Spiritual transformation into Christlikeness has always been the true goal of Christianity. Re-creating or transforming humanity in this way—being “born again”–is what God was up to in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Some how this mega-idea got lost in favor of a small story about a sure and secure spot in heaven when one dies.
I understand how it happened, and I was guilty of perpetuating the wrong story. Thank God for all the women and men who have been writing, speaking and teaching to correct this reductionist view in the last decade. I think especially of Tom Wright, Dallas Willard, Eugene Peterson, the Gospel in our Culture Network, etc.
Christianity—following Jesus as his apprentice—was always supposed to be a whole-life, embodied and practiced reality. As long as we had a Christian consensus in the US, we could all just “wink” or “shrug our shoulders” when professed believers behaved with their “whole life” in ways the contradicted their profession. But now, in the post-Christian period, as Christianity is increasingly marginalized, those outside the faith no longer just wink. David Kinnaman’s research in his recent book Un-Christian, demonstrates the biggest barrier to young outsiders today is the un-Christian lives of Christians.
As I think about “re-practicing” Christianity to live authentic lives of faith, I am not thinking in merely moral terms. I don’t mean to say that we need to be perfect to be attractive to Christians—even Jesus did not attract everyone. But being “born again” must mean something in this life—right? What I do mean to say is this simple, but I think profound and powerful point for evangelism: authentic practice of our “religion”—following Jesus for the sake of others—is the best bridge to faith today.
Young outsiders want to know if our religion is real, if it makes a difference, etc. My first book is done—you can see it on the top right of the main page. My second book—again with IVP is going to focus on this notion of how we “re-practice” our faith in a way that opens doors to faith. I am looking forward to re-thinking and re-visioning all the common practices associated with Christianity.
