Think Christianly by Jonathan Morrow is an a concise and insightful look at how to think and act like Christ in a culture that is constantly changing around us. In the first few chapters of the book, Morrow gives the context to why he wrote this book. We are at a crossroads with Christianity on one side and culture on the other, and as Christians, we have a choice to engage that culture or not. Morrow stresses that it is time to engage our culture because if we do not, then we will be serving ourselves into obscurity.
One interesting point he makes about engaging the culture focuses on the next generation and how to engage them. He identifies that the problems with the next generation are boredom and apathy, relational disconnection, and intellectual disengagement. The interesting point he makes to correct this is mentoring. Young people need mentoring. They need to have not just one person, but several people around them to help them grow in Christ. This is what engaging is all about. We have spent far too long focusing on the right programs and curriculum to drastically change America's youth for Christ. What we need to do is engage this culture. They are tired of curriculum and programs. They want person, one-on-one time with someone who has experienced life a little longer than they have.
The next part of the book focuses on preparing ourselves to engage the culture. He stresses that we need to be the Jesus the world needs us to be. This is a powerful message to the Church in America today because as a whole, we are not being the Jesus the world needs. We are being a Jesus that we want to be rather than what the world needs. Morrow stresses that we need to get ourselves right before God and make sure that we are walking consistently with Jesus. We need to be practicing spiritual disciplines not for the sake of being holier than thou, but for the sake of not compromising our witness for Christ and His kingdom. We need to be communicating a message to a lost world that the kingdom of God is here and now.
The next section of the book focuses on apologetics which is something that Christians in our country are desperately lacking skills in. Apologetics is simply giving an answer. It is a way to think logically and critically about the Christian faith in order that we may have an answer for the hope that we have (I Peter 3:15). He covers topics from the accuracy and validity of Scripture to homosexuality and even modern day research in genetics. Morrow does a great job with concisely presenting the issues and helping us think Christianly about them. He steers away from being religious by stressing that we need to stop getting made whenever we hear something negative about Jesus in the media. We need to take a deep breath and understand where the culture is coming from. We have to think differently about how we present the Gospel in a 21st century world. We are living in a time where truth is relative rather than absolute. We are living in a time where people are very bitter towards the church and have some very strong opinions towards it. We are living in a time where people are desperately searching for the truth, but all they are getting are more questions. Morrow says it's going to take time to evangelize in a 21st century world because we live in a world of skeptics. We need to take the time to be Jesus by being relational. We think that we can stay in our Christian bubble, do a few big events, sing our old hymns with our organ (not saying the organ is bad), preach the Gospel every Sunday, and people will flock to our buildings. This is how it may have worked 50 years ago, but this is not the way it will work today. Morrow stresses that we have to think deeply and apologetically about our faith so that we can better engage our skeptical, but truth-seeking culture.
Jonathan Morrow does an excellent job in this book. He keeps his topics short and concise to the point that anyone from a pastor to a lay person can pick this book up and glean from it. His writing style is very to the point and easy to read and understand. His work is scholarly without being over anyone's head. He gives great insight on being a Christian in all walks of life that you may encounter. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to Think Christianly.
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