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| They Like Jesus but Not the Church: Insights from Emerging Generations | 
 enlarge | Author: Dan Kimball
Publisher: Zondervan
Category: Book
List Price: $18.99
Buy New: $11.15
You Save: $7.84 (41%)
New (43) Used (12) from $10.80
Avg. Customer Rating:  42 reviews
Sales Rank: 6794
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.7
ISBN: 0310245907
Dewey Decimal Number: 277.30830842
EAN: 9780310245902
ASIN: 0310245907
Publication Date: March 1, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: 100% Brand New! - Ships Today! Identical to Amazon's book in every way. Flawless! Not a cheap Remainder or Book Club Copy! *We recommend Expedited Shipping option for much faster mail delivery
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| Customer Reviews:
 A great read! February 15, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
In light of a society that is ever increasingly gaining a negative attitude toward the Church, Dan approaches topics that many steer clear from. I love where he is heading with this series of books. I am looking forward to reading "Do You Like Jesus, But Not the Church." I highly recommend this book because Dan shows Christians how to not treat people like problems, but as people.
Watch your toes! February 13, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I read this book while on a flight to Japan. It is a quick read but very challenging. If you are a life long church goer, watch your toes! This book will step on them. I guarantee that at some point you will see yourself and or your church in the pages... and it may not be pretty. I was challenged in my conventional wisdom to think like someone in the emerging generation, not like what my church has fed me for 30 years. This is a must read for anyone who is in church leadership and desires to reach out to non-Christians where they are, not sit and wait for them to come to you.
A Call to Leave Our Christian Bubbles February 1, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
When preparing for overseas mission trips, Christians often go through some sort of training to learn about the cultures, languages, and religions of the people to whom they'll be evangelizing. They understand that these differences present barriers for these people to hear and understand the gospel message. Yet in America, Christians often assume that there are no such barriers. In They Like Jesus by Not the Church Dan Kimball examines the church through the eyes of non-Christians in today's emerging generations. He attempts to show that there are barriers and misunderstandings we must address if we are to effectively present the gospel message today.
Through the first few chapters, Kimball sets up the situation by showing that our culture's perceptions of Christianity have changed. For example, instead of being view as trusted spiritual leaders, pastors today are often referred to as "creepy." Kimball argues that for many of us, we haven't realized the changes because we're trapped in Christian bubbles. The trend is that the longer we are Christians, the fewer non-Christian friends we have. What we fail to perceive is that while the church, and Christians in general, is not viewed favorable, most people do have a favorable impression of Jesus. Many of their impressions of Jesus' life and teachings may be inaccurate, but they do provide a place ripe for fruitful conversation.
Much of the book takes a look at specific issues through the experiences of several non-Christian friends Dan interviewed for the book. According to Dan, their sentiments represent general misperceptions about Christians and the church that we must listen and respond to. The six misperceptions are: The church is an organized religion with a political agenda, the church is judgmental and negative, the church is dominated by males and oppresses females, the church is homophobic, the church arrogantly claims all other religions are wrong, and the church is full of fundamentalists who take the whole Bible literally. In each topic Dan explains what his friends have said, what the Bible says about the issue, and how Christians should respond.
In the first of the concluding chapters, Dan explores what his friends which the church were like. He then revises the old "gap" illustration where man is separated from God by a chasm called sin that can only be bridged by the cross. Dan argues that another chasm exits called Christianity and the Christian subculture that must be bridged by trust before we can effectively speak to the problem of sin and their need for a savior.
There are some things in this book that will make some Christians uncomfortable. For the most part, this is a good thing. While I don't agree with every single point made, I still recommend the book without reservation. Christians must begin understand how we are perceived in our culture so we can seek to correct our missteps. Dan Kimball is an outstanding guide toward this task. They Like Jesus but Not the Church effectively shows significant problems Christians must address in evangelism and offers practical solutions along the way.
A Must-Read for Church Leaders Who Recognize the Need for Change January 19, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book delivers on the title. I purchased this book on faith that the book would satisfy the title. I was satisfied with the insight. I am a church elder who is seeking insight for leading my congregation. Dan Kimball covers perceptions such as Christian fanatics, Homosexuality, and women leaderships. Mr. Kimball does not hide his convictions, but he does stress to the church leaders to be sensitive. Rather than saying that the church should confirm to society, the book suggests that people will not come to the church if they are made to feel bad first.
"They Like Jesus but Not the Church: Insights from Emerging Generations" offers challenging insight as to how the "world out there" views organized religion.
Jesus is Great, the Church . . . January 10, 2008
Last night i finished up Dan Kimball's They Like Jesus But Not The Church. This book is a good compliment to UnChristian, which I recently finished as well. This is a less formal, less scientific study of outsiders feelings about the church. It is chock-full of personal statements from people that Dan knows personally. And I found myself agreeing with a lot of the statements people were making and I also found myself upset by other comments.
The best chapter in the whole book is "What They Wish the Church Were Like". In this chapter Dan outlines some different dreams and ideals that people wish the church would be. And I think there are a lot of great lessons in this.
What Dan Kimball has done in They Like Jesus But Not The Church, is not write a heady and impersonal book on outreach. Instead he asked the people that he knows personally to shape this book, instead of telling people what they think, he asked what they think.
This is a great book, and if you want to get a pulse on outsiders views of the church, then this and UnChristian are both great resources.
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