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…