This week I am going to share some short articles about the book The Next Christians by Gabe Lyons.  The sub-title of this book explains the premise well, “The New Christians: How a new generation is restoring the faith.”

This book is an optimistic recognition of opportunities we have in America.  Before the optimistic part, we have to “deconstruct” the old thought that America is made up of primarily Christian values.  We may have been founded on Christian principals, but we are now post-Christian in our culture’s practice and beliefs.  That’s not fun to write, but until we understand the new reality, we won’t know how to respond to this new unchristian America.

Based off empirical data and trends, Lyons write, “The effort to see America formally defined and characterized according to Judeo-Christian ideals has been lost.  Although a few skirmishes persist on the periphery, the momentum toward a new school of predominant thought is undeniable . . .”

This is the bad news.  The good news is with every challenge, there is opportunity.  We’ll discuss opportunity later on this week.