Radically Unchurched: Who They Are-How to Reach Them

Rating:
Summary: Wow!
Review: All I can say about this book is WOW! This is an awesome book. The author of this book is a very genuine man of God. I have written the author several times to ask him some questions about his book and about evangelism, and he has written me back every time and answered my questions every single time. Anything by Alvin L. Reid would be a good purchase in my opinion.

Rating:
Summary: Wow!
Review: All I can say about this book is WOW! This is an awesome book. The author of this book is a very genuine man of God. I have written the author several times to ask him some questions about his book and about evangelism, and he has written me back every time and answered my questions every single time. Anything by Alvin L. Reid would be a good purchase in my opinion.

Rating:
Summary: Radically Reaching the Unchurched
Review: Finally, a book that addresses the identity of the unchurched and how to reach them in a passionate tone that the reader can't help but be excited about. Alvin Reid, who through his teaching and writings has popularized the term "radically unchurched," records his thoughts, insights, and proposal for reaching today's unbelievers in Radically Unchurched: Who They Are--How to Reach Them. Readers will find this book refreshing as Reid presents his observations on postmodernism and the coming generation. He continues by higlighting ways to reach this generation for Christ through worship, your testimony, church planting, and other creative approaches to evangelism. This book will not disappoint those who are genuinely looking for a layman's understanding of who the radically unchurched are and how to effectively reach them.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: The book's subtitle explains its premise: who they are and how to reach them. It is the author's contention, and rightly so, that the church is totally unprepared to reach the coming generation with the gospel of Christ, that its methods and means of reaching the radically unchurched are no longer effective. After defining who the radically unchurched are, the author reviews methodological and means of evangelism which have proven effective with the radically unchurched.

The author deals brutally and honestly with the ineptness of the evangelical church and the head in the sand attitude it has concerning its declining attendance and influence on American culture. Again and again, Reid drives home the point that things are not well with the evangelical church. The best part of the book is the How to reach them part. The author really adds nothing new to the well-read reader of evangelism; rather, he surveys the methodologies that have proven successful and presents them to the reader, with the warning that copying methodically without adaptation and a heart for evangelism will fail.

I did not like this book. I had to force myself to read it through. Yet, after doing so, I am glad that I did. There is little or no original thought or research in it. Sjogren's Conspiracy of Kindness, Rainer's Surprising Insights from the Unchurched, and Warren's Purpose Driven Church are all well quoted. The author also has an anti-charismatic bias. His ranting against Full Gospel churches on page 112 is shameful. To accuse charismatic churches as not believing the Bible is sufficient in its historic doctrine is a gross misunderstanding of charismatic theology. If my memory serves me right only one charismatic church, Brooklyn Tabernacle, was cited as a growth church, while dozens of Baptist churches were cited as growing.

Reid helped me understand that my evangelistic training taught me to share Christ with people who shared my basic values: a belief in God, reverence for the Bible, and a belief in ultimate right and wrong. Today, the radically unchurched do not believe in God, have no regard for the Bible and hold to a subjective value system. Reid points to Paul's sermon on Mars Hill for insight on how we can reach the radically unchurched. When preaching to the pre-Christian Jews, Paul spoke of Jesus and fulfilled prophecy, but when he spoke to the pagans on Mars Hill, he started with the existence of God, and told of God as creator and judge. The chapter on postmodernism is helpful. He succinctly describes what post modernism is and how it affects the way we present the gospel of Christ.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: The book's subtitle explains its premise: who they are and how to reach them. It is the author's contention, and rightly so, that the church is totally unprepared to reach the coming generation with the gospel of Christ, that its methods and means of reaching the radically unchurched are no longer effective. After defining who the radically unchurched are, the author reviews methodological and means of evangelism which have proven effective with the radically unchurched.

The author deals brutally and honestly with the ineptness of the evangelical church and the head in the sand attitude it has concerning its declining attendance and influence on American culture. Again and again, Reid drives home the point that things are not well with the evangelical church. The best part of the book is the How to reach them part. The author really adds nothing new to the well-read reader of evangelism; rather, he surveys the methodologies that have proven successful and presents them to the reader, with the warning that copying methodically without adaptation and a heart for evangelism will fail.

I did not like this book. I had to force myself to read it through. Yet, after doing so, I am glad that I did. There is little or no original thought or research in it. Sjogren's Conspiracy of Kindness, Rainer's Surprising Insights from the Unchurched, and Warren's Purpose Driven Church are all well quoted. The author also has an anti-charismatic bias. His ranting against Full Gospel churches on page 112 is shameful. To accuse charismatic churches as not believing the Bible is sufficient in its historic doctrine is a gross misunderstanding of charismatic theology. If my memory serves me right only one charismatic church, Brooklyn Tabernacle, was cited as a growth church, while dozens of Baptist churches were cited as growing.

Reid helped me understand that my evangelistic training taught me to share Christ with people who shared my basic values: a belief in God, reverence for the Bible, and a belief in ultimate right and wrong. Today, the radically unchurched do not believe in God, have no regard for the Bible and hold to a subjective value system. Reid points to Paul's sermon on Mars Hill for insight on how we can reach the radically unchurched. When preaching to the pre-Christian Jews, Paul spoke of Jesus and fulfilled prophecy, but when he spoke to the pagans on Mars Hill, he started with the existence of God, and told of God as creator and judge. The chapter on postmodernism is helpful. He succinctly describes what post modernism is and how it affects the way we present the gospel of Christ.