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"A look at the Christian Church", This is a book that should be read by every Christian; especially those whose main contacts are within their churches. Written by the head of the Barna Group and based on the group's surveys about the church, this book reveals what those outside of the church think of Christians. It's not a flattering picture. The book goes on to explore the various areas and reflects on what Christians might be doing wrong or other ways to communicate the truths of the Bible that might be more easily understood by those they are trying to reach. It is a book which will cause you to think and pray and has the potential to change your life.

"Frank, honest, and sobering", This book shares a scienitific based review of how the unchurched view mainstream Christianity. Though frank and sobering, the results will not be surprising to most Christians. Rather than reflect God's love, Christians all too often reflect judgementalism. I took the book to heart and will try to be mindful of the way that I image God and the church to the world. It is a "must read" for every Christian who deals with everyday people, especially for Christians who live in larger metropolitan cities or college towns.

"Great book", Great book about how those who are not Christians think about those who say they are,

"Great Book But Not the Whole Story", This is a great book, but it's not complete.

The book does a wonderful job of showing why Christians look unattractive in the eyes of those who are not part of the faith. To complete the picture, I would recommend George Barna's excellent books "Revolution" and "Pagan Christianity"?

These two books explain why most churches are unattractive to both Christians and non Christians alike, and ("Pagan Christianity" especially) gives a great deal of historical evidence for why this is the case.



"Didn't Read It", I agree that the church has to change but can someone please tell me why we (the church) should go to the "world" and ask the "world" what the church of Jesus Christ should look like?

Read this reviews before You buy...

"Sobering", As an old Mosaic (almost 22) and a born-again Christian according to the criteria of the researchers, I found this book to be deeply sobering. It expressed some of the tension I have felt since high school, and helped explain why so many in my generation are resistant to the form Christianity has taken in the last two or three decades.

I was encouraged by the fact that most "outsiders" are not resistant to the message of Christianity, especially the message of Jesus (at least on social issues), but rather they are resistant to the way self-professing Christians act, especially when those actions don't line up with what Jesus taught. This gives me hope because if we lead by example and live according to the teachings and spirit of Jesus, this generation will flock to Him because this generation is longing for a transforming power to take on the massive challenges of our world today.

I also take heart in the fact that these perceptions can change, given a wide repentance of attitudes and actions on the part of Christians, especially those in leadership. The issue of homosexuality is a perfect case study: the over-40 cohort of leadership in the American church has not adequately given those under 30 a dynamic, life-affirming viewpoint and approach to understanding and wrestling with the issue of homosexuality. It's either "Hate the sin, love the sinner" (which comes across as insincere and even mean to outsiders), condone the sin, or condemn the sin, none of which fit with our way of doing things and viewing reality. We (the under-30 generation) are more loyal to our "tribe" - our network of friends and friends-of-friends (think Facebook) - than to institutions. So if our best friend comes out as gay, and our church says to "Love the sinner, hate the sin", we have a very hard time coming to terms with that. We feel intense loyalty to our friend but a lingering loyalty to the institution of our childhood. More often than not, the institution (the church, marriage, traditional sexual mores, etc.) is cast off.

The author stated that - while every generations becomes more liberal in its youth and gradually becomes more conservative - the current generation of late teens and twentysomethings is somehow different than past generations were at their age, given the massive amounts of technology, marketing, violence, and other media that we have literally grown up around and within. That to be 23 years old in 2008 is very different than what it was like to be 23 in 1988 or 1978. Only time will tell if this assertion is true or not, but I have a feeling it may be true.

Overall, this is a very good book for a) parents of Mosaics and Busters, especially Christians, who need to understand the makeup of their childrens' culture and values, and b) Christian Mosaics and Busters, especially those firmly in the Christian "bubble", who need a kick-in-the-pants and an understanding that the way we are doing things (as far as "evangelism" and even how we express our faith in general) simply is not working for our generation.

I agree with the main thrust of the book: That young outsiders have certain perceptions about Christians that do not line up with the teachings of Jesus (judgmental, anti-homosexual, pushy with conversion, hypocritical, etc. instead of caring, loving, forgiving, humble, etc.), and that these perceptions both inhibit Christians' ability to effectively reach that generation, and repulse young outsiders from even considering the faith. And also, that the fault is not entirely with outsiders (as outsiders they don't understand first-hand the richness and depth of love that can only be found in God through Jesus), but blame also rests on Christians - both Boomers and Gen X and Y - for not incarnating the teachings and spirit of Jesus in our lives, "losing our soul" in our quest to maintain our fast-crumbling cultural and political hegemony in American society.

