As I prepare for the upcoming “Why Believe?” sermon series, one book I’ve been reading is UnChristian:  What a New Generation really thinks about Christianity…and why it matters by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons.  It is a book done with extensive research by the Barna Group, a Christian organization that does research on many different spiritual and moral issues in America.  The book begins with the provocative line “Christianity has an image problem” and goes on to discuss some of their findings regarding how people between the age of 18-29 view Christians, Christianity, and Jesus.  For an idea of some of their findings, take a look at the graph below, which answered the question: “Here are some words or phrases that people could use to describe a religious faith.  Please indicate if you think each of these phrases describes present-day Christianity.”  The bars represent the number of respondents who said that these words described present-day Christianity “a lot” or “some”:

 

Kinnaman and Lyons also listed the percentage of people who answered “a lot” or “some” to some more favorable descriptions.  The top answers were “teaches same basic idea as other religions” at 82%, “has good values and principles” at 76%, “friendly” at 71%, “a faith you respect” and “consistently shows love for other people” at 55%.  Further down the list were answers such as “offers hope for the future” (54%), “seems genuine and real” (41%), and “relevant to your life” at 30%.

After discussing some of the findings of the survey, Kinnaman and Lyons ask an intriguing question that I think is worth discussing:  Should we care what people think?  If this is the reality, that the majority of 18-29 year-olds see Christians as anti-homosexual, hypocritical, judgmental, old-fashioned people who are too political, how should we respond?  If they see Christians as people who inconsistently show love to other people and Christianity as a faith that is largely irrelevant to life, what should we do in response?  Here are a few options, as I see it:

1) “Who cares what people think?”  After all, our goal should never be popularity in the eyes of the world.  Don’t forget that Jesus told his disciples in John 17:18 that “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first,” and in Matthew 10:22 that “All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved”.  Jesus was crucified for living the way he did and saying the things he said, and his followers can expect to be hated and persecuted as well.

2) Smooth out the rough edges in order to gain popularity.  People don’t like to hear all that talk about sin and hell and judgment and accountability and morality?  Then talk more about love, peace, and understanding and skip over the difficult parts.  Pretend that the Christian message is essentially the same as other world religions, focus on doing good works, and don’t say or do anything that would make people uncomfortable.

3) Somewhere in the middle - listen for any perceptions that are genuinely convicting and for people’s real hurts, and disregard the rest.   

Too many churches, in my opinion, opt for response #2.  In the face of declining membership or increasing irrelevance, they listen to what the culture wants or believes and adapt their theology or methodology to appeal to the masses.  They downplay parts of the faith that people don’t like, and focus on the parts people do want to hear about, preaching self-help sermons and trying hard not to criticize or exclude.  In the short run, this may seem like a smart marketing move, but in the long run it is likely to lead to bland religion that dies a slow death.  This approach reminds me of Paul’s words in Ephesians 4:14, where he wrote: “Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.”  Paul was writing to a people who were immature in their faith, and as a result ran after every latest teaching and popular belief until they didn’t know what was true any more. 

As for response #1, there is a lot of truth in it, as cold as it sounds.  In the end, our eyes should not be on the world but on God, for the gospel will in some ways always be antagonistic to the culture.  The gospel is good news, that in Jesus Christ there is offered salvation from sin, freedom from slavery to that which threatens to master us, and a release from all guilt.  But part of truly experiencing the goodness of that news is recognizing the depth of our sinfulness, giving up the right to decide what we feel is right or wrong, and living with Jesus as our leader and Lord.  And for a person who craves freedom and individuality, this is not an easy thing.  So, for example, even though Christians are seen as judgmental, part of that perception may be due to the fact that  Christians believe there is truth and error, morality and immorality, and don’t believe in just letting everyone do whatever they want to do. 

However, I think there are valid reasons to listen to what the culture is telling us about Christianity – response #3.  Let me share two of mine, and then I’d be curious to hear what your opinion is.

1) Behind most perceptions are real experiences – while some people may form their opinions based on media portrayal of Christians, most perceptions have real experiences behind them.  Someone sees Christians as hypocritical because of an experience with a church that preached love but treated them as outcasts.  Another person sees Christians as judgmental because when they were honest about their sin, they experienced condemnation from the church instead of an embracing, supportive family.  A study like this one should break our hearts for those who have rejected Jesus because of His church, bring us to repentance for how we have dishonored the glorious name of Jesus Christ, and cause us to listen with compassion to the stories of those outside the church, so that we might minister the true gospel to them.

2) In some cases, they are pointing out ways we are not like Jesus – The bottom line is this:  the church is the body of Christ, which means that when the world sees us, they should see Jesus.  What this study is saying loud and clear is that when the world looks at the church, they do not see Jesus.  That is why the book was named UnChristian – because when the majority of people look at Christians, they see something very unlike Jesus.  Now, again, sometimes this is based on erroneous notions of who Jesus was or what he taught (notice how 82% of those surveyed thought Christianity taught essentially the same basics as other religions), but other times they are right on in their observations:  we are saying one thing, but doing another, saying that we are followers of Jesus, but not acting like Him.  And again, this should cause us to repent of dishonoring the name of