Miller, Donald E.Reinventing American Protestantism

(University of California Press, 1997) 245 pages, hardback, $27.50. Obtain from University of California Press, 2120 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, CA 94720, 510-643-0682.

Few books like this one come along in a lifetime. Anyone interested in reaching and discipling unchurched or pre-Christian people born between 1945 and 1970 (anti-institutional Baby Boomers) will find this book an answer to a prayer. Mainline leaders who want some clues as to why mainline Protestantism has not done well the past thirty-five years must read this book. Even though the book is a study of a very narrow stream of American Protestantism (Vineyard Christian Fellowship, Calvary Chapel, and Hope Chapel Churches) it has captured the spirit that has lead to the emergence of a new form of Christianity in America … one that effectively responds to cultural changes without compromising the message. The rest of American Protestantism should not dismiss this book as unimportant to them.