Mustard Seed Vs. McWorld: Reinventing Life and Faith for the Future by Tom Sine
Book Review
by Craig Branch

Mustard Seed Vs. McWorld: Reinventing Life and Faith for the Future by Tom Sine. Baker Book House, 1999; 249 pages

Tom Sine has produced and important sequel to his earlier best-seller, Mustard Seed Conspiracy. I found this book to be stimulating, provocative, and a helpful challenge for individual Christians, and the Church collectively. My observations resonate with those of Dr. Bill O'Brien, director of the Baptist Global Center at Samford University, "Sine creates a trifocal lens of hindsight, foresight, and insight providing a clear and painful look at the current status of the church in the West." Other endorsers of the book are as wide ranging as Richard Foster and Ravi Zacharias, who writes in the Forward that "in a changing world, it is critical for Christians to give a hearing to the voices that have studied and reflected upon the Bible and our culture. [Sine] contends that the most significant problem facing both the church and society is a crisis of vision: we do not know why we do what we do. Mustard Seed vs. McWorld confronts us with a vigorous understanding of our assumptions about ourselves and our culture and challenges us to examine these views through the lens of Scripture" (p. 9).

Sine states that his book, "is offered to others who are interested in discovering what God can do with their lives if they put first things first" (p. 23). Sine challenges us to rethink our understanding of our Christian calling, life and vision, by comparing the radical truth of Scripture to what lies we have assimilated from culture. He asks the important and probing question of why over 40% of the population claims to be born again Christians, yet we are having so little influence. He contends that the reason is "we have allowed culture instead of our faith, to define what is important and of value" (p. 135).

Mustard Seed vs. McWorld has ten chapters divided into three parts. Each chapter ends with a description of "Opportunities for Christians and Leaders," and "Questions for Discussion and Action," making it very practical for group study.

Part one is entitled, "A Crisis of Foresight: Learning to Take the Future Seriously." In it Sine carefully informs us of the growing trends of an emerging global society, including its technologies and political strategies. He also reveals how the Church is in decline in many areas and how unconnected and uninformed we are about our culture as the church and culture proceed along two parallel universes.

Part two is entitled, "A Crisis of Vision: Learning to Take the Future of God Seriously" and includes two important chapters, "How Did We Get Off the Tacks?" and "How Can We Find Our Way Home?" Sine challenges us with the claim that "Western Christians tend to appropriate the secular models of almost everything, baptize them, and employ them in Christ's name" (p. 147). I agree with his assessment that part of the problem in our discipleship is a profound lack of understanding that God's Scriptural revelation applies to all of life. Sine quotes Os Guiness' observation that "failing to think Christianly, evangelicals have been forced into the role of culture imitators and adapters rather than originators…to be worldly and conformist, not decisively Christian" (p.147).

I found this section to be the most challenging and helpful. In describing the gap between our true calling and our actual activity, Sine writes, "What we have done, I am convinced, is to inadvertently succumb to a dualistic model of discipleship and stewardship. In spite of all the talk about Christ's Lordship, everyone knows that the expectations of modern culture comes first. Everyone knows that getting ahead in the job comes first. Getting ahead in the suburbs comes first. Getting the kids off to all their activities comes first. And we tend to make decisions in these areas much like everyone else does, based on our incomes, our professions, and our social status . . . Christians become busier and busier, which means they have less time left over for prayer, church, ministry, or even family" (p. 155).

Part three is entitled, "A Crisis of Creativity: Learning to Take Imagination Seriously." One of the final chapters, "Reinventing Christian Life and Community for a New Millennium," like the previous section, is rich in practical and biblically holistic ways to apply the challenging truths presented in the book.

I believe this book serves as a crucial wake up call for pastors, leaders, and Christians, young and old. While many Christians are sensing something terribly frustrating and wrong with the gap between our private profession of faith and our public performance and spiritual fulfillment, this book is extremely helpful in identifying the problem, in clarifying Biblical discipleship and stewardship, and in motivating us to become truly salt and light, being in the world but not of it, and in being sent just as he was sent.

Reviewed by Craig Branch
Director of the Apologetics Resource Center

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