David W. Swanson

Pastor and Author

a quote from “unChristian”

I just finished the book unChristian. There are few books that I’ve so marked up, underlined, and talked back to while reading. Here’s one quote by a 28-year old from the book that really jumped out:

So many Christians are caught up in the the Christian sub-culture and are completely closed off from the world. We go to church on Wednesday, Sundays, and sometimes on Saturdays. We attend small group on Tuesday night and serve on the Sunday school advisory board, the financial committee, and the welcoming committee. We go to barbecues with our Christian friends and plan group outings. We are closed off from the world. Even if we wanted to reach out to non-Christians, we don’t have the time and we don’t know how. The only way we know how to reach out is to invite people to join in our Christian social circle.

Here’s a clip of David Kinnaman, the author of unChristian, talking about the book.

David Swanson

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2 responses to “a quote from “unChristian””

  1. Mike Riley Avatar
    Mike Riley

    I just picked up this book last night and am 3 chapters in. As I read the comments/data in these chapters, it made me think the authors did their reasearch at Prescott College. I am in a class this quarter that spends the majority of the time in the field on backpacking/rafting/climbing trips. This setting allows for good conversation around the campfire each night. On each trip, at some point, the conversation eventually makes its way to spirtuality and I usually get to hear stories about my classmates negative experiences with Christians and Christianity. Christians are too judgemental, I went to camp and the counselors kept pushing me to become born again, I had a friend who said he was a christian and he smoked more pot than I did, etc. It has been a struggle to find my place in the group. I want people to know Jesus and how he has changed my life, but I don’t want to be labeled with all the negative connotations that seem to be associated with Christians. So far, I’ve focused on loving my classmates and in the process have built some friendships and heard some interesting/sad stories. I am looking forward to read the chapter that talks about homosexuality. It should be interesting. I have a friend at school who is gay and have been forced to deal with all my preconceived stereotypes and am learning to love him for who he is. One thing I am learning is that loving people is hard!! And I thought the hardest part of going back to school was going to be writing papers.

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  2. David Avatar
    David

    Hey Mike- Thanks for sharing your recent experiences. I think many of us are so deep in the Christian bubble that we miss out on the kinds of relationships you are developing. Knowing you, I feel really good about the love of Christ that will be shown to your classmates.

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