Reviewed by: G. Connor Salter, Professional Writing student at Taylor University, Upland, IN.

Introduction

Title: God’s Biker: Motorcycles and Misfits

Author: Sean Stillman

Publisher: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge

Publication Date: 2018

Format: Hardcover

Length: 203 pages

OVERVIEW

While raised in a normal church environment, Sean Stillman reached a crossroads in his early twenties: he felt called to ministry, but not normal ministry. Instead, he felt God calling him to work among motorcyclists, a fiercely loyal but often rough culture of people regular churches ignore and who often don’t fit in Christian circles. In this book, Stillman chronicles thirty years of his work, from starting the United Kingdom chapter of God’s Squad Christian Motorcycle Club and developing other chapters across Europe, to starting an unconventional church in Wales to reach all kinds of hurting and misfit people.

Initially, one expects Stillman to tell a straight novel-like narrative about his work, the format one sees in other books about atypical missions like The Cross and the Switchblade. Instead, Stillman gives the basic outline of how his ministry started and progressed, describing some of the more important scenes in greater detail. Then he takes the frame he’s created and fills the rest of it with anecdotes about particular people he’s met and insights he’s learned over the years.

These insights are honest and convicting, the kind of hard lessons that only someone who has done ministry for years can really give. In many cases, Stillman challenges popular notions about topics like how the operate churches, noting that usually these notions are purely culturally based. Then he goes on to describe the powerful things that can happen when people move past these notions to really focus on what the Bible teaches. Whether he’s telling anecdotes or giving insights, Stillman’s ideas are helped by the fact that his writing style, although not technically perfect, has a very poetic tone.

Overall, this is the best kind of challenging Christian book. It pushes readers to face their preconceptions and hunger for a countercultural but deeper way to live for God.

ASSESSMENT

Rating (1 to 5 stars)

5 stars

Suggested Audience

People interested in counter-cultural ministry, people seeking to learn about pitfalls in Christian ministry, people interested in learning about relating to marginalized people.

Christian Impact

God’s Biker will challenge readers to move past cultural attitudes about Christianity to living a deeper faith and will particularly help Christian leaders avoid pitfalls in their ministry.

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