The (Un)Offensive Gospel of Jesus

"Jeremy Bouma, in this salty book, may take your breath away at times but he's on a reflective, serious, and stubborn journey to find a way toward the gospel that is good news. Many of us are on that journey with him. There is a way to 'gospel' without being a jerk; Jeremy shows us a way." -SCOT McKNIGHT, from the Foreword


Who is the Jesus we're showing? What is the Story we're telling?


These honest questions sit at the heart of this punchy, provocative book. In his debut title, Jeremy seeks to drive a conversation in the Church about how we show Jesus and tell His hopeful Story. If Jesus and His Story are what people have been waiting for their whole lives, why are so many people leaving Him and avoiding His people? Jeremy helps us understand why this is happening and what Christians can do about it.


Newly revised and filled with discussion questions, the (un)offensive gospel of Jesus sketches a fresh portrait of God's magical, revolutionary Story of Rescue and the good Jesus found in the Holy Scriptures. Through his own experience in the Church, conversations with friends, and an honest look at theology and the Bible, Jeremy explores how Jesus and His gospel are good, sweet news for all the world. Most of all, he helps us understand why both are more hopeful than many of us realize.


ENDORSEMENTS:

"Jeremy is a deep thinker; he's courageous enough to challenge some popular evangelicals and emergents today. Yet, this is not a screed: Jeremy loves the Church and has a passion for the ostracized and he tells us in this book that grace grinding is the not the way of Jesus and it is not the gospel Jesus preached." -SCOT McKNIGHT, Professor, Northern Seminary; Author, The Jesus Creed and The King Jesus Gospel


"Jeremy had me at the title. With deep passion for the Church, a sharp awareness of the prevalent, hot, future-shaping emerging conversation, and the courage to slay a few sacred cows, he offers a compelling vision of Jesus and the Church's mission. Jeremy's debut book informs, disturbs, encourages, and challenges. Who is the Jesus we show to the world? What is the Story we tell? These two questions will never be the same for me." -JOHN W. FRYE, Pastor, Fellowship Covenant Church; Grand Rapids, MI; Author, Jesus the Pastor and Out of Print


"While recognizing our fallen world with failing followers of Jesus, Jeremy paints a brilliant, honest, passionate and redeeming picture of the Christ who heals, speaks with authority and still changes the impossible. As we step back and gaze at this amazing portrait of a liberating magnetic Jesus I find good news, an (un)offensive Jesus, to whom I have too often shamefully been offensive." -DOUG FAGERSTROM, Former President, Grand Rapids Theological Seminary