Book Reviews

WILL YOU BE MY FACEBOOK FRIEND?
Social Media and the Gospel
By Tim Chester

Tim Chester (2013) cautions us about the pitfalls of social media in his book Will you be my Facebook friend?: Social Media and the Gospel .

The Danger

In the book Will you be my Facebook friend?, Tim Chester warns us about the dangers of social media. He sees the near ubiquitous influence of social media and raises a red flag of caution. Chester calls us to consider how social media may be changing the way we think and act, how the medium may be impacting the content of our message and reshaping our relationships.

I like Tim Chester. In fact, having read and thoroughly enjoyed his book, Total Church: A Radical Reshaping around Gospel and Community (which I gladly recommend), I was eager to hear his thoughts on the Gospel and social media. But Will you… left me scratching my head at points.

Some Problems

While Will you be my Facebook friend? raises some timely and warranted concerns, it will likely frustrate you. Here are a few reasons why.

• Lack of Nuance. The topic of social media is complex. It can produce both good and bad results. Chester briefly acknowledges this tension (p.9), but does not explore it further (though he does mention it once more on p. 41). For example, he highlights the narcissistic tendencies of Facebook (p. 21) but then neglects those same tendencies in other forms of communication like public speaking, talking on the phone, or interactions at a mixer party.
• Ad Hominem. Chester sights some research, but he also resorts to simply making fun of social media. At one point, he writes, “[Facebook] encourages you to express your personality through lists of books, movies, TV programmes. This is what nerdy students do…Your life is being squeezed down into these select, nerdy categories” (pp. 42-43). Nerdy? That’s not a valid argument against social media.
• Evidence of Misunderstanding. Little anecdotal details show a lack of understanding about social media, and this undermines his credibility. He writes, “On Facebook you do not have a conversation, you have an audience” (p. 20). But his assertion is plainly false. People have conversations all over Facebook and in a variety of meaningful ways. This misunderstanding makes me question how much he has actually interacted with Facebook. Elsewhere, he says, “Think about the tweets you have followed” (p. 45). The problem here is you don’t “follow tweets.” These small missteps undermine his authority to speak on this topic.

The Message

All that notwithstanding, the positive side of Chester’s message should be heard.
Towards the end of the book, he offers a most wonderful and welcome insight:

Facebook encourages you to live elsewhere. The gospel encourages you to live life here and now (p. 39).

This to me is the crux of the issue and a tremendously important message to convey. And when Chester starts talking gospel, it’s shear poetry.

Through Facebook you can show your face…to the world. Through the gospel we see the face of God.
Through Facebook we can recreate ourselves. Through the gospel God recreates us in the image of Jesus.
Through Facebook we can promote ourselves. Through the gospel we promote Jesus as Lord. (pp. 41-43).

I love these juxtapositions.

I simply wish Chester had spent more time here and less time criticizing social media. But be that as it may, you will certainly appreciate these gospel applications.

Happy learning!
Proverbs 3:13

WRECKED
When a Broken World Slams into Your Comfortable Life
By Jeff Goins

Wrecked: When a Broken World Slams into Your Comfortable Life by Jeff Goins describes the journey from complacency to sensitivity, from indifference to compassion. Being “wrecked” is the moment we awaken to and begin this journey. It is that moment on a mission trip when you see true poverty for the first time. It is that moment when you come to truly know someone and be touched by their story. Being wrecked is being rescued from glossy-eyed, status-quo-living. It is the move to a heartfelt life.

In Wrecked, Goins deftly and gently leads us through this journey by chronicling his own story of being wrecked. If you follow Jeff’s blog, you will recognize the lively writing style and winsome authenticity that marks all his posts. Jeff is a careful writer and it shows in this his first full-length book. You will enjoy and be challenged by Wrecked.

Stay and Commit

My favorite part of the book came as a most surprising insight. Goins begins the book by broadly examining the idea of getting wrecked, but then he makes a necessary but unexpected move. He goes from mission trips and rugged street ministry to the simple idea of staying and being committed (Chapter 5). Goins argues one of the best things you can do to maintain a wrecked life is to stay put, stick it out, hit the wall and keep going. This is a key insight.

