NASHVILLE, TN--(Marketwire - August 2, 2010) - Reverend Adam Hamilton, in his new book When Christians Get It Wrong, says some Christians have become too judgmental and hypocritical when it comes to their faith and controversial issues like abortion, evolution and homosexuality. Hamilton says those attitudes are turning off young people and turning them away from Christianity.
Rev. Hamilton is a nationally recognized speaker, commentator, author and founding pastor of the 17,000 member United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Kansas.
Hamilton says "Christians Get It Wrong" when they:
- see science as a threat to faith or when they try to make a Bible a scientific textbook
- speak in ways that bring harm and alienation to homosexuals
- attribute tragedy to the will, plan, and hand of God
- blame victims as the cause of their suffering
- share their faith in ways that are arrogant, disrespectful, hurtful, or insulting
In When Christians Get It Wrong, mega-church pastor Adam Hamilton offers a hopeful vision of what Christian faith can be when it is lived out according to the teachings and spirit of Jesus. Hamilton offers encouragement that following Jesus can be less about judging people and bitter arguing and more about opening doors, serving people and living joyfully. When Christians Get It Wrong is based on interviews and correspondence with dozens of young adults who are spiritually active and aware, yet who have been disenfranchised by institutional Christianity.
Hamilton says, "The problem comes when Christians share their faith in ways that are arrogant, disrespectful, hurtful, insulting or insensitive... It is my hope that the book might chart a path for Christians in how we can get it right. Churches that get it wrong may lose an entire generation of young adults -- the future of the church."
About Adam Hamilton
Adam Hamilton is pastor of the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas. The church has grown from four people in 1990 to over 17,000 adult members in 2010. The church was listed as the most influential mainline church in America in a 2005 survey of American pastors. Hamilton was featured and interviewed on CNN's The Lou Dobbs Show and in such publications as Newsweek, Publishers Weekly, and Church Executive. He was the recipient of the 2010 Perkins Distinguished Alumnus Award.
About Abingdon Press
Abingdon Press is the publishing imprint for The United Methodist Publishing House. Abingdon Press has a distinguished record in religious publishing for a broad ecumenical audience and specializes in products for church leaders, as well as scholars and students engaged in theological education and the practice of ministry. Abingdon Press offers a wide array of quality academic, professional, reference, and devotional titles published each year.
