National Youth Young Adults Ministry

The Barbarian Way

The Barbarian Way: Unleash the untamed faith within
by Erwin Raphael McManus

"... call to revolution against ‘civilized' Christianity" - Marketplace

Erwin Raphael McManus wasn't raised in the Christian faith, so when he came to Christ as a college student, he didn't know the rules of the "religious club." All he knew was that something had been set on fire deep within his soul, a passion that longed to be unleashed. Since that day, he has not followed the road most traveled by many contemporary churchgoers. He has chosen the other-the less civilized one-following the path of Jesus in a passionate journey full of mystery, danger, and untamed faith.

In The Barbarian Way, McManus calls you to return to the ancient, primal and dangerous faith of Jesus and His early disciples. Let go of a sanitized Christianity and get back to the powerful, raw and ancient faith that chooses revolution over compromise, peril over safety, and passion over lukewarm and watered-down religion.

Christ's passion drove Him to the cross; the cross of Christ drives you to His passion. Take up the challenge of the "barbarian way," and your life will never be the same.

"A world without God cannot wait for us to choose the safe path...If Jesus would not avoid the place of the skull, then we should not be surprised where He might lead us." So cries McManus' voice in the wilderness of a Christianity he says has become far too civilized, calling us to repent of our pharisaical religion and be as revolutionary as the early disciples were.

Taking John the Baptist as the poster child for radical Christianity, the author says, "Discipleship has become the mechanism for uniformity rather than uniqueness. Yet if we learn anything about God through John, it is that God has no problem with spiritual eccentrics...his intent is never to domesticate us, but to liberate us." He says we as Christians are called to be passionate risk-takers, a far cry from the polite pew-sitters that populate most churches.

Filled not with rebellious ramblings but with the deepest love and respect for God, his Word, his Church, and those who are fully committed to following Him, McManus's book is none the less a call to revolution against "civilized" Christianity and a quiet but sincere manifesto for a Spirit-led uprising of radical Christ-followership. Read it, and let the revolution begin. (Gary Hassig)

Source: http://erwinmcmanus.com/barbarianway

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