Dealing with Easy Believism

According to the work of many social scientists the modern church, including the Evangelical Church, is losing its influence in American society. At the same time it faces a flood of findings on its lack of effectiveness in making disciples. Yet things do not stop there. Most studies show the church is losing people-especially its youth while affecting a smaller percentage of the population. This has caused many to take a hard look at not only the focus but many of the processes of the modern church. For some time there have been many books written on how the church presents the Gospel. Time and time again "Easy Believism" has been the label placed on its typical method. Saying a prayer and "really meaning it" has not produced the results we see in Jesus followers throughout the New Testament. In "Dealing with Easy Believism," Jim Warren does not add to the theological works on the fallacies of this method. Here he takes them for granted. Having been focused on bringing people into a relationship with God, Jim understands how easy it is to get people to pray a prayer of salvation. Yet he also realizes the lack of fruit from this flawed process. Here he shares a process he has found successful in allowing God to draw people into a life of discipleship and authentic community. Jim has worked with others to develop systems that plant, cultivate and grow authentic communities of Jesus followers. He sees the modern church built on a process he calls a 20th century business model of organizational development. According to Warren that system implements, develops and increases organization. This, he proposes, replaces the authentic community found illustrated in the New Testament. He lays out his process in an earlier work, "An Introduction to Dynamic Community Development: A Process Developed to Cultivate Transformative Community through Discipleship & Outreach Based on Invested Ministry." One area Jim Warren speaks to in that volume is an introduction to American cultural barricades. It is his contention that these barricades hamper spiritual development. These stifle much of Christians' focus on being conformed to the image of Christ within the context of authentic community. In the preface to this book Warren writes, ." . . the most insidious of them all emanates from the church itself-Easy Believism." While a small book, we discover here important insights into the content of the gospel message. Jim sees the outcome of his process of presenting that message as creating disciples of Jesus. He sets this in juxtaposition to "getting people saved." "Dealing with Easy Believism" has only 33 pages of text in print form. Yet it presents an important message for all Christians who seek to encourage other people to establish an authentic relationship with God.