“Letters to young evangelicals” is a Christian book that Tony Campolo has written. Tony Campolo is an American sociologist, a prolific author and a renowned public speaker across the globe. He was born in 1935 in Philadelphia, United States of America. He has written other popular and top-selling Christian books including “Red-letter Christians”, “Red Letter Revolution”, “You can make it” among others. The book “Letters to young Evangelicals” is among his best publications. In the book, he begins by explaining the importance of evangelical letters, thus providing a motivation to go on and read the book. As an overview, the book deals with fundamental Christian topics including controversial ones like homosexuality. The major topics in the book are: becoming an actualized Christian, witnessing, How to witness, Fundamentalism and Abortion.
In the letters, Campolo gives counsel to two fictional evangelicals, Timothy and Junnia. In the book, he emphasizes the equality of men and women in church leadership. He addresses the letters to Junnia encouraging her to go in line with the Pauline theme. Just as Paul gave advice to his protégé Timothy, through epistles, Campolo does the same to the contemporary Christians. The letters are aimed at keeping the young in faith strong and also reinforcing the faith of the older ones.
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"Letters to Young Evangelicals".
In his book, he refers to reformation based Christians as Evangelicals. The kind of worship (evangelical) and enthusiasm has triggered shifts and many denominations of the mainstream churches. In his view, the splits are as a result of Pentecostal explosion and misunderstanding. As a political enthusiast, he campaigns against it since it brings about a disruption of peace.
He cautions against being partisan in Christians. In his book, Campolo comes out clear that Christianity is not biased. He is of the opinion that Christians should not be biased at all and should be in the front line to fight this vice. He even goes on to call himself a Red Letter Christian implying that he is not biased. According to Campolo red letter Christianity is about being firm in shunning injustice, identifying with the poor and being compassionate just like Jesus was.
In dealing with abortion, his opinion is very clear and point blank that tenderness and mercy should be employed when considering this controversial issue. It is seen as a wise advice since Tony does not compel the readers to make any decision. Instead, he explains both the merits and demerits of the act then leaves the society to make a decision. On this end, it’s easily noted that there are social and liberal coexistence in his thinking and application of Biblical truth.
In the later chapters of his book, Campolo explains that there are several essential means by which evangelical will fully develop in a young Christian. He highlights prayer, reading the Bible and being engaged in support groups as the pillars to maturity in Christianity. According to Campolo, prayer is merely talking with God but ensuring spending quality time with Him in the absence of any disturbances. He encourages young and even older Christians to meditate on the scriptures so as to understand God`s intended meaning. Additionally, a support group is of the essence since it keeps one in check thus in line with the required morals. He goes on further to explain that with a support group, one should not return to the former ways owing to the sense of identity that comes with support groups.
In the book, Campolo contrasts fundamentalism and evangelism. In an attempt to convey his message, Campolo uses a series of rhetorical questions. The bottom line is one evaluating and determining whether it can be helpful to use God`s given talent. The challenges that he describes are real. Reasoning from his perspective one feels a heartfelt compelling to follow his described steps to Christianity.
Indeed, the book is recommendable to young Christians as they make steps towards maturity. Also, those who are older in faith cannot lack a quite a number of things to learn this makes it an overall Christian book. It is evident that with one following the teachings of the book the path from a young evangelical to an older one becomes shorter.
