Dan Kimball, They Like Jesus but not the Church (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007). Paperback, 271 pages. Reading level Grade 10.

As much as I appreciated Dan Kimball’s 2003 book The Emerging Church, this book is even better. For one thing the goofy comments that appear in the margins of The Emerging Church are thankfully absent.  More importantly, however, Kimball is able to articulate the emerging generation’s perception of the church with great clarity and a rich variety of anecdotes.

Kimball’s success with this book is partially due to the unique places he writes his sermons and books:

. . . on Wednesdays, instead of working in the church office or at home, I study for the weekend sermon at a local coffeehouse. . . . I also go to another coffeehouse on Thursdays and have meetings with people there instead of the church office. (p. 12) 

I decided I’d rather study in a coffeehouse where I’d be around people, with my Bible and commentaries open in full view. I also used the time to get to know the names of the staff at the coffeehouses an engage in little conversations in which they asked about what I do and what I’m reading. Little by little I gained their trust and was able to ask them what they think about Christianity and the church.  (p. 47)

In case you are wondering, I think Starbucks is his favorite coffee house.

Issues that are covered in chapters in the book include:

• 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
• The church is full of fundamentalists who take the whole Bible literally

It is quite interesting to learn how Kimball addresses these issues. He pointedly challenges readers to be prepared with answers (p. 246). He does this himself with openly viewing the culture around him and seeking an orthodox Christian response. I especially appreciated his response to “all other religions are wrong.”  He gives analogies of mountains for each religion and describes each religion’s conception of God as the mountain peak. He discusses how the foot of the mountains can and do contain many similarities, but the summits are different. Each religion leads to a different mountain top. You will need to read chapter 9 yourself to understand his wonderful approach to this issue.

As an introduction to the emerging culture I recommend this book over his 2003 work. Also I suggest you read as a companion book John Burke’s No Perfect People Allowed. Burke provides the scholarly references and approach that Kimball often lacks.

Comments by Terry B. Ewell, August 2007