My alma mater will be featuring me and my recently written book, “the (un)offensive gospel of Jesus,” next week for an alumni spotlight. I thought I would publish the information here, too, to give you a glimpse into the thrust of my little writing project.

Enjoy!

-jeremy

ALUMNUS AUTHORS “(UN)OFFENSIVE” BOOK

by Cheryl (Warren) Brugel ‘90

May 4, 2009

“I love people, and I love the church. I believe the church through Christ is the hope for the world.”

These words, spoken by Jeremy Bouma ’02, sum up well his passion and life since his days on Cedarville’s campus. A political science major, Bouma’s goal was to prepare himself to engage the culture with the truths of Scripture. He felt that government would be a great place to do this and ultimately hoped to be on the “front lines of cultural engagement” through writing and speaking opportunities.

After graduating, Bouma packed up everything and moved to Washington, D.C. — without a job! “Intuitively, I knew God was taking me to D.C.,” he said, “and to Capitol Hill in particular.” He spent the next year working for Senator Mike DeWine from Ohio. He then worked three years for the Center for Christian Statesmanship, an organization that reaches government workers with the Gospel. While there, God used him to help a Senate staffer “re-find Christ” and lead an agnostic staffer to find hope again in the church.

Refocusing a Calling

Although Bouma had many incredible experiences in Washington, God used this time to open his heart to full-time ministry. Sensing God leading him “back home” to Michigan, Bouma left Washington in 2006 to attend Grand Rapids Theological Seminary. He is currently earning his Master of Divinity with an emphasis in church planting and beginning a Master of Theology in historical theology — all while helping to pastor a small church in the area.

While God may have changed Bouma’s location and type of ministry, He has not changed Bouma’s passion. If anything, Bouma’s desire to engage culture with the story of Christ has only strengthened his focus since attending seminary.

“While on Capitol Hill, I discipled people and found myself having spiritual conversations in order to connect their stories to the Jesus story,” he shared. “Now I am preparing to do it for a living through seminary, learning how to pastor a church and dreaming of ways to engage my postmodern, post-Christian world with the teachings of Jesus, in both conventional and alternative ways.”

(Re)Telling the Jesus Story

Most recently, Bouma had the opportunity to write a book titled The (Un)Offensive Gospel of Jesus. Writing a book while pastoring a church and attending seminary may seem a little daunting. But for Bouma, the process has further clarified his mission of helping the church accurately and lovingly tell Jesus’ story of rescue. “After returning to Michigan, I was amazed to see the amount of cultural and ecclesiastical transformation within my generation,” he said. “I began to examine the ways in which the church shows Jesus and tells His story.”

And he struggled with what he saw. The Jesus he saw portrayed mostly ranged from a “white, middle-class Republican who’s only concerned with blessing” people to a Jesus not concerned with daily happenings but only with getting people saved from hell. He saw many young people offended by what they heard and saw, which led them to turn their backs on Christ and the church completely.

Bouma began asking himself, “Where is the Jesus of the Bible?” In his book, he sets out to accurately portray the biblical Jesus and gives insight on how the church can better share the story of Jesus to a postmodern world.

As the title suggests, the book seeks to debunk the notion that Jesus and His story will never offend unbelievers. Bouma writes, “Lest you think that my use of (un)offensive means undemanding, think again. While I do not believe the heart of Jesus and substance of His story is offensive, I do not mean His demands will not irritate our modern sensibilities.” He further explains, “The Gospel of Jesus, then, is both (un)offensive and offensive. Jesus’ good news of rescue and re-creation is not inherently offensive, yet people can still react in offense at its demands.”

What Bouma does see as offensive is the way the church often shares Jesus’ story. “I feel that the way the church tells God’s story of rescue is incredibly problematic,” he said. “We start in the wrong part of the story.” He explains in his book that too often Christians begin sharing the Gospel “in the middle of the story, either with sin or heaven/hell.” He believes it is more accurate to begin God’s story with creation and who we were intended to be at the beginning. He takes the reader through the biblical story of creation, rebellion, rescue, and re-creation — using each to explain how to better share God’s story with a lost and dying world. For Bouma, “this is a better, complete, more biblical way of telling God’s story of rescue than the ones typically told.” He also feels it better addresses a new generation embracing postmodern ideals.

Reaching a Generation

A key element of his book is explaining the postmodern movement, especially in relation to how it affects the church and its mission. He writes, “Before the church considers how to retell God’s […] story, it is essential that we first understand the context in which we are telling that story.” He then devotes a chapter to postmodernism, breaking it down into easy-to-understand themes that can then help the church understand the world.

Bouma ends his book by encouraging believers to follow Christ. He explains that Jesus’ first words to the disciples were “Come, follow me,” not just “obey me” or “believe me.” Bouma writes, “No longer were they [the disciples] to be who they were before that calling. Instead, they would be a different people, called to a different mission.” Bouma calls the church to do the same: “[We need to] leave our former identities and both follow after Jesus and engage in His mission.” In so doing, Bouma believes we will better engage our culture with the love of Christ and reach a dying world with the good news of God’s story.

