Excerpt:

No Perfect People Allowed

Copyright © 2005 by John Burke

Requests for information should be addressed to:

Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Burke, John, 1963–

No perfect people allowed : creating a come-as-you-are culture in the church / John Burke.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Summary: “Discusses ways church leaders and congregations can reach out to and connect

with postmodern, post-Christian society”— Provided by publisher.

ISBN-10: 0-310-25655-0

ISBN-13: 978-0-310-25655-7

1. Pastoral theology. 2. Postmodernism—Religious aspects—Christianity. I. Title.

BV4011.3.B87 2005

253—dc22 2005000359

This edition printed on acid-free paper.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible: New International

Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of

Zondervan. All rights reserved.

The quotations from the writings and interviews with Mark Laaser are used with his permission.

The Twelve Steps are reprinted with permission of Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. (AAWS).

Permission to reprint the Twelve Steps does not mean that AAWS has reviewed or approved the contents

of this publication or that AAWS necessarily agrees with the views expressed herein. AA is a program

of recovery from alcoholism only—use of the Twelve Steps in connection with programs and

activities that are patterned after AA but address other problems, or in any other non-AA context,

does not imply otherwise. Additionally, while AA is a spiritual program, AA is not a religious program.

Thus, AA is not affiliated or allied with any sect, denomination, or specific religious belief.

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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or

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Interior design by Tracey Walker

Printed in the United States of America

05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 /?DCI/ 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Artist: Patrick Shinn

All artwork has been contributed by artists at Gateway Community Church.

INTRODUCTION: GOD’S STORY IN OUR STORIES

People ask me how long it took to write this book. The truth is—about

fifteen years.

I left the business world for campus ministry fifteen years ago

because I wanted to help my generation find authentic faith like I was beginning

to experience. The first seven years of ministry to America’s first postmodern*

generation were discouraging—I almost lost hope. Since then,

God has turned my philosophy of church and ministry upside down. I now

believe that only a church full of imperfect people, acting as his Body, can

bring the hope and healing needed to change our postmodern world for the

better—one life at a time. That’s why I’ve written this book, because I see

God powerfully at work in our generation.

A year ago I attended a conference about ministry in a postmodern

context. I found myself terribly discouraged and bothered—and tired of

modern-church deconstruction! For the past six years, I’ve read numerous

books, attended conferences, and surfed the blogs about the emerging

trends of new generations and their new ways of thinking.We have deconstructed

everything, identified all the problems with the current church,

and proclaimed what we knew would not work.We’ve read statisticians like

Barna, Gallup, and Regele warn of the impending doom for our generation

and the church in America.

What disturbs me is the absence of a path forward. We don’t need

more deconstruction, more theories, and more statistics" rather, we need

tangible evidence that God is still doing what God has always done in every

generation, constructing his church out of the most hopeless situation. It’s

not tearing-down time anymore—it’s construction time!

At the conference that day, I ran into Jack

Kuhatschek from Zondervan, whom I had met

years earlier. He listened as I shared stories of the

amazing things we’ve seen God doing in a cynical,

skeptical, broken generation. I explained the hope

I see for our generation in our church and in other

churches around the country. Intrigued, Jack flew

to Austin later that month and heard many powerful

stories from the people themselves. Jack

encouraged me to share this with others who

desire to see God reaching our broken post-Christian,

postmodern culture. No Perfect People

Allowed gives tangible evidence that God can and

does reach our generation through his church.

Austin is a window into the future because it

attracts so many young adults. A Forbes survey

called it America’s “coolest” city, ranking it the

best place for singles in America—singles who

move here from all over the country, seeking

employment in our high-tech, recreational, artsy

capital city.

The stories in this book represent the diversity

of our generation across the nation. You’ll

read about people who grew up on the East Coast

and the West and in between, from the wealthy to

the poor, from Anglo, Black, Hispanic, and Asian

backgrounds, singles and marrieds. This is truly

the most diverse generation in American history,

and, as you’ll see, it’s a generation not easily

reached by a one-size-fits-all approach. But the

people of this generation form the context in

which the church must function, and they live all

around you right now.

Though I’ve changed some names and details where necessary to protect

the privacy of my friends at Gateway, the stories in this book are about real

people dear to my heart. (Those who requested I use their real names are

noted with a double dagger—††.) They have willingly shared their struggles,

barriers, and brokenness 10 enness in hopes of helping others find God’s goodness.

Some have not arrived at faith but have allowed me to present their stories in

process. The hardest part was selecting a few stories to include, since there

are hundreds more to be told of God’s amazing works in reclaiming our generation

as his family.

I’ve written this book primarily for leaders—church leaders, small

group leaders, and ministry leaders—to help them create a come-as-youare

culture to bridge the chasm between the church and our postmodern

world.

Yet I believe No Perfect People Allowed gives a unique insight into the

struggle for faith that will benefit everyone—skeptics and believers alike.

You will see in vivid detail how God meets seeking people in mysterious,

unique ways, and you will see how no one is too far away or too far gone for

God’s loving reach.

Whoever you are, I pray this book inspires in you a confidence that God

is still at work in our generation. I pray you are motivated to action so that

we may see his-story continue to unfold through his church for generations

to come. My desire in writing is to tell God’s story about his work in one

church for our generation. I’m amazed at God’s great work and what he’s

showing us. This is simply a gift we’ve received that we share, and so we pass

on what we received in the hope that others might receive the same gift from

God.My prayer for this book is that God might use it to give his greatest gift

to our generation—and the next and the next—through his church.