Editing Jesus: Confronting the Distorted Faith of the American Church

We need Jesus. The whole Jesus.

The American church is in decline. Secularism is fast gaining traction in culture. Ministry leaders and Christians who love the church are rightly concerned about this momentum. We’re scrambling to find solutions.

Longtime Christian journalist, researcher, and ministry leader Rick Lawrence believes that the driving force propelling the church into irrelevance is its propensity reduce Jesus. Deeply researched and comprehensively sourced, Editing Jesus, explores the 8 ways the Jesus of the contemporary church has been edited to fit the spirit of the age. Lawrence writes on:

The Co-Mingling of Kingdoms

The Marginalization of the Poor

The Golden-Calfing of Materialism

The Dismissing of the Supernatural

The Siren-Song of Platforming

The De-Prioritizing of Justice . . . and more

This book is for every person who loves Jesus and His church--who longs to see the real Jesus worshiped and exalted. And it’s for every person who wonders how the wheels came off Western Christianity and harbors a hunger that goes unmet in the church. When we discover and return to the unedited Jesus, it’s impossible to remain unchanged.

The church begins and ends with Jesus. The whole Jesus.

RICK LAWRENCE is Executive Director of Vibrant Faith, a ministry resourcing, training, coaching, and research organization. He’s an award-winning author, journalist, cultural researcher, editor, and national speaker. For many years he led Group Publishing’s Youth Ministry Resourcing Team, and helped launch its ＂Jesus-Centered＂ line of adult resources. He also leads a ＂home church＂ for young people: Pursuing the Heart of Jesus, Not His Recipes. He’s the general editor of the bestselling Jesus-Centered Bible, and author of many books, including The Suicide Solution, The Jesus-Centered Daily, and The Jesus-Centered Life. He’s host of the popular podcast Paying Ridiculous Attention to Jesus. He’s married to Beverly Rose and has two young-adult daughters, Lucy and Emma.