unchristian by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons
Audio Book
Rating: 8 of 10

David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons give the church a much needed kick in the gut.  OK, maybe that’s a little aggressive, but their book unchristian is hard to ignore.  The book is based on representative polling and interviews done with 16-29 years-olds (referred to by demographers as “older Mosaics” and “younger Busters”) who are outside the church (“outsiders”) on how they view Christians.  The results are startling.  These outsiders view Christians as, well, unchristian.

Kinnaman and Lyons are clear throughout the whole book that the point of this research is not to figure out what 16-29 year-olds want and give it to them, but rather to listen to their perspective and learn from it.  To that end they present six perceptions these young adults have of Christians gained not so much from the media but from personal relationships and experience with Christians and six corresponding new perceptions that Christians should work to foster.  These six perceptions are:

1. Hypocritical
2. Insincere in converting
3. Antihomosexual
4. Sheltered
5. Too political
6. Judgmental.

To give you a taste of the new perceptions that Kinnaman and Lyons argue for, let’s look at the perception that Christians are hypocritical or “say one thing but live something entirely different.”  A new perception the authors offer for Christians to cultivate is that “Christians are transparent about their flaws and act first, talk second.”  They believe that in many ways the outsiders are accurate in their observations and that this new perception is really more Christian.

Perhaps the most difficult section of the book for the church is the section on outsiders’ perception that Christians are antihomosexual, that “Christians show contempt for gays and lesbians.”  Kinnaman and Lyons’ research shows that “the gay issue has become the ‘big one,’ the negative image most likely to be intertwined with Christianity’s reputation” (92).  91% of 16-29 year-old outsiders said “‘antihomosexual’ accurately describes present-day Christianity” (93).  In other words, “when you introduce yourself as a Christian to a friend, neighbor, or business associate who is an outsider, you might as well have it tattooed on your arm: anithomosexual, gay-hater, homophobic” (93).  Yikes!

Kinnaman and Lyons point out that this is more than just a mere disagreement.  The antihomosexual perception includes a kind of contempt and hatred for gay people that includes coarse jokes, offensive language, “God hates gays” websites, berating language, suggestions that natural disasters are God’s judgment on gay people, and so on.  They lament that we have become known more for what we are against than what we are for: Jesus.

Wherever one stands on this issue of homosexuality, I think we would all do well to help change the experience that outsiders have of Christians to something more in line with what Kinnaman and Lyons suggest as a new perception: that “Christians show compassion and love to all people, regardless of their lifestyle.”  This isn’t because we’re only interested in perceptions, but because that’s the Christian thing to do.  The outsider perception of Christians is right.  If we truly do “show contempt for gays and lesbians” through such hateful actions as described above, then we are not acting in a Christian way.  We are being unchristian.  Thank God for the outsiders who God uses to reform the church.

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