Jesus in the Secular World: Reaching a Culture in Crisis

by Ben Pierce

"The Church is irrelevant to my day-to-day life! It's just a dead, empty tradition of the past." This is the overwhelming consensus among young people today, and it has resulted in an ever-widening cultural divide between the secular youth culture and the Church. Much of what was formerly regarded as the Christian world is leaving its roots behind and is dominated by secularism and relativism. The Bible is no longer considered the moral compass, but rather everyone is free to decide for themselves what is right and wrong. As followers of Jesus, it's clear that we need to respond to this - but how? Jesus in the Secular World combines vivid illustrations from over a decade of front-line ministry with practical principles that will encourage and equip any follower of Jesus to relevantly reach those who would not come to the Church for answers.

Genres: Christian, Nonfiction

231 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 12, 2018

Reviews

[Russell Fox · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not the audience for this book; I am a 56-year-old man who is very settled in (which is not to say perfectly at home with) his Mormon faith. This is a books for people who have had an evangelical experience with Jesus and want to know how to both maintain that experience and how to convey it to others. I picked up a copy for free when the author, who is related to the campus pastor at Friends University, where I teach, visited to conduct a worship service. It's a short book, and I finished it quickly--and wouldn't have bothered finishing it if there wasn't a lot of good sense in there. Piece is a life-long missionary, traveling the world with his band and testifying of Jesus, and he understands his audience, and the nature of contemporary secularism, far better than many other professional evangelists, both Protestant and Catholic. I couldn't help but think that if I'd been presented with some of the advice Pierce shares in this book when I was missionary for the Mormon church, 35 years ago, I would have appreciated it very much.

But in the end, the good sense of the book couldn't overcome my deep frustration--or better, confusion--with it. I appreciate and respect Pierce's insistence that there's no point in working through the "what" or "why" of all the questions that could potentially come up while one is testifying to others, and instead choosing to simply focus on the "how" part of the equation. And yet, his rigorous avoidance of almost any reference to theology, to doctrine, to the actual content of the "truth" which he continually (and not incorrectly) points out is pushed aside by the near-normative relativism of contemporary Western culture, became for me a huge inconsistency. The man is absolutely aware of the popular perceptions of conservative Christianity among the young people he is reaching out to; is it really the case that evangelism requires no defense of, or even inquiry into, that perception? If so, then doesn't that mean you're simply assuming its truth? And if that's so, how am I supposed to know that your assumption isn't a substitution for an actual, more challenging, encounter with Jesus? I guess I just really want to understand how someone like Pierce achieved his certainty, and how he thinks about his certainty; even if he doesn't want to talk about the content of his certainty, surely knowing what the parameters of one's certainty is, is necessary if one is going to testify of it, right?

[Nefreteri Jacobsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great application and understanding for reaching non-believers

This book was phenomenal and profoundly written. I recently joined a church and found that the attitude was more about finding Christian people instead of bringing new ones in. I haven’t met anyone who is really hitting the ground to talk to young secular people, so this was exactly what I needed.

I enjoy the company of many non-believers and Ben confirmed many of my thoughts. People are broken and searching. They’re open to conversations that many ppl are too afraid to have. Those who are saved aren’t working hard enough to reach other.

I love the section on the power of prayer, because I think it’s a failure of many, including me, that we rely on our own power, so the task to reach the world seems too great.

I also loved reading the overwhelming positive responses to the gospel. I work in the service industry and I firmly believe my coworkers have truly never gotten correct information on Jesus. A generation brought up without God. This book gave me the insight to reach my friends and coworkers.

He finished up with courage: the virtue we most lack. After reading this book, I’m off to pray for courage and the words to reach the secular world.

[Evan Steele · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this book along with our college and career group at church. The book also has very cool videos to be viewed as a small group while reading the chapters during the week. Unfortunately I never thought the book lived up to the cleverness and straightforward approach of the videos.

Although I did find myself enjoying the book more in the later chapters, it rarely rose about the level of common Christian cliche and there was not enough memorable for me to recommend. If you are looking for a small group book to do with young people this may be a good one. Otherwise, I think there are better more memorable books out there.

[THOMAS L REYNOLDS · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just completed this in our small group - excellent!