This article is for everyone who has read (or is reading) my very old book with George Barna entitled Pagan Christianity.
Those of you who listen to my two podcasts – Christ is All and The Insurgence Podcast – and who are subscribed to my Thursday UNILTERED articles (all of which are free) may already know this information. But alas, many who get the book do not, so this short page is for them.
Here’s what you need to know.
*Pagan Christianity is not MY work. It’s a joint-authored project. George Barna is the co-author, which means his name is plastered all over this book like a teenager’s bedroom wall covered in band posters. He literally wrote some of the chapters. His name is on the cover in actual letters that form actual words, and it appears throughout the book more often than Taylor Swift writes breakup songs.
Yet somehow, when people discuss the book (all these years later), they perform a literary magic trick and make George disappear faster than a dad at a PTA meeting.
George is the co-author. He deserves credit. His contribution is both significant and appreciated. Any mention of the book’s title, therefore, should include his name also.
*Pagan Christianity is a VERY old book. It came out in 2008. I’ve written over 12 books since then, all of which are more important and specifically for the times in which we are living now (the Christian landscape was very different in 2008). You can see the newer titles in the image below.
*Pagan Christianity is NOT a stand-alone work. It’s only the deconstructive part of an argument. The constructive sequels are Reimagining Church, From Eternity to Here, and Finding Organic Church. Reading Pagan C. without those sequels is like hanging up the phone 15-minutes into a 1-hour conversation.
The result: massive misunderstanding. So if you resonate with Pagan Christianity at all, you have a sacred duty—like a literary pinky promise with the universe—to actually understand what we’re saying.
You owe it to yourself, to basic human decency, and to those poor sequels to comprehend our full argument. This means reading with both eyes open and your brain switched to the “on” position, not just skimming while binge-watching Netflix.
When people skip this crucial step of, you know — reading the entire ReChurch Series (as I call it) — they end up misrepresenting our work like a game of telephone played by people who weren’t really listening in the first place.
*Unlike the books on the image above, Pagan Christianity (as well as Reimagining Church and Finding Organic Church), was NEVER written for all Christians. They were written to a VERY narrow audience. Namely, Christians who left the organized church, but still love Jesus and are interested in meeting organically (not a “house” church, but an “organic expression of the church,” which is different).
That audience was large in 2008 and 2009 when those books released, especially among Christians in their 20s, 30s, and early 40s. Today, that audience is a extremely small, smaller than people addicted to elevator music.
*Unlike my newer books, Pagan Christianity (as well as Reimagining Church and Finding Organic Church), was NEVER written to or for pastors. Nor was it written for Christians who enjoy Sunday morning church services. To give those books to that audience is like giving a book on vegan recipes to a meat eater. It’s the wrong audience. And that audience will (and has) completely missed the arguments.
By contrast, my books depicted in the images above are for ALL Christians in ALL church forms. They are better, more current to the times, yet they carry the same non-traditional, revolutionary “punch” as the older books on ecclesiology do.
*Throughout the years, George Barna and I have received various questions (and some pushback) on our book. While the book is out of date as interest in alternative ecclesiology has waned dramatically, we still stand by every word. Also, you’ll be happy to know (or maybe not) that we have answered ALL of those questions since the book released over 15 years ago—multiple times, in excruciating detail, with the patience of kindergarten teachers explaining why we don’t eat glue. Just go to the Pagan Christianity Q & A page and you’ll see the questions and our answers there.
*I don’t do Zoom calls or join book review groups on any of my old books. I do, however, regularly do interviews for podcasts and radio shows for my newer books (those released since 2018). Especially the newest, The Untold Story of the New Testament Church: Revised and Expanded (2025). Leonard Sweet, my co-author of the Jesus Trilogy, calls this one my “masterpiece.”
It released in 2025. The book uniquely unlocks the New Testament letters — all 21 of them. Consequently, it’s been endorsed by 20 high-voltage scholars across denominations, some of the greatest in the world.
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Your brother in the costly, but glorious quest,
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Psalm 115:1
