Christians Must 'Fix What is Broken'

Download and listen to Gabe Lyons' presentation [MP3 download] given at Calvin's January Series.

January 12, 2012 — Gabe Lyons says young people in their late teens and 20s give some sobering comments on the current state of Christianity in UnChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity and Why It Matters.

Lyons wrote the best-selling, ground-breaking book on young people’s attitudes with David Kinnaman, president of The Barna Group, a business that provides research and resources on religious topics.

For the book, the Barna Group asked the young people to define what it means to be a Christian in today’s world.

At first glance, said Lyons, their reactions were disheartening.

“They told us that being a Christian meant that you are anti-gay, judgmental and hypocritical,” Lyons said on Wednesday to a crowd attending the January Series, a lecture series sponsored by Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Lyons’ talk was underwritten by the Christian Reformed Church in North America.

“The young people also told us that being a Christian meant that you have a right-wing, political agenda to push on society, and that it was important getting people saved, which meant that they showed up at your church events.”

But Lyons did not use the survey results, or the other research that he has done, to predict that Christianity in the United States is dying as older church members pass away and young people fail to fill their spots.

Rather, he said, he sees the the younger generation as fertile ground for transformation. He considers their skepticism healthy because it can lead to a re-evaluation, restoration and revival of embracing and passing on the story of what it truly means for people to be followers of Christ.

Young people can be among the vanguard, leading the way toward a deeper understanding of the Christian faith.

In order to expand this new movement of Christianity, said Lyons, people of all ages need to more fully understand and embrace the traditions, teachings and truths contained in the Bible.  

“We need to be able to communicate  and demonstrate God’s faithfulness in every part of the world,” he said. “We need to look to the essentials. We need to work together because we need each other.”

Fueled by the Holy Spirit’s leading, a force of new Christians should be able to live and speak about the life-altering message found in Christ, who become man, served as a healer and teacher, died on the cross and came back to life to restore the connection between God and the creation.

“We can move forward as Christians into the next century...What we  will need are ‘restorers’—Christians who are innovating and practicing what Christianity can look like as it plays out in this western, globalized world.”

Lyons was a leader in the conservative Christian community several years ago. A graduate of Liberty University, he was vice president of a prominent Christian organization and co-founder of Catalyst, a large group of young Christian leaders.

But he began to question the quality of his own Christian life. He left his job and went on to found qideas.org, which is a learning community that mobilizes Christians to advance the common good in society. He also went on to write The Next Christians: The Good News About the End of Christian America.

His work has been featured by CNN, The New York Times, Fox News and USA Today. He, his wife Rebekah, and their three children reside in Manhattan, New York.

“Ours’ has become an age of civic religion,” in which many people fail to grasp and live out out the biblical teachings that address all of life, said Lyons.

Echoing the sentiments of many of the young people in the new book, Lyons said too many churches and denominations “have made mountains out of molehills” in disputes over certain doctrines and beliefs.

“Churches need to work together on the important things that they agree about,” he said.

Churches should set set aside differences and focus on forming Christians who are living examples, in whatever settings they find themselves, of Christ’s love and service to others.

“God wants to partner with us to restore all things,” said Lyons. “The kingdom has been announced. We are to renew the material world. We are not here to count sins, but our message is to fix what is broken.”