Radically Unchurched: Who They Are & How to Reach Them

by Alvin L. Reid

Unthinkable only decades ago, America is now raising up generations of people who are "radically unchurched"-those who have had little contact with a Christ-centered church and have no clear understanding of the gospel message. This state of affairs isn't likely to change unless Christians can communicate the significance of their message to a culture that regards the church as irrelevant and outmoded. Calling for a passionate overhaul of how Christians see and interact with individuals outside the church, Alvin Reid demonstrates a clear understanding of the distinction between the changeless basics of the faith and negotiable traditions, programs, and artifacts. He examines the causes behind the loss of America's Christian identity and the resulting failure of the American church to understand and utilize the New Testament pattern of penetrating an indifferent culture with the gospel. Reid offers proven strategies for touching people who desperately need to be confronted with life-changing Christianity.

Genres: Evangelism

224 pages, Paperback

First published November 30, 2002

About the author

DR. ALVIN L. REID, best known for his student-given nickname “Doc,” has been a professor for over 20 years, over 17 of them spent at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina.

He has written over a dozen books, most on subjects like evangelism, spiritual awakenings, missional Christianity, and student ministry, and has taught young leaders on four continents and on scores of college campuses from the University of North Carolina to Harvard.

Reviews

[Brian Reagan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reid, in Radically Unchurched: Who They Are & How to Reach Them, seeks to motivate clergy and laity to cast an apostolic vision for missions indigenously, and abroad, by breaking the mold of traditional church to reach a non-traditional culture. He does this by dividing the book into two parts identifying who the “radically unchurched” are, and how they can be reached for Christ.
Reid begins the text with a delightful pun on Huxley’s A Brave New World. The pun is purposeful since it prepares the reader for the presentation of the changed landscape that has happened in North American society. Reid defines his terms, leaving readers with a clarity of who the unchurched are, and demonstrating why traditional church cannot effectively engage the “radically unchurched.”
During the first half of the text Reid sets forth the purpose of postmodern evangelism, what the goals are, and how readers can participate in this new era. Reid attempts to involve readers in sharing a vision to bridge the gap between what was and what is, and what will probably be coming in the near future. He is very optimistic, but also balanced, about the situation of the American church and what it will take for Christian faith to be an effective part of the society and culture.
The second half of the text is beneficial for a variety of reasons. Reid, unlike many writing about postmodernism, is optimistic and practical. Radically Unchurched contains numerous ways for churches to change, and options from which most churches may choose. Reid, in the second half, makes it clear that he is not attempting to change to heart of Christian faith, but rather to open readers to the possibility of changing the cultural forms of the past to engage the present.
Reid also guides the reader through the changes in how personal evangelism ought to be conducted among postmoderns, as well as how to use worship and the arts to reach the unsaved. The purpose of these chapters is to aid those trained in modernistic methods to shift from propositional truth to relationally presented truth, and to do it through a variety of media. He concludes with a plea for the establishing of church plants that are non-traditional, and with a call for people to search what their passions are and if those passions are from God.

[Jeff Hoenshell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Motivational, inspirational, practical.
A bit out-dated, but very encouraging.