Book Notes - Contagious Christian
Posted on October 30, 2007 by ih
Having just finished reading Becoming a Contagious Christian by Bill Hybels and Mark Mittelberg, I thought I’d share some highlights from the book that I found interesting:
- The Anthropic Principle (pg’s 13-14) - this concept is prevalent in secular science and philosophy and implies that when we look at our world around us, it would seem that the universe was somehow designed to support and nourish human life. For instance:
- Change the tilt of the earth’s axis slightly in one direction, and we would freeze. Change it the other direction, and we’d burn up.
- If the ratio of carbon to oxygen had been slightly different than it is, none of us would have been here to breathe the air.
- If the average distance between stars were any greater, planets like earth would not have been formed; any smaller, the planetary orbits necessary for life would not have occurred.
- Someone, therefore, must have gone to a lot of effort to make things just right so that you and I could be here to enjoy life. (That someone would be God)
- In other words, we must really matter to God!
- Three Characteristics necessary for a Christian to be contagious: (pg 4
- Authenticity
- Compassion
- Sacrifice
- Costs of contagious Christianity (pg 36)
-
- Time and energy
- Reading and study
- Money
- Risk of embarrassment, rejection, or persecution
- It complicates your life
- Ranking of televangelists, according to a national survey, in terms of honesty and integrity: (pg 121)
- Near the bottom, below lawyers, politicians, car salesman, and prostitutes
- Only two were lower: organized crime bosses and drug dealers
- Some characteristics of contagious churches: (pg’s 201-210)
- Evangelism is a basic value
- Lost people are prioritized
- Outreach part of overall strategy
- Leaders model reaching of lost people
- Members equipped to spread the faith
- Relationships with unchurched people are maximized
- Innovation valued and employed
- Relevance of Bible is emphasized
- Gospel is never compromised
- Tangible sense of the supernatural
Technorati Tags: evangelism, contagious christianity, anthropic principle
Filed under: Book Notes
a>
I am going to have to read this. My husband just finished reading a book called Jesus-Centered Youth Ministry by Rick Lawrence and it was amazing and disturbing to us to find how far most churches have gotten from the basics.
Our philosophy is everything should point to Jesus.
My personal opinion, if a church does not make prayer a priority, that church will never go deeper…it will be a shallow, shallow place.
Hey, this is cool. I’m so glad you put these notes up! The book really sounds like something i would enjoy.
cb- I agree regarding prayer! It certainly is the one thing necessary for all the others to be ’succesful’
pam - this book was the text for my last course for the certified level. It was a very easy reading book. Definitely has the stamp of ‘american culture’, but does offer some good Biblical principles applicable in other cultures as well.