As a youth pastor who goes on several mission trips a year and sees first hand the highs and lows of being wrecked, I appreciate Goins’ balanced approach here. Glorious adventure must be paired with pedestrian commitment. Both are necessary to living a wrecked life.

We are all about the next best thing. We are movers and shakers. We are always looking for the next big adventure. But sometimes the hardest thing, the best thing you can do is just stay put, or as Jeff says (a la Mother Teresa) find your Calcutta in your own backyard. It’s there if you’ll look. So stay put, learn to see it and enter it. For all those who would chase the next mission trip high, this is a helpful corrective.

Audio Book

I was able to listen to this book thanks to the generous folks at Christianadio.com. Jeff himself reads the book. His reading is good, though my one critique would be that his rhythm and pace is not as lively as his writing style. But again, it was good to hear his own inflections and the heart behind the book. (You can purchase the audio book at christianaudio.com/wrecked-jeff-goins)

Final Verdict

I recommend Wrecked. It will challenge you and stir your heart. Jeff Goins writes with honesty and energy. Wrecked will carry you right along.
So what are you waiting for? Get Wrecked!

Happy learning!
Proverbs 3:13

Buzzwords buzz around. They float and fly and flit, but they don’t often land anywhere. “Missional” has been one such buzzword. Churches and ministry leaders have discussed the term for the last several years, but much of the conversation has remained theoretical, focusing on definitions of the gospel, the mission, and the church. Few books have ventured into the day-to-day aspects of actually being missional. In Subversive Kingdom: Living as Agents of Gospel Transformation, we find a helpful and highly accessible volume on missional living.

Big Picture

Stetzer makes one constant argument throughout the book: The Kingdom of God spreads best through the subversive, counter-cultural lifestyle of the Church. Notice, “lifestyle” is key here. For Stetzer, spreading the Kingdom is less about doing church and more about being the church. He shifts our focus from program-driven, building-centered, come-and-see ministry to incarnational, infiltrating, go-and-tell ministry.

Stetzer writes:

“The subversive kingdom has come near, and the church has sprung up to carry out this kingdom mission…But we don’t do it by constructing fancier buildings or outdoing the programs offered by other congregations. We do it by just faithfully living out our callings together as representatives of God’s kingdom” (p. 192).

Stetzer unfolds this vision in three sections. In Part 1, A Subversive Way of Thinking, Stetzer anchors his rationale in the Kingdom Parables of Jesus. In Part 2, he makes the mission personal, challenging us to become our kingdom selves, free of sin and full of integrity. Finally, in Part 3, Stetzer zooms back out to consider how the church as a whole faithfully carries out this kingdom mission.

As a whole, I found Subversive Kingdom to be clear, compelling, and practical.

Clear

When I began ;Subversive Kingdom: Living as Agents of Gospel Transformation”>Subversive Kingdom brought my pen out about once-a-page. That’s pretty good. Stetzer consistently produces helpful insights and tweetable quotes that propelled me along to the book’s conclusion. Here’s one such notable quote: “Truly, nothing melts away the bitter cold of a broken world faster than the exponential heat of one person discipling another” (p. 211). I like that.

Practical

Stetzer takes the idea of missional living and gives it feet. He makes the buzzword land. He writes, “This book is my attempt to put a face on a vital, biblical concept that has too often failed to congeal in our minds” (p.22). In my opinion, Stetzer succeeds. Through examples and stories, he offers a practical picture of missional living anyone could get his mind around.
 

Conclusion

Subversive Kingdom works. Stetzer manages to take a potentially complex topic and make it accessible and real. By framing the discussion around the Kingdom of God, he provides a theologically sound framework for missional ministry while also supplying the reader with a powerful picture of what that ministry looks like.

Missional living requires us to walk a careful line. We want to avoid both gospel dilution and gospel insulation. Stetzer’s explanation of subversive kingdom provides the theological balance we need to walk that line. As subversive agents of the kingdom, we are both in the world (as agents) and yet not of the world (subversive). This proper tension encourages both the anchoring of the gospel biblically while also moving us out to spread this gospel in word and deed.

I gladly recommend Subversive Kingdom. For anyone looking to expand his or her witness, this book is a great place to start.