Book: “Unchristian” by David Kinnaman

Reviewed by: Kara McCool

Have you ever wondered what the world around us really thinks about us and WHY they think what they do? As a Christian, we can attempt to discern the perspectives of non-Christians around us but are our opinions on target? These are the answers that David Kinnaman set out to find.

How do we look to those around us and if we truly think we are shining a great light in the darkness, what keeps society from heading toward our light?  Kinnaman says the core of what he discovered during his three-year research was this, “While Jesus loves flawed people, today’s church, Christians, I, do not.” Kinnaman’s startling research reveals that only 4 percent of people ages of 16-29 will ever chance coming to Christ due to the impressions made on their lives by “Christians” around them. Instead of being known for what we stand for, Kinnaman tells us, we are more often known for what we stand against. The author states, “Christians have so long been defending the fort of Christianity and keeping whatever threatens our beliefs on the outside that we have forgotten why we built the fort in the first place.” This book is truly eye opening. Kinnaman’s detailed research grants us the great power of seeing through the eyes of an outsider so that we might rediscover and reorder ourselves as Christians.