We can reverse these perceptions: let's get to work!



"A book every Christian should read..", I think I've been waiting for this book for a long time. I think about all the "Christians" I've met who have been so bitter, so self-righteous, so mean-spirited, so quick to damn, that if you're not careful, your view of the church and Jesus himself can get very jaded. I found I wasn't alone.

David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons' book unChristian explores the disgust many people (with particular emphasis on the younger generation) have with Christians, and how this image has evolved. UnChristian shows that most 18-29-year-olds view Christian faith as hypocritical, insensitive, out of touch with reality, boring, confusing, irrelevant, bigoted, too political, old-fashioned, and the list grows. Maybe you've heard these labels yourself. Maybe you've heard these labels about your own church. And at some point, one or more of these labels applies to each one of us personally.

Of course the problem is the image of Christianity, rather than real, living faith in Jesus Christ. They like Jesus, but not the church. It's not God, it's these Christians they can't stand! But the responsibility in how that image has come about lies on the shoulders of many Christians, of all traditions and backgrounds. Too many things over the years have often taken priority over strong, sincere discipleship. They've taken priority over our first love. Kinnaman points out that in matters of the heart, in lifestyle -- from abusing someone, to viewing pornography, to saying mean things behind someone's back -- younger Christians (ages 18-29) are virtually no different from their non-Christian counterparts.

I can imagine many Christians getting angry about this book. But don't toss it aside, even if you're prepared not to agree. Listen to what Kinnaman and Lyons are saying, seriously, thoughtfully, prayerfully.

It's not too late. Whatever the reason for this image of Christianity, the image can change. It's time to stop ignoring the culture's frustration with us and our churches. There are many ways we can get real, strip ourselves of whatever drives our culture away, and reach out.

This is our wake-up call.



"Read it and I Still Hate the Christians", I was force fed Chistianity for the first 16 years of my life. I'm still trying to shake off the horrors to this day. I read this book thinking I would at last find a way to forgive the church for the way it treated me and the damage it did to me all those years ago. I found myself becoming only angrier. I read this book and I still hate the Christians..perhaps even more. I'm sure that many agnostics and atheists aka thinking people may have come to their non-belief due to the way they were treated in the church as a child. The nonsense, the fears, the silly doctrine, the lies. I am one of those people. Christopher Hitchens makes more and more sense each day. Lewis Black said it best during his "Red, White and Screwed" routine. "God is a prick!"

"A Sobering Look", In their book, "unChristian", authors Dan Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons, use research data gathered as part of the femri project's commissioning of a study by the Barna Research group to examine the attitudes of persons aged 15-49 towards Christianity in the United States. As the title implies and the authors report, the data does not paint a positive picture.

The strength of this book is that the conclusions drawn by the authors about the six broadly negative attitudes held by members of the last two generations are based on solid statistical research (that can be accessed by the reader through a web site). While some of the definitions and questions betray a specific paradigm from which the research is conducted, the results are founded on good data. Additionally, the conclusions drawn from this data, while again stated from within a specific paradigm, can be taken as following fairly straightforwardly from this data.

With these data in mind, Kinnaman discusses the broad scope of each of the attitudes, their effect on the interaction of generational members with much of American Chritianity and some solutions focused towards changing the attitudes from broadly negative to more positive. Refreshing, Kinnaman does not make excuses for or try to explain the appropriateness of the behaviors from those who call themselves Christians that has contributed to the negative perceptions discussed but challenges those actions and calls for individuals and churches to examine their biases and modify them according to broad scriptural principle.

