Branded: Sharing Jesus with a Consumer Culture

Tim Sinclair
Kregel Publications (2011)
ISBN 9780825438943
Reviewed by Chad Feight for Reader Views (9/11)


I recently read “Branded: Sharing Jesus with a Consumer Culture” by Tim Sinclair and was actually kind of disappointed.  With an increased excitement about talking to others about Jesus lately, I was excited to dig into this book and get some great advice.  I did get some nice tips, but I also got a lot of stuff to weed out to get to that great advice.

Basically, Sinclair says that the world is changing and our methods of evangelism need to change with it.  I agree.  Sinclair says that people are less interested in church and that people are actually walking away from faith.  Agreed.  Sinclair also suggests that we meet people where they are.  Good point.  One of those ways is to skip church and instead go to a coffee shop to meet people in their environment.  WHAT?!  While that idea was not the entire book, it does point out a serious flaw in Sinclair’s thinking.  In a time when many people are turning away from church, we don’t need people telling Christians that it’s OK.  What we need is someone who is passionate about the lost and desperately wants to wake Christians up to the need and give some practical ways to reach those people AND incorporate them into the local church.

I will commend Sinclair on making a highly readable book.  I finished it in just a few hours.  Some of his statements make you have to read what he’s talking about (comparing evangelism and marketing, putting lipstick on a pig, etc.).  While I cannot agree with everything Sinclair says, I do enjoy reading his writing and debating with him in my head.  This is a highly accessible book to many people.

There were some redeeming qualities about the book.  The last chapter is basically a list of things to get the reader thinking about how they can better reach people.  Some of the suggestions include doing an outreach activity instead of a Bible study sometime, spending more time with people who don’t believe in Jesus (other than the check-out), etc.  Some of these are great, some aren’t.  But it’s nice to have and decide for myself and get the creative part of my brain functioning again.

In general, “Branded: Sharing Jesus with a Consumer Culture” is a nice book with some great stuff and a few bones.  I’d recommend it only to those willing and able to sift through the ideas and grab onto the good and leave the bad.

I received “Branded: Sharing Jesus with a Consumer Culture” for free in exchange for this unbiased review from Reader Views.

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