I don’t know how much longer cultural Christianity will be a thing in America, my guess a lot longer than people realize but this book will be helpful to any Christian looking to learn how to share the gospel with, let’s face it, members of their Sunday School. After all the word Christian is the default for those who are not atheists but are not of another religion. I know in my own life I know cultural Christians and I know I used to be one. I don’t think I know of another book that looks at sharing the gospel with those who think they know and believe the gospel but this book is extremely timely. His profiles of each are succinct yet informative and he sums it all up in the appendix which in my opinion is worth the price of the book. Inserra dutifully makes profiles for all sorts of cultural Christian, from the Mainline Christian, the occasional mass attending Catholic, the moral theist, and more. Many churches think of Easter and Christmas as times to invite the lost and unreached, those that have never been to church before, but Inserra notes that who you should really be aiming at is the person who only attends these two Sunday’s a year and believes themselves to be a Christian because let’s face it, our pews are full on these days and we know it is not with God haters but with those who think they are right with God because they believe in a version of God. One such group we in church leadership know well, those that only attend on Easter and Christmas. Inserra takes several groups of cultural Christians, before this book I considered cultural Christianity to be a monolithic group rather than several, and walks the reader through not only who they are and what makes particular groups “Cultural Christians” but also how to share the gospel with each group. Inserra defines cultural Christianity as “those who think they are fine with God because they have familiarity with Christian things.” (p.9) and describes the Jesus of cultural Christianity as “a type of historical imaginary friend with some magic powers for good luck and sentimentality.” (p.14). Are the people residing in your church Christian? If they are not, what are you doing to reach them for the gospel? These are the questions Dean Inserra looks to answer in his book The Unsaved Christian: Reaching Cultural Christianity With The Gospel. Inserra and I hail from the same region of Florida, he’s is the founding pastor of City Church in Tallahassee, and I’m from Panama City in both, you will find a myriad of churches, some healthy and others not, and you will also find cultural Christianity.
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