Since publishing his book, Bouma has been encouraged by the response. “I’ve learned that an atheist friend of a friend is inching toward a relationship with Jesus because of the Person and story she encountered in the book,” he said. “Hearing that made my day, because ultimately that is what it’s all about: people encountering the loving, gentle, caring Jesus and connecting to His hopeful, (un)offensive Gospel story of rescue.”

Bouma trusts that his book will be just the beginning of his work to bring lost people and the church together by teaching the church how to best share God’s hopeful story of redemption.

Popularity: 5% [?]

So apparently there are more people interested in my book than I thought The GREAT GIVEAWAY is over. I hope those who were able to get free copies are inspired by the Jesus and Story I try to paint in those pages. Enjoy!

I have been pleased with my initial ’sales’ and reception of my book “the (un)offensive gospel of Jesus” after its release last October (watch some vids and read about the book and an excerpt ). I am excited that people are ‘getting it,’ both young and old, conservative and progressive, and are reconsidering how they show Jesus and tell His amazing, hopeful Story. I’ve recuperated my initial investment and then some, so I thought I’d do something fun to celebrate

I have a few extra cases in my basement and want to get the books out into peoples hands. This is where you come in.

I want to give you and a friend a free copy. I even want to pay for the shipping! All I ask is two things: 1) Read it and write a review on amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com. It can be 3-4 sentences or 3-4 paragraphs, 2 stars or 5, doesn’t matter to me; 2) Give the second copy away to someone you know.

If you want to partake in the goods email your name and address to: jeremy [at] novuslumen.net or leave a comment here. I have 32 slots (64 books total) to fill so act fast!

Enjoy!

-jeremy

Popularity: 3% [?]

I posted another video for my upcoming book, “the (un)offensive gospel of Jesus.”

It is a reading of one of my favorite sections from a chapter entitled, “our creation.” In this chapter I contend that the way we tell God’s Story of Rescue begins in entirely the wrong place: we begin either with sin or with heaven. I (and others) believe God’s Story begins at creation and our collective human story doesn’t being with sin but with the reality that we are beings crafted after the Image and Likeness of God. Yes we do rebel and are broken/cracked because of rebellion, but we are not fundamentally sinful. Instead, we are fundamentally Image Bearers of God.

Enjoy the video and dont forget to join my Facebook Group!

Popularity: 2% [?]

Late last year I began a (unfinished) series of blog posts on “the unoffensive gospel of Jesus.” The idea was to counter the crazy notion that “the gospel is offensive,” something I’ve heard far too often from Christians. So a few months ago I thought I would turn it into a book! I took this (un)offensive gospel motif and combined it with a phrase I began to develop late last year: “we are responsible for the Jesus we show and the Jesus they see; we are responsible for the story we tell and the story they hear.”

Here is the description of the book from the back cover: “Contrary to the popular Christian notion that “the gospel is offensive,” this book contends that Jesus and His message is inherently inspiring, reasurring and good, drawing those who needed restoration and rescue, while disturbing the power brokers both in Jerusalem and Rome. Based on several blog posts, experiences in the Western Church, studies in the Gospels and theology, conversations and friendships, and the joy of personally following Jesus, Jeremy A. Bouma explores the person and message of Jesus and helps us understand why both are more hopeful than many of us think.”

Here are the 11 chapters:

1. introduction

PART 1: Jesus-Show

2. the (un)offensive Jesus

3. the Jesus we show; the Jesus they see

4. showing Jesus well

PART 2: Story-Tell

5. a story among stories

6. the Story we tell; they Story they hear

7. our creation

8. our rebellion

9. our rescue

10. our re-creation

11. the (un)offensive gospel of Jesus

The idea is to help Christians understand how we are showing Jesus and telling his hopeful message poorly, while offering a better way of showing Jesus and telling His hopeful message. It also hope it encourages de-Churched and un-Churched people to rethink Jesus and his Story, a Jesus and Story this is inherently (un)offensive.

So far I’ve written over 45,000 words and 192 pages. I probably have another 30 pages to go. I’m on track to finish it in 3 weeks and send it off to 4 of my friends for edits. At the end of September I’ll finalize the book and send it off to the printer. By mid-October it should be available at amazon.com and the book website, www.unoffensivegospel.com.

I’m not expecting to be the next “Shack” by any means. I’ve always wanted to be published, so this is fulfilling a personal goal. Besides the goal fulfillment I do hope it provokes people to think about how we Christians are showing Jesus and telling His story, and also provide a more hopeful portrait of both for those not connected to Jesus or His story. We’ll see how it goes…

Popularity: 2% [?]