The one caveat I would have regarding this book is that it is written by people associated with evangelical Christianity for readers familiar with and involved in that particular brand of of the Christian faith. Those coming from the emergent church conversation or from churches that have already begun to face up to some of the challenges the authors mention may find that some of the conclusions they have reached have already been identified within their own traditions. What is good about this book in that context is that while many of those arguments have heretofore been based in anecdotal information, the fermi project has gathered the statistical data to support the conclusions reached. However, much of Kinnaman's discussion still comes from that evangelical perspective of getting people saved (especially ironic given one of the chapter topics) rather than working with God to redeem all of creation back to Him. Finally, I would have liked to have seen more information on how Christians ought to practice their faith outside of the six somewhat narrowly defined topics. While issues like social justice, climate change, poverty and the like are mentioned, they are rarely discussed in more than a passing mention and, as such, the reader may be left that those outside the church only have complaints when, in fact, they are looking for the church to take the lead in issues that are deeply meaningful to them. Perhaps the authors will write another book addressing issues evangelical churches can address that will resonate with new generations of seekers.

In closing, this a book I think every leader within Christianity should read. This especially true for those in "middle management" (as it were) who lead small group studies and ministries. If the attitudes and perceptions the authors mention are to be changed, this is where such change will begin.

"Hope that Christians can change the way outsiders perceive Christianity by the way they live their faith", Christianity in the U.S. has an image problem, and it stands to lose an entire generation of young people if things don't change dramatically and soon. That's the conclusion of a three-year study by the Barna Group examining attitudes toward Christianity expressed by Mosaics and Busters, those in the late-teen-to-30 age group. Barna's findings should give evangelical Christians pause, but only briefly. Given the seriousness of the situation, believers can't pause for too long, because it seems they have a lot of work to do.

Here's one finding that shows just how negative an image we project to the world around us: "The primary reason outsiders feel hostile toward Christians, and especially conservative Christians, is not because of any specific theological perspective. What they react negatively to is our 'swagger,' how we go about things and the sense of self-importance we project. Outsiders say that Christians possess bark --- and bite.

Christians may not normally operate in attack mode, but it happens frequently enough that others have learned to watch their step around us. Outsiders feel they can't let Christians walk over them." That's pretty devastating stuff, though it really should come as no surprise to any Christian who has been listening carefully to outsiders under 30, and even some insiders over 30, in recent years.

The short version of the research findings is this: Mosaics and Busters most often expressed disenchantment (or outright hostility) toward Christians because they perceive them as hypocritical, only interested in people as potential converts, uncharitably anti-homosexual, sheltered from cultural and societal realities, too political, and judgmental. Before you get defensive, David Kinnaman is quick to remind Christians that this is how they are perceived. Your perception may differ, but that doesn't change the fact that outsiders often reject Christianity because of the image it projects.

The long version is what makes this book a must-read for...well, for all of us. It always sounds hyperbolic to say that "everyone" should read a particular book, but trying to narrow down the audience for this one is difficult. Let's just say that any thinking evangelical Christian with an open mind --- even half open --- would do well to read UNCHRISTIAN. It's vitally important for anyone in leadership to do so, but even those who are not leaders need to share some of the responsibility for giving Christianity a bad image.

One case in point is Christians' attitudes toward homosexuality --- and homosexuals. The "hate the sin, love the sinner" attitude so often expressed by Christians just doesn't wash with Mosaics and Busters. They see little love and compassion toward gays. From what they've observed, Christians hate both the sin and the sinner. Again, this is the short version and hardly does justice to the detailed, compelling and convincing research results.

And lest you think this is a dry read, full of statistics that will make your eyes glaze over, let me assure you that this is not the case. Yes, there are lots of numbers to wade through, but the authors did a masterful job of surrounding those numbers with eye-opening anecdotes and highly accessible analysis. And they included sidebars featuring commentary from other authors who have their ear to the ground on all this, including Rick Warren, Andy Crouch, Brian McLaren and FaithfulReader.com reviewer Margaret Feinberg. Their insights help enliven the chapters and put a human face on the stats.

Despite the depressing statistics, David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons offer hope that we can change the way outsiders perceive us by changing the way we live out our faith. Chapters end with a "Changing the Perceptions" section that offers practical steps we can take to turn the situation around. The book also includes an appendix on the methodology of the research and a short but helpful glossary of terms.

There is little question that the authors are correct in saying that Christianity has an image problem. But the problem is far more serious than mere image. The reality is this: evangelical Christianity has an attitude problem. And until that is corrected, until we begin to live out our faith more authentically, until we lose our swagger, the image --- the negative image --- will remain in the minds of outsiders.

--- Reviewed by Marcia Ford