Although James did not grow up in a Christian home, he was raised in the church and came to personally follow Christ in his youth. His burden for church reformation came during his time in college where he developed a “holy discontent” over the state of the Western church. We see the evidence all around us—scandals that have shaken churches over the past decades, the departure of young people raised in Christian homes who have walked away from both the church and the faith, and the increasingly negative perception of Christians in society. Where once the church was seen as relevant or at least neutral, it is now often met with skepticism or hostility. Clearly, the church today needs reform.

As James continued to serve in local churches, his conclusion that the greatest stumbling block in the North American Church is worldliness. Worldliness is a pattern of thinking (worldview), priorities (heart) and practices (actions) in conformity to the world's and in conflict or contradiction to that taught in God's Word. Aside from obvious deviation from God’s Word such as deviation from major doctrines (e.g. rejecting Scripture’s teaching on marriage) and compromise in ethics (e.g. dishonesty, sexual sin etc.), the church has compromised gospel ministry in its pursuit of church growth via secular, business standards of number of attendance, money and even fame rather than pursuing what God considers successful: personal godliness, simple living, radical generosity, genuine community, life-on-life discipleship, and courageous and gracious preaching of the gospel to the Lost. As a result, many churches are marked mainly by a program-centered model rather than pursuing the simple priorities above. Individual Christians have also compromised by compartmentalizing their faith as an add-on rather than living for Jesus by obeying Scriptural commands as their central pursuit in life. Instead, many other priorities have replaced Christ’s priority of personal holiness, devotion to God’s Word and prayer, building up God’s people in meaningful fellowship and life-on-life discipleship, and evangelism.