chapter from the book, it would be "Relearning Restoration." If I had to pick one sentence it would be this: Christ didn't come only to save us "from something. He wanted to save Christians to something." Gabe Lyons gets it. Restoration is the vision for the Next Christians and I'm cheering them on."
Agreed. I'm excited about this book. I'm excited because I know how much time, energy, sweat and tears Gabe has put into this book. But also because I believe this is a book about hope, and talks specifically of my peers who are living out the Gospel as Christ followers in ways that are truly restoring our place in culture. In a way that is inspiring, engaging, restorative, and Christ-like.
The Next Christians combines current-day models and relevant research with stories of a new generation of Christian leaders. If you are worried by what you see transpiring around you, this book will take you on a surprising social exploration that will restore confidence in your faith and the faith of our generation.
I highly recommend you buy this book, and then buy it for your entire team.
You can hear Gabe next week at Catalyst talking about The Next Christians. I can't wait!