Monday, March 18, 2013

No Rescue Required

From The Living Church-

Review by Jonathan Mitchican

It is no secret that the church in America is in a state of collapse, particularly among the young who consider the Faith increasingly irrelevant to their lives. In response, churches have tried all sorts of new and exotic approaches to keeping people interested, from the life coaching sermons and sugar pop music of megachurches to the “Let’s all fix the world” mantra that has become the raison d’ĂȘtre of the liberal mainline churches. None of it has worked. If anything, our efforts at reigniting church have driven young people further away. Into this mix has emerged Jonathan Fisk’s new book, Broken: 7 “Christian” Rules That Every Christian Ought to Break as Often as Possible. His suggestion for how to fix the church and keep our young people to boot is radically simple: Stop trying.

Fisk has developed a strong following in the last couple of years through his show on YouTube called Worldview Everlasting, which garners thousands of viewers each week. In that medium, Fisk speaks to mostly twenty and thirty-somethings, mixing his staunchly Lutheran presentation of the gospel with pop-culture references, funny video clips, and quips. That may sound unsophisticated, but Fisk does not shy away from hard topics, delving into the theology of atonement and sacramental grace and quoting from the original Greek when explicating passages from the New Testament. The edginess of the videos allows Fisk to speak the deepest, most complicated, and controversial truths of the Christian faith to those who would never encounter them in dusty old tomes or seminary textbooks.

more here-

http://livingchurch.org/no-rescue-required

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