Gabe Lyons represents – indeed leads – a rising generation of Christians who not only think changes need to occur but are making those changes in a constructive manner. Gabe, with David Kinnaman, burst on the book scene with their bestselling UnChristian. In the hallways of a conference I met Gabe once and hoped we could stay connected. But it was not until last Spring’s Q Conference that I had another conversation with him – well, excepting a phone conversation or two. Just prior to the Q Conference Gabe informed me he was writing a new book about a rising generation of Christians and he asked me if I’d read it … which I did, which I liked immensely, and which is now the subject of a new series on the Jesus Creed blog. The book is called The Next Christians: The Good News About the End of Christian America, and it opens up with some sketches of the scene: His first idea forms the ground on which he builds: Christian America is fading. He’s right: the Christianity of my father and of Gabe’s father, which once defined Christianity and shaped how to relate to culture itself, is over. Gabe sees it in the passing of Jerry Falwell, or at least sees Falwell’s death as indicative of a major shift. The fundamentalist Christianized culture that Falwell fought for is all but gone, and here are three categories that are arising on the scrapped buildings of a former way of life: Read more