Vanishing Grace Summary

In the book, Vanishing Grace, Phillip Yancey seeks to explore and understand what has caused a dramatic plunge in the favorable impression of Christianity. He seeks to understand why Christians stir up such hostile feelings, and what, if anything, we should do about it. Yancey’s thesis is that hostile feelings, and a plunge in general perceptions and attitudes about Christian stems from a lack of grace. Yancey decided to write this book after viewing survey results from George Barna. As he states, “A few telling statistics jumped off the page. In 1996, 85 percent of Americans who had no religious commitment still viewed Christianity favorably. Thirteen years later, in 2009, only 16 percent of young ‘outsiders’ had a favorable impression of Christianity, and just 3 percent had a good impression of evangelicals.” Throughout the book, Yancey uses interactions with a book club that he belongs to in Colorado. The members of the club are a potpourri of religious and social

views from a highly educated group of people.
Yancey uses his interactions and research to determin that nonbelievers tend to regard evangelicals as “moral police determined to impose their notion of right behavior on others. To them, Christians are anti-abortion, anti-gay, anti-women - probably anti-sex for that matter - and most of them homeschool their children to avoid defilement.” The challenge presented in the book is really how to keep people from running from the faith. If the good news is really good news, why are we so negative about it? Why do people see Christians more for what they’re against rather than what we are for? The issue is not whether we agree or disagree with someone, but how we treat that person when we disagree with them. Yancey states, “We Christians are called to use the ‘weapons of grace,’ which means treating even our opponents with love and respect.” Throughout the book, Yancey gives examples of how we are not doing this. Sure, Christians serve the poor, we help the homeless, care for orphans and widows, but do we really love those that see things differently? Yancey claims we are often seen more as “guilt dispensers rather than grace dispensers.” He poses the question, “Can the good news, once spoiled, sound good again?”
Yancey spends the rest of the book giving practical ways we can be dispensers of grace including suggestions on being an activist, a pilgrim, and an artist. He supports the argument that the gospel really is good news by answering some of life’s tough questions, and finally closes with some suggestions for Christians regarding their involvement in politics.
Evaluation of the Thesis and Means of Presentation
In my evaluation of Yancey’s thesis, being that there is a dramatic plunge in the impression of Christianity and that our lack of grace is the cause, I, on the surface, tend to agree. I agree with his claim primarily because I grew up in an almost identical environment as Yancey (I even grew up in Colorado). Growing up, we were weird and legalistic. We were sound fundamentalist of the faith. Though I wasn’t homeschooled, many of my friends were. We didn’t associate with non-Christians because we didn’t want the negative influence on our lives. Our parents were scared to death that we might not turn out strait and narrow. My father pastored a church that was very much like a “private club that values outsiders mainly as potential members.” We didn’t value people, and as a result, certainly didn’t value grace. I wasn’t allowed to work on Sunday, so my co-workers at the restaurant I worked in growing up would have to pick up the slack when I wasn’t there. I have no clue how that is remotely a good representation of Jesus. We all had an air of smugness, and not only always said the right thing, we hid our secret hurts, ungodly desires, and sins from everyone. In fact, even if one were brave enough to admit they needed help, it was most often in the form of asking for prayer for an “unspoken prayer request.” If your life wasn’t perfect, you couldn’t admit it because it was shameful. We were so short of grace we could barely define the word. As a result, I do believe with Yancey that we turned culture away from desiring a life that follows Jesus.
I also agree one of the core problems is we do not communicate love.

Yancey even quotes that when he asks people to, “Tell me the first word that comes to your mind when I say Christian, not one time has someone suggested the word love.” He goes on by saying, “The more unlikely people we love, the more we resemble God - who, after all, loves ornery creatures like us. I’ve yet to meet someone who found their way to faith by being criticized.” I also, have never met someone who found their way to faith by being criticized. Our little church, like most around it, didn’t grow much at all. When we did grow, it was because another church had a split or some sort of disagreement, and we inherited several of their disgruntled members. It wasn’t because we were friends of sinners showing the love and grace of the good news to them. In fact, after a handful of years, our small church also experienced a split over some weird regulation. A few months later, we closed our doors. Not a great resemblance of

