Maximum Gospel Impact: A Review of Radical Together by David Platt (Multnomah Books, 2011)

Radical Together by David Platt (Multnomah Books, 2011) is a stand-alone sequel to his first book Radical which created tidal waves with the call to each Christian to take back his or her faith from the American Dream. It met with mixed reaction from the Christian world. The sequel, Radical Together, shows how individuals can unite together as God intended them to do in order to create maximum gospel impact. This second book will likely meet the same reception from American Christianity. Those whom are comfortably chasing the American dream while reinventing the gospel to suit their individual situations will likely dislike this book as much as the first. Those whom understand that God’s mission is global in scope will welcome this book as a much needed revival wind. 

When I started the book, in all honesty, I did not expect much. Radical was awesome and I expected this to be more of the same information rehashed and repackaged in a new cover with a new target—focused on the group as opposed to the individual. I was wrong. David Platt immediately grabs the reader’s attention with his well written, easy to understand style and solid biblical exegesis. Once again he leads the open-minded person to wonder, “How did I miss that simple point in all the times I’ve read that passage.”  

Radical Together focuses more on the church as a group entity and brings to light many of the issues which cause us to stumble over our own feet and inadvertently prevent God’s people from accomplishing God’s purpose. Platt organizes the book around six of these premises. One of the worst enemies of Christians can be good things in the church. The gospel that saves us from work saves us to work. The Word does the work. Building the right church depends on using all the wrong people. We are living—and longing—for the end of the world. We are selfless followers of a self-centered God.

Throughout the book, the author takes each principle and expounds it with real life examples, colorful illustrations, and supporting Scripture references. The style is easy to read and understand yet at the same time somber and challenging. Each principle brings the reader face-to-face with a very real decision: Do I agree that the church belongs to Christ and exists for a global purpose? Or, will I continue to assert that the church belongs to us exists to serve me?

Radical Together is a must read that will challenge every Christian’s view of the church body in some form or another. Leaders will be forced to examine the direction they are taking the church body in which God has entrusted to their stewardship. Members will be forced to examine the idols of church life in which they hold dear and determine whether or not they will smash these idols in order to allow the church to focus on God’s plan.

The Future of American Christianity

The Next Christians: The Good News about the End of Christian America by Gabe Lyons (Doubleday, 2010) is a fresh look at an old problem. The author begins by recounting a time that he was embarrassed to call himself a Christian for a number of reasons. Based on his research, he learned that the overall perception of Christians was anything but positive: “judgmental, hypocritical, too political, antihomosexual, among other things” (4). Because of these findings, he began to ask questions addressing what roles should Christians play in society.

The role of Christianity holding a place of prominence in the Western culture was gone. The days of the religious right were fading. People no longer cared to hear a defense of Christianity. “They wanted something that could make sense out of their sordid lives” (18). Instead of being a major pillar in America, Christianity was fading to the background and religious pluralism moved to the forefront. The church took a backseat in American society and the author rightfully states, “If they were gone tomorrow, one can’t help wondering if anyone would notice” (25). 

The landscape of America had changed and Christians reacted in basically one of two ways- separate from the culture or assimilate into the culture- both of which are unbiblical. Those who separate spend their time only participating in “Christian” activities with other Christians, fight the culture, and evangelize simply to save people with no real concern for the person or their problems. Those who assimilate into the culture are those who blend in to the point where you cannot tell someone is a Christian even if they tell you they are one, and philanthropists who only focus on doing good work but place little to no focus on a relationship with Jesus. The closest either group comes to being biblical is that the first group mirrors the Pharisees while the latter represents the Sadducees (44-46). 

The Next Christians coming on the scene are the Restorers. They don’t separate from the world or blend in; they engage it. They are determined to tell, and live, the entire gospel from the Bible. Mr. Lyons contends that the gospel is made up of four parts: creation, fall, redemption, and restoration (51). Traditionally, Christians have focused on the fall and redemption while leaving off the rest of God’s story. The Next Christians are determined to relearn the whole story which includes the creation and restoration pieces. When these two pieces are added back into the story, the center of the gospel message is no longer me. The focus returns to God & what God is doing in the world, not what God is doing for you. 

Gabe Lyons applies this full gospel to the lives of the restorers throughout the book by example and illustration. He addresses true Christian living in regards to work, creation, relationships, community, and culture by showing the wrong ways separatists and blenders have handled these areas as well as a biblical approach to restore each area. The book is written in a very conversational tone and is easy to read and understand. It should be read with an open mind regarding how one can utilize these principles in their life to be the light of the world they were called to be. 

Anybody serious about living in a manner faithful to the true gospel should read this book. It will challenge many of those who tend to be more set in their ways but will surely resonate with a younger or more contemporary generation. Everyone who sets foot in a church each Sunday cannot help but know that something is not quite right. Gabe Lyons addresses exactly what this something is in The Next Christian.