This book addresses really well the importance of things like self-defense and self-reliance for Christian men. It addresses problems with men that affect all Christian churches in the West, not merely those in the black community. He deals with the successes and failures of other groups with men and has a meaningful way of incorporating those lessons into the church.
He misses the final star, because, in my opinion, it is incorrect to describe the Gospel as either Afro-centric or Euro-centric. You'd have to call it Judeo-centric, since Jesus was a first century, Tanakh reading, Orthodox Jew. He wasn't "black" or "white", but, since he was a Middle Eastern Jew, probably looked like a modern Sephardic Jew. |
| In this book, Jawanza Kunjufu endeavors to discern why black men are not in church and how the church might bring them back. After giving some anecdotal evidence of the problem, statistical evidence of the plight of the black male in society, and a discussion of the success of black Islam, Kunjufu gets to the heart of the book. In chapter 5, Kunjufu reveals 21 reasons black men do not attend church based on a survey and interviews he performed. In chapter 6, he posits solutions to the 21 problems that keep black men out of the church. Finally, Kunjufu surveys some models of ministries to black men. Kunjufu never details exactly how he performed his survey--how he distributed the surveys in a balanced way, how many surveys he distributed, what kind of return he got, and so forth--and this might call his results into question. Nevertheless, the answers Kunjufu's respondents provide resonate strongly with the common sense of any churchgoer, especially to a man. The 21 reasons he cites as to why men do not attend church are themselves worth the price of the book. Most of these reasons cut across racial and socioeconomic lines as well. Kunjufu's list is indispensible for anyone doing evangelism among men of any color. Nevertheless, this golden core is barnacled by much worthless dross. Most of the solutions Kunjufu gives to the 21 problems are superficial. Many of them are apologetic arguments for church practices that the unchurched men deplore, but these arguments will not bring these men into the church. Further, the book is very sloppily edited, if edited at all. Kunjufu claims that the book was written in five days, and it shows. The organization is not tight, the formatting is not always consistent, there are numerous mechanical errors, and Kunjufu routinely gets carried off in a torrent of rhetorical questions that lead nowhere. Ultimately, this book is worth its low price for the responses of the men Kunjufu interviewed. But the same goal could have been accomplished with the edited publication of chapter 5 in a widely read magazine. |
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