grace.
Having agreed with Yancey so far, I do not think all is gloom and doom. An article published in Christianity Today indicates that church attendance has remained stable since the 1990s. Having myself visited nearly 100 churches in the past decade, I can attest that there are growing and healthy churches in the US. One thing in common at all of these growing and healthy churches is they see themselves as a “hospital for sinners and not a museum for saints.” I had the privilege of attending Saddleback Church for six years in the early 2000s and can attest that its growth and the impact of reaching people for Jesus, is a direct result of the grace and love they show. Each week, Saddleback Church has more than 8,200 small groups with over 40,000 people attending. These groups are places where you can be real and genuine. There are more than 500 ministries at Saddleback, most of which meet the needs of people who share similar needs and hurts. When Yancey talks about grace dispensers, these small groups and ministries come to mind. There is a massive outcry from people for love and acceptance and the good news is love. “Followers of Jesus have no claim on moral superiority; to the contrary, we come to God out of need and must constantly cry out for help.”
As I evaluate Yancey’s solutions; pilgrims, activists and artists, I also find myself liking his suggested approach. He states he has, “Found the uncommitted respond best to someone who leads from weakness rather than one who appears to have it all together.” We are all pilgrims on a journey. None of us have it completely together and we shouldn’t try to represent that we do. Yancey states the following principle after evaluating scripture and the Christians he knows. The principle being, “God uses the talent pool available. None lived without sin and embarrassing failures. Yet somehow God used them to advance the cause of the kingdom. The burden of the kingdom of God rests on the backs of ordinary pilgrims, not angels or spiritual giants.”
When it comes to being an activist, Yancey says that far too often Christians focus on caring for “those who believe like we believe.” I couldn’t agree more and have seen this firsthand. Fourteen years ago, our family started a non-profit to care for children orphaned by HIV/AIDS. Throughout this time, we’ve been able to pour into a small village in the Southern Province of Zambia. We’ve been able to help build hospitals, drill dozens of wells, and have had the privilege of starting a school that now houses over 500 students. Over the years I’ve traveled to Africa with some unlikely travelers. I’ve been there four times with my gay friend, twice with an atheist donor, and many times with good meaning Christians who always seem to want to enter into a political debate. I’ve found the hundreds of children I’ve met like a boy named Pathius who lost his father to AIDS and has never owned his own pair of shoes, don’t care what we believe about the politics of AIDS. Pathius cares that we care. In fourteen years of doing this, I cannot recall a single criticism from the secular world. Contrarily, I could plaster the walls of several churches with criticisms I’ve heard from the Christian community. I remember a time when my son was fifteen and had spoken at a Christian conference sharing about his work in helping AIDS orphans. A well intentioned lady pulled me aside and scolded me for allowing him to wear a shirt on stage with a logo from a popular teen store. She heard nothing of his message because she cared so much about what he was wearing. We absolutely must stand up for what’s right regardless of which political party supports or challenges our views. We need to stand up for what’s right regardless of what non-Christian company clothes we wear. Then, and only then, will we be activists that show grace and ultimately share the good news of the gospel. I cannot tell you how many times my non believing friends at work asked me why our family did what we do. Action is a much greater testimony to the gospel.
Yancey’s presentation of dispensing grace by being an artist also resonates with me. I am not an artist but I live with one. Many nights when I came home from work, I was greeted with a chalk mural on my driveway from my daughter. I could stand for hours and look at the detail she included in her drawings. This detail gave me insight into her mind and her heart. And, certainly, God has given us a glimpse into his heart with the art he has left behind. It doesn’t take more than one African sunset, Colorado snowfall, or a quick snorkel in the pacific to see his artistry and love for us. My daughter graduates college in two months with a degree in graphic design and video animation. The work she does to show the love of God and the good news of the gospel is unbelievable.
Yancey’s presentation gives a decent response to the tough questions in life, however for a more detailed description, there certainly are better books on these topics. I’m not being critical however, as I don’t think Yancey set out to answer all of life’s tough questions. I do like the way he integrates grace into the conversation. He states, “In a world of seven billion people we all want to somehow stand out, to make a mark, to achieve something of worth - and our culture dangles before us the ideals of beauty, wealth and power. Christians often follow the same path, creating our own version of culture based on celebrity and entertainment.”
As for social questions, Yancey states that the “Church has sat on the sidelines of movements that addressed important causes.” He states we have not spoken with a credible voice, and rather than say things about poverty, racism, war, consumerism, immigration, the treatment of women and the environment, we instead focused on lifestyle issues. This leads to the “God-talk” in politics, which as Yancey points out, is a recent phenomenon. I agree with Yancey that Christians and politics are indeed, uneasy partners. God ordained government and presents it as necessary but certainly no sponsor or friend to faith.

Personal and Ministerial Application
In summary, I think Yancey did a great job presenting his case for vanishing grace. Personally, I thank God daily that he freed me and freed my family from the bonds and graceless world of legalism. I want to continue to model grace in a harsh and graceless world. The application I will take away is that I will continue to be an activist and a voice for the voiceless. I will continue to support other means of showing God’s grace, including supporting the arts and supporting people to whom God has graciously given artistic talent. I will be involved in politics, but I cannot hide behind an online presence and spew my views. I will graciously seek only God’s approval, will be vulnerable and open with those close to me, and show grace and share the good news.
As for a ministerial application, this book solidifies my calling. I enrolled in DTS a few years ago as I thought God might be calling me into ministry. I’ve realized through this and other courses, that God already has me in ministry. I’m on the cultural front lines today. I work for a secular company. We support every cultural issue known in the modern world. People expect Pastors and other church employees to act a certain way, but they don’t expect ordinary business people like myself to show grace. When I do, it opens the door to share. I’ve learned that I am a pastor today. I get to pastor the people God has entrusted to my care at the office. So, my work is my ministry, and the application I’ll take from this book is to continue to show grace to those around me. I will be vulnerable, non-judgmental, caring and gracious to a graceless world. If as Yancey says, we are all searching for significance, why can’t I be a light that helps show the way to significance?