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Making God famousGlorify God?MAKING GOD FAMOUS This is a reissue of a book published four years ago and, that being the case, we suppose it replies to a need. The intention of the author is most honourable: to equip Christians for ‘influence’ in a postmodern world, according to the subtitle. He supposes that people today are ‘positively curious about what God might be like’. What we need to do is strip away the negativity that surrounds current ideas of God. The development of Western thought has done a good deal to detract from what God is really like. The result has been a disaster, as it has cut us off from God. We cannot but agree with the author’s critique of what went wrong. To counter this, Mal Fletcher sets about rehabilitating God by demonstrating how wonderful he is and by restoring a sense of mystery that one-dimensional man lacks. We appreciate his zeal for the Lord and many of his useful and practical insights. It’s true we must learn to have a heart for God, to follow his values when it is costly and to make his priorities ours. A greater sense of the need for sacrificial living will not do many of our churches or their members much harm, although it might hurt our bank accounts! However, we may well ask the question today as to Mal Fletcher’s optimism. Are people really as interested in God as the author supposes? On the contrary, I generally find that they are totally indifferent to God and do their best to avoid the question. I find it a real problem to break through this barrier of resistance. Unbelievers are not necessarily impressed by conversions, healings and miracles in Christianity — more sensational things can always be found elsewhere. Today people seem often to be scared of contact with anything religious because they fear they will be sucked into a system that will remove their liberty. This book was obviously written before September 11, Madrid and London, events that beef up people’s wariness as far as the spectre of religious violence is concerned. Moreover, is it true that God calls ‘a people to make a great name for himself’? This is a bit questionable. Is effectiveness a priority for God in terms of impact, influence and numbers — things that might be taken as claims to fame? If it’s the case, we might well doubt that God has made a very good job of it. Ultimately this book raises some pretty basic questions on the theological level that seem to escape the author’s line of vision — questions regarding the power and weakness of God, the nature of election (for salvation or for service?) and the mysterious nature of divine providence. Finally, is it really our job here to make God’s name famous? That is the bottom line and we could talk for hours about what it means and how to do it. Is glorifying God’s name necessarily the same as making it famous? I tend to think not, but that is perhaps because I believe that for God’s people collectively and individually the worst times are sometimes the best times. Paul Wells,
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