Analog Christian: Cultivating Contentment, Resilience, and Wisdom in the Digital Age, By Jay Y. Kim
Analog Christian
paperback
  • Length: 192 pages
  • Dimensions: 5.5 × 8.25 in
  • Published: July 26, 2022
  • Imprint: IVP
  • Item Code: A0316
  • ISBN: 9781514003169

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The Gospel Coaltion Award of Distinction—Christian Living

Outreach Resource of the Year

The digital age is in the business of commodifying our attention. The technologies of our day are determined to keep us scrolling and swiping at all costs, plugged into a feedback loop of impatience, comparison, outrage, and contempt. Blind to the dangers, we enjoy its temporary pleasures, unaware of the damage to our souls.

Jay Kim's Analog Church explored the ways the digital age and its values affect the life of the church. In Analog Christian, he asks the same question of Christian discipleship. As the digital age inclines us to discontentment, fragility, and foolishness, how are followers of Jesus to respond? What is the theological basis for living in creative resistance to the forces of our day? How can Christians cultivate the contentment, resilience, and wisdom to not only survive but to thrive as we navigate the specific challenges of our age?

"Jay Kim provides a fresh approach to connecting Scripture to present-day circumstances. This is a useful guidebook that provides practical ways to integrate the fruit of the Spirit into our current realities. A clear and concise call to get back to what matters most."

Brad Lomenick, former president of Catalyst and author of The Catalyst Leader

"I can't express the inner jubilee I am having that this book is finally here. What a marvelous invitation to the primal Christian movement that is solely and singularly focused on Jesus as Lord of all in our fragmented and distracted moment. Analog Christian gives voice to a part of all of us that longs for a day when Christians are known for their fruit over their fame. This work will set Jay Kim up as an enduring voice for the church for this generation. Highly recommended. A must-read."

A. J. Swoboda, assistant professor of Bible and theology at Bushnell University, author of After Doubt

"Jay Kim thoughtfully engages one of the most challenging issues of the spiritual life in his book Analog Christian. It's easy for us to find ourselves lost in the immersive digital world. It's as if most of us have grown another physical appendage: our phones. Jay helps us to navigate this with a colorful basket of healthy and spiritual fruit that will change your life!"

Dave Gibbons, author, speaker, and founder of Newsong, Santa Ana, California

"Jay Y. Kim is an ecclesiastical alchemist who shows us how to turn information into knowledge, knowledge into wisdom, and wisdom into truth. Analog Christian is a book no parent can afford to miss."

Leonard Sweet, professor and author of Contextual Intelligence

"As we emerge out of this pandemic—when online everything has become mind-numbingly normal—Jay reminds us that the way of Jesus isn't new, flashy, or digital. And that you don't need an app for it, either! The way of Jesus is the way of contentment, resilience, and wisdom."

Daniel Im, lead pastor at Beulah Alliance Church and author of You Are What You Do: And Six Other Lies about Work, Life, and Love

"Lulled by convenience, numbed by distraction, and addicted to our devices, we have become diminished versions of ourselves. But the gift of grace is the power to become fully alive, image-bearing human beings. Far from being a polemic against technology, Analog Christian invites us to join in the Spirit's slow and life-giving work of producing fruit in us. Combining cultural analysis, theological insight, and pastoral wisdom, Jay Kim bears witness to a better way of being a human in the digital age, a way that looks like the fully and truly human one, Jesus Christ."

Glenn Packiam, lead pastor at New Life Downtown, Colorado Springs, and author of The Resilient Pastor

"Jay Kim's whole book can be summed up in this: 'May we choose, today and every day, the right thing. May we choose to continue gardening, even in the darkest and most difficult places of life.' This timely word is a call for us to return to a different way of thinking about our life and faith. In a world where everything is going fast, Jay's admonition to consider life in the Spirit as a priority is a breath of fresh air. Jay thank you for challenging me to go deeper."

Myron Pierce, pastor of Mission Church, Omaha, and author of Outrageous: Exceeding the Limits of Usual

"Jay Kim has offered a book full of wisdom and insight, asking necessary questions about our online habits, prodding us to reconsider our activities and assumptions, while humbly pointing us to God's Word and God's people for renewal. Jay reminds us of the beauty and importance of living with the fruit of the Spirit, even in a digital age."

