For the past several years, Pastors Patrick Miller and Keith Simon have been helping the church fight against the tribalism rampant in her ranks today, highlighting that our ultimate allegiance is not to a political party or agenda, but to Jesus himself. Their previous book, Truth Over Tribe: Pledging Allegiance to the Lamb, Not the Donkey or the Elephant (Colorado Springs: Cook, 2022), and current podcast of the same name provide sound biblical insights and strategies for how to live with a Jesus-first posture in our politically polarized age.

In their new book, Joyful Outsiders, the authors broaden their scope to help the church work through the various means by which we engage the culture at large, not only in politics, but in business, art, education, creation care, sports, etc. Their paradigm for cultural engagement is six ways or callings through which followers of Jesus live as citizens of the kingdom of God rather than as citizens of Babylon (the biblical symbol for all other earthly empires). Being in Babylon is challenging because we are not citizens of Babylon and we are tempted to live according to her ways rather than Jesus’s ways. By discerning which of the six ways God calls each of us to live and by boldly embracing that call, we stand joyfully outside Babylon, even as we live within Babylon.

The following summarizes the six categories (chs. 6–11) by which Miller and Simon propose Christians can engage the culture around them. Also listed is the biblical character(s) the authors present as an exemplary model for each way:

• Trainers show others how to practice their faith so that we are ready to withstand the temptations of Babylonian culture (e.g., Ezra).
• Advisors aim to be “in the right room with the right people at the right time” (p. 104) so they can influence outcomes big and small for the kingdom (e.g., Daniel).
• Artists create beauty, not for pragmatic or ideological ends, but to showcase the deep pain in the world, while inviting people to the true hope of God’s ways in the world (e.g., Zechariah and Haggai).
• Ambassadors embrace the spiritual reality that the only way to change Babylon is by inviting people to have their hearts changed by a relationship with Jesus (e.g., Paul).
• Protestors challenge the principles and practices of Babylon that bring hurt instead of help, that violate humans instead of valuing them (e.g., Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego).
• Builders cultivate the community by constructing institutions that serve the common good of everyone rather than selfishly serving the interests of the few (e.g., Nehemiah).

Miller and Simon remind readers that we tend to see our particular calling as the most important. The authors close their argument with the vital truth that unity in diversity should characterize the church’s life, and they urge believers to be open to callings other than the one(s) they are currently experiencing. These pastors express their hopeful, prayerful charge by stating, “I hope you feel freedom knowing that there is not one rigid approach to Babylon but many faithful approaches. I pray that as you face the challenges ahead, you will learn to practice all six ways, putting on whatever outfit the moment calls for: the trainer, the advisor, the artist, the ambassador, the protestor, or the builder” (p. 178).

In an otherwise consistent and coherent book, the authors seem to contradict their message at a few points. For example, when unpacking the role of the artist as one who lives between “heaven and earth, life and death, hope and despair,” Miller and Simon state, “When an artist unveils heaven on earth, it’s less like a cheesy Thomas Kinkade watercolor and more like Jesus weeping over Lazarus’ body and then roaring him back to life” (p. 113). I am no fan of Kinkade’s work, but I know many brothers and sisters in Christ whose faith is strengthened by his paintings, revealing that God is using them to develop others into joyful outsiders. In another instance, as they spell out the character and purpose a builder should possess when developing, molding, and directing institutions, Miller and Simon state, “If you can’t confidently say that your institutional purpose glorifies God, serves the institution’s internal and external community, and pursues a Christ-centered bottom line, then your institutional purpose lacks character” (p. 168). Since Jesus’s followers are the intended readers of this book, this statement is true. However, in a book that regularly discusses the common good and encourages Christians to value and serve the citizens of Babylon, claiming that no non-Christian institution can have character may foster a separationist and isolationist attitude that I do not believe the authors intend.

Despite these sporadic moments of inconsistency, the book stands out as a powerful challenge that individual Jesus followers, local churches, and ministry organizations should heed. As citizens of God’s kingdom in the midst of a culture unaligned with Jesus’s vision of human flourishing, we need examples and inspiration to live kingdom life faithfully. Miller and Simon provide just that, exhorting readers to more deeply understand the Bible’s missional call to take the good news of Jesus to everyone, everywhere, using means that the Bible lays out for us. The final chapters contain a personal inventory, by which readers can discern their primary joyful outsider calling, and further resources for developing that calling. Far from being filler material, as such “additional resources” can sometimes be, they genuinely assist the reader in discerning just who God calls us to be.