Everything Must Change - Brian D. McLaren

I have seemed to enjoy each one of Brian McLaren’s new books more than his last. It was, therefore, with great anticipation that I began to read his latest book: Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope.

McLaren seeks to address two preoccupying questions in Everything Must Change; What are the biggest problems in the world? And, What doe Jesus have to say about these global problems? These questions led to further questions like “Why hasn’t the Christian religion made a difference commensurate with its message, size, and resources? What would need to happen for followers of Jesus to become a greater force for good in relation to the world’s top problems? How could we make a positive difference (12)?”

Everything Must Change is carefully organized in order to address these questions. The book is organized into eight parts that each consist of around four very short chapters. The first four parts discuss McLaren’s “preoccupying questions,” the problem as he sees it and how Jesus relates to the questions and problems. The next three parts of the book discuss the three primary parts of what McLaren refers to as the “Societal Machine.” These parts are the Security System, the Prosperity System, and the Equity System. McLaren argues that the Societal Machine has gone suicidal. McLaren writes: “Eventually, you’d have to agree, the societal machine could grow to a size where it demanded more resources than the environment could provide and produce more wastes than the environment could absorb. At that point, the machine would go suicidal” (63). McLaren’s argument is that the Security System, Prosperity System, and Equity System are all dysfunctional and unless we find a way to reframe the story, the machine will go suicidal.

One of the major strengths of Everything Must Change is McLaren’s boldness in drawing attention to some of the ways that American culture is dysfunctional and ultimately self-defeating (or suicidal). Everything Must Change offers a needed critique of the culture of comfort and security that has proliferated without a critique from the American Church for far too long. While McLaren is certainly not the first person to offer such a critique, his growing popularity as the bearded grandfather of Emergent places him in a situation where he is able to speak to a larger and larger audience.

The ideas in this book are already put into practice in subtle ways. For example, the book itself is “green” as the dust jacket testifies that it is printed on “acid-free, environmentally friendly paper using approved green printing standards.” The copyright page further mentions that the paper is from “well-managed forests, controlled sources and recycled wood or fiber.”

McLaren mentions in a footnote that his prior book, The Secret Message of Jesus: Uncovering the Truth That Could Change Everything, should be seen as a companion volume to Everything Must Change. I would actually say that it is essential to read The Secret Message of Jesus before reading Everything Must Change because I often felt that McLaren’s discussion assumed familiarity with the arguments and information presented in The Secret Message of Jesus. In other words, the explicitly Christ-centered material is not as obviously present in Everything Must Change.

My other thought, which I touched on in my review of Tony Jones’ The New Christians, is that Brian McLaren is famous! I have been amazed at the amount of publicity surrounding this book; book displays at Barnes and Noble that John Grisham would envy, a book tour, and I even got a random email asking me to pass out fliers before a book tour stop (that was actually nowhere near where I live). It seems to me that many people who have responded to McLaren’s message are fairly cynical of celebrities and people who seem to be larger than life. Brian McLaren is coming very close to becoming a celebrity, if he is not already one. I am interested to see how folks in Emergent respond to his increasing popularity, and what would seem to be a corresponding inaccessibility. Emergent seems to really be gaining a lot of momentum, and I will be watching to see what it does with it. Is this just the beginning, or is Emergent already peaking?

Ultimately, Brian McLaren raises some very important questions in Everything Must Change. I hope this book inspires the people who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ to examine more closely their allegiance to the kingdom of comfort and security in relationship to their allegiance to the kingdom of God. In as much as McLaren encourages followers of Jesus to bring hope into a world that is on the verge of going suicidal, this book is well worth the read and promises to stimulate much needed conversations about what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ in the twenty-first century.

The New Christians - Tony Jones

This weekend I was in Norman and I found myself in a Barnes and Noble with a 15% off coupon (plus another 10% off for the membership discount) and a $25 gift card all burning a hole in my pocket. The combination of these things meant that I was a man in need of a new book. The book I picked up, and ended up purchasing was The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier by Tony Jones. I found myself with some unexpected, but very much appreciated, down time on Friday and read a large chunk of this book in one sitting.

The New Christians is an engaging book that provides a helpful introduction to Emergent, from a few different angles. Jones, who is the national coordinator for Emergent Village, is ideally situated to provide many of these perspectives.

In the first chapter Jones discusses problems with the “Old Country.” One of the things that I appreciated about this chapter was that he critiqued both the problem on the left and right. The next chapter, “Dispatches from the Frontier of the American Church” is probably my favorite of the book. Jones gives a sort of insiders narrative description of how Emergent came to be. He is honest about disagreements and points of departure (particularly with Mark Driscoll) with others in the movement, especially as it has developed. In the books that I have read about Emergent, I had not previously read a narrative chronology of the development of the movement that was as helpful as this chapter.

Jones also focuses quite a bit of energy discussing the primary role that theology plays among Emergents. Jones writes:

As I looked back on my experiences in college, both at the liberal Congregational church and in the conservative campus ministry, I came to terms with the fact that these weren’t malicious people. Instead, the ways they lived out their faith were a natural response to the theologies they held. It was the theology that was broken. I’ll put it this way: theology begets a way of life. The better the theology, the better the way of life. Therefore, I claim:

Good theology begets beautiful Christianity.

