When you finish a book, summarize the ideas that were significant to you in the last section you read.
What will Christianity look like in the future, given the growing church in South America, Africa, and Asia? That is the question Phillip Jenkins addresses in the last few chaptesr of The Next Christendom. The answer is that it will look much more like the church of the first few centuries than the Western church does today. It will have a greater understanding of supernatural forces. It will have a far greater understanding of the power of God in the church than we in the American church have. It will be more energetic in taking the gospel to the yet unreached than the Western church is today. For me that is encouraging.
On the downside, there will likely be tensions between the Western church and the Southern churches. Southern churches are far more conservative than their mother churches in the West. Already division are showing over issues of morality. Southern churches reflect far more closely the morality of the New Testament. Western churches have compromised with the world. That renewal of biblical morality is refreshing to me, but it will come at a price. It will also probably run into conflict with the other major religions, Islam and Hinduism. That is most likely to happen when there are already political tensions among nations with majority religious populations in power. That is concerning to me.
Conclude by making a personal recommendation. Is this a book you'd recommend to other readers. If so, why? If not, why?
The Next Christendom is not an easy read. Is is chock full of facts and statistics and notes. It is not casual reading. But for someone really interested in the church - past, present and future - it is a worthwhile read. I recommend it to pastors and Christians with an interest in history. I don't think many high school students would enjoy it or even complete the reading.
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