Trevin Wax, vice president for research and resource development at the North American Mission Board and author of Rethink Your Self: The Power of Looking Up Before Looking In

"This book is a balm to the soul, steeped in words, stories, and exhortations that woo the reader toward timeless wisdom, shared humanity, and the Spirit-filled life."

Karen Swallow Prior, author of On Reading Well: Finding the Good Life through Great Books

"The irony of the internet's promises of love, connection, and pleasure is that it is designed to deliver such superficial and false versions of those things. It sinks our roots into a soil that is not capable of bringing the health it touts. Far from disparaging our digital world, Jay Kim offers us a winsome look at a wise way to navigate these forces and presents us with a more compelling alternative. Swiping and scrolling give way to listening and dwelling . . . to a robust path of joy, blessedness, and Jesus."

Nancy Ortberg, CEO of Transforming the Bay with Christ

"It's no secret that our constant immersion in the digital and social media world is ruining our emotional and mental health. With pastoral wisdom, Jay Kim helps us see that our spiritual health is at stake too. This book explores a way forward, giving us a Jesus-centered vision of true well-being and guiding us toward practical habits that can lead to transformation."

Tim Mackie, cofounder of the BibleProject

"In a world of almost frantic dependence on digital technology, Jay Kim's Analog Christian is a reminder of the fruit of true connection. At times both deep and accessible, this book takes us into the deeply rooted life that can often get lost in endless scrolling, Zooming, posting, and commenting. It is not a screed against technology but an invitation to true contentment, resilience, and wisdom that cannot be created in bits and bytes."

Tod Bolsinger, author of Tempered Resilience: How Leaders Are Formed in the Crucible of Change

"In this age of rage, divisiveness, anxiety, and self-promotion, I truly cannot imagine a more timely and significant book. As I read each chapter, I would think, That's my favorite, or That's what I need most! Know that reading this book is risky—it holds up a mirror to the internal, deep transformation each follower of Jesus is called to embark on. Instead of thinking about how others need to apply these truths, I must turn that mirror directly on myself. Thank you, Jay Kim, for stretching and challenging us to become more like Jesus—filled with the fruit of the Spirit."

Nancy Beach, leadership coach and coauthor with Samantha Beach Kiley of Next Sunday

"Jay Y. Kim has done it again. This time, he double-clicks on the (de)formational power technology can have on the life of the Christian. Scripture calls us to walk in the Spirit, which produces fruit such as patience, gentleness, and kindness. With pastoral wisdom and first-hand experience, Jay transparently highlights the ways technology uses us maybe more than we use it. But without proposing we throw out technology altogether, Jay paints a vision for a faithful and slower path to discipleship that leads to Christlikeness—a path that requires us to put our hands in the dirt instead of the on the keyboard, a path that leads to fruitful Christlikeness instead of frenzied scrolling. This book belongs on your nightstand!"

Tara Beth Leach, author of Emboldened and Radiant Church

"Analog Christian is the book my soul has been yearning for. Jay Kim is a thoughtful guide offering up profound wisdom that will inspire you to creatively resist the constant distractions coming at you and cultivate a more grounded, present, life of contentment. A must read!"

Steve Carter, pastor and author of The Thing Beneath the Thing
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Read an Excerpt

CONTENTS

Foreword by Dan Kimball
Introduction: Digital Smoke, Analog Air, and Fruit

Part I: Cultivating Contentment
1. Love Instead of Self-Centric Despair
2. Joy Instead of Comparison
3. Peace Instead of Contempt

Part II: Cultivating Resilience
4. Patience Instead of Impatience
5. Kindness and Goodness Instead of Hostility

Part III: Cultivating Wisdom
6. Faithfulness Instead of Forgetfulness
7. Gentleness Instead of Outrage
8. Self-Control Instead of Reckless Indulgence

Conclusion: Gardening in the NICU
Acknowledgments
Questions for Reflection and Discussion
Notes

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Jay Y. Kim

Jay Y. Kim serves as the lead pastor at WestGate Church in the Silicon Valley and on the leadership team of the ReGeneration Project. He has experienced the digital church in all its splendor and writes about it in his two books, Analog Church and Analog Christian. Kim's writing has been featured in Christianity Today, The Gospel Coalition, Missio Alliance, and Relevant Magazine. He lives in Silicon Valley with his wife and two children.