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53 of 57 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Publishers comments, June 26, 2006
I have not read this book yet, but was looking for some information on it and found nothing here. I did find the comments below, made by the publisher on their website, and thought I would post them here. The 4 star rating was selected just to get this information posted.
The Last Christian Generation addresses a larger, overarching issue of how today's distorted cultural view of Christianity, truth, and reality has changed the way our nation's young people define faith and what it means to be a Christian.
"The problem is," states McDowell, "Dan Brown's book and the movie simply makes a bad situation even worse. The Christian faith has been under attack in this culture for decades and because most believers haven't been equipped to know why they believe, the very foundation of Christianity within the Church has eroded. If trends continue, the next generation of the Church will not even be rightfully called Christian."
In The Last Christian Generation, McDowell challenges church leaders, educators and parents to understand why the very foundations of the Christian faith have eroded and what must be done long-term to rebuild them.
In his research, McDowell has uncovered some startling statistics. For example, among churched youth:
* 63% don't believe that Jesus is the Son of the one true God.
* 51% don't believe that Jesus rose from the dead.
* 68% don't believe that the Holy Spirit is a real entity.
* It has been estimated that between 69% and 94% of churched youth are leaving the traditional church after high school, and very few are returning.
* Only 33% of churched youth have said that the church will play a part in their lives when they leave home.
Also in The Last Christian Generation, McDowell examines what it will take to correct these distorted views of God while offering ways to help the church and families rebuild the true foundations of the faith. The book provides a clear, urgent and balanced blueprint that can help reclaim an entire generation of young people. It identifies a very real crisis that Christians must take seriously before it's too late.
In the book, McDowell outlines specifically how the church and Christian families can ground their young people in the true faith. It provides a tool to enable churches to do more than merely weather a temporary challenge brought on by The Da Vinci Code book and movie. It offers a long-term strategy to rebuild the foundations of the faith about Christ as God's Son and the Bible as the reliable revelation of God.
"What compelled me to get involved and the reason I released two books lies in the answers to two questions. How is it that a fictional novel can have such a mass influence in spreading seeds of doubt? And what must be done to equip a generation to discern fact from fiction?" states McDowell. "While I embrace the challenge and opportunity for clarifying distortions of the faith, Christian leaders want more than a Da Vinci Code question and answer sheet. They want to know how to rebuild the very foundations of our faith among our families, lest we become....the last Christian generation."
Another section of comments from publishers website...
The research on the current generation of young people reveals an alarming fact: they have redefined what it means to be Christian. The majority of our churched young people do not believe Christ is the Son of God, do not believe the Holy Spirit is a real entity, and think `doing good' earns them a place in heaven. And just as disturbing is the fact that their attitudes and behavior are virtually no different than those of non-Christians.
In this defining message of his 40 years of ministry, Josh McDowell strikes at the heart of the problem and offers a clear solution. "We must bring this new generation face to face with who Christ really is," Josh explains. "They know the facts, but they don't know Him. They are believing distorted views of Christianity. This means we must first model Christlikeness to them and then continually lead them through a basic spiritual formation process that sets them on a solid foundation for building a life that is authentically Christian."
The Last Christian Generation documents the urgency of the crisis but also provides a fresh revelation of the heart of God through seven lifelong responses of a true follower of Christ - a definitive "Christianity 101." Josh makes a ground-breaking case for the need to move from program-driven to process-driven ministry. Reintroduce the real and relevant Christ to your young people, lead them through the process of Christlikeness and you may very well ignite a spiritual revolution for an entire generation.
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38 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is my vision for my youth group... and church!, July 17, 2006
I am a youth pastor in Wichita, KS. My church hired me for several reasons, one of them being an expectation that I might help them solve the problem with their youth; the problem that after they graduate high school they tend to leave the church for good. Through prayer and a year of getting to know my students and their families, I determined that what they needed the most was not me but the role modeling, wisdom, and acceptance, of old saints. My next problem was that many of the old saints in my church seem to think they have retired from Christian service (where's that in the Bible?) and are not approving of our teens; in fact, they seem to even fear/resent the teens. On top of that, I am up against an American, traditional expectation that this type of role modeling is to be accomplished by the youth pastor and no one else: a misnomer. How could I recruit my old people to be role models of solid faith under these conditions?
Attempting to inspire a traditional group of people 2 and 3 times my age has been tricky. My problem here was that none of the ways I came up with was striking a nerve. I discovered that the authors or authorities I would cite in my presentations were either unknown to the elderly people or untrusted, producing less than desirable reaction from among my audiences... not to mention I'm relatively young and from a California surf town... what do I know? So I began looking for a known, trusted author who was addressing my issue. When I found this book, I discovered a way to introduce the concept of inter-generational ministry to our old folks that would be trusted, accepted, listened to, and hopefully acted upon. The elders of my church (4 of 6 have well grayed hair :-D) have responded very well so far and have given me the green light to present this concept to the older congregants a little at a time. This is tremendous because it has the potential to completely change the culture of our church. I have my first meeting with about a dozen folks aged 60 to 90 tomorrow evening.
Josh McDowell is well trusted among Middle American churches, understands teens, and can relate to his own peer group (older folks) quite well. His book clearly communicates the urgent need to rethink church as we know it, and to start setting aside some of the traditional ideas about education and authoritative roles in conservative, American churches. There is no better representative, of teens to elderly, that is writing on this topic. This book has already begun to catalyze the paradigm shift I have been praying for in my church; praise Jesus! I hope you find it as useful to you.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Last Christian Generation, January 11, 2007
Very good book, full of statistics & good ideas on how to communicate with the younger generation.
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by Josh McDowell
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