Disappearing Church

Introduction: Dark Clouds—or Glorious Sun? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Part One

Understanding Our Craving for Cultural Relevance

1. Our Current Post-Christianity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

2. The History of “Relevant” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

3. How Much More Relevant Can We Get? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

4. The Gospel of Self (Gnosticism) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Part Two

Learning Gospel Resilience

5. An Exciting Opportunity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

6. Reject the Implicit Prosperity Gospel. We Are Slaves,

not Seekers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

7. Stop Catering to “Public” Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

8. Don’t Offer Everything. Deliver Truth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

9. Re-create the Institution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

10. Withdraw/Return . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Conclusion: Going Beyond the Culture of the Ghost . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176