And so it follows that

Bad theology begets ugly Christianity (103).

Jones concludes the book with case studies of several Emergent congregations, which helps to provide a glimpse in the variety and breadth of Emergent practice.

As I read the book I had three, not necessarily related, thoughts:

1. It is amazing how many of the folks in Emergent are becoming celebrities! One of the hallmarks of Emergent, from my understanding, has been how the accessibility of the leadership. Even as recently as three years ago, a friend of mine was periodically having lunch with Brian McLaren. My guess is that folks like him are becoming less and less accessible somewhat in proportion to the rate at which they become better and better known. It kind of reminds me of what happens with mega church pastors. Someone starts a church and has deep relationships with the founding members, but over time many of them have to get used to having much less access to them as other things occupy more and more of their time. I wonder how Emergent has, or will, respond to this challenge. (This is not a criticism, just a question.)
2. I have been happy to gain a deeper appreciation of how much these people care about and are committed to the Christian faith. I don’t sense that they are trying to lead people away from Christianity, but simply speak a language that other people can relate to. I think they are meeting a real need and creating the space for people to hear and respond to the gospel. Many Emergent Christians are living much more committed and dedicated lives than many of the conservative Christians who criticize them. I have especially appreciated Dan Kimball’s theology, the more I have been exposed to it.

So, what are your thoughts? I am particularly interested in what ways you think Wesleyans can respond to or be a part of the Emergent conversation. What contribution do you think Emergent has to make to Wesleyan practice, or how could Wesleyan theology/practice inform Emergent?

If You Could Only Read One Book on Emergent…

Bart asked a great question in a recent post about They Like Jesus But Not the Church. His question was: If you only had time to read book on “emergent” what would it be?

I wanted to answer this question as a separate post because I am hoping more of you will notice the discussion and contribute your ideas. So, what one book would you recommend on emergent if you could only recommend one?

I am going to immediately break my own rule, because I can see a few different ways of coming at this. So here is the one book I would recommend if you wanted to learn more about emergent but you only had time to read one book:

1. They Like Jesus But Not the Church by Dan Kimball. I think this books is just a great book, so I want everyone to read it. But I think it also lets you inside Dan Kimball’s heart. It lets you see why the whole emergent conversation matters. I have to confess that this book doesn’t really explicitly deal with emergent at all, so if you are trying to learn about what emerging folks believe, etc., this is not the one book you should read about emergent. But it should be the one book you read to learn about how to better love people who are outside of the church.
2. A New Kind of Christian by Brian McLaren. My perception is that this is one of the books that really started to gain attention and build momentum for the emerging church movement. This books describes a conversation between a pastor who is close to burnout and someone who helps him rediscover his calling. I have to be honest and say that most of the books I have read like this were somewhat frustrating for me because I wanted them to be a little more concrete. I much preferred McLaren’s A Generous Orthodoxy and The Secret Message of Jesus.

So that is my .02. I am sure that there are other folks out there who have an opinion. What one book about emergent would you recommend if you could only recommend one book?

You can also find more resources at Emergent Village, Dan Kimball’s website, or Brian McLaren’s website.

They Like Jesus But Not the Church

I picked up a copy today of Dan Kimball’s book They Like Jesus But Not the Church. I have only read about half of the introduction, but it is off to an excellent start! He shares the story of speaking at an evangelism conference and the people there just not getting his approach of just trying to get to know people and actually befriending them. One of the pastors asked if he “sealed the deal” (meaning prayed the sinners’ prayer). When Kimball said that he had not and that he was trying to get to know people and befriend them the pastor responded, “Well, then you’re wasting your time, brother, and I will pray for you that you seal the deal with them.”

If that story starts to get you fired up a little bit about how much that pastor is missing the point, I bet this would be a book that would speak to you (though I can’t fully endorse it, as I have not actually read it yet). I found myself thinking, and I bet that guy didn’t even actually pray for you…

Having recently read and posted about Kinnaman and Lyon’s book UnChristian, I was struck by some obvious similarities between the insights that Kimball draws out about how the church is perceived. Here is a comparison of what Kinnaman and Lyon note that people dislike about Christians and what Kimball discusses in They Like Jesus But Not the Church:

UnChristian traits according to Kinnaman and Lyon’s research:

Outsiders see Christians as:

• Hypocritical
• Only concerned with conversion (getting you to pray the sinners’ prayer)
• antihomosexual
• sheltered
• too political
• judgmental

Here is what Kimball says Emerging generations think about the Church:

• an organized religion with a political agenda
• judgmental and negative
• dominated by males and oppresses females
• homophobic
• arrogantly claims all other religions are wrong
• full of fundamentalists who take the whole Bible literally

The similarities are remarkable and suggest that these two books really have profoundly grasped the way Christians are viewed by non-Christians. It is a wake up call.

In a previous post Dan Kimball actually noticed a comment I made about thinking it would be cool to have lunch with him and he replied. So, in case you find this post too, Dan - I have a question. Have you read UnChristian and if so how do you think it meshes with They Like Jesus But Not the Church? Oh, and will you be in the northern Oklahoma area anytime soon to grab some lunch? I know of a great Mexican place in Blackwell, OK!

Finally, here is a link on Dan Kimball’s blog where he discusses They Like Jesus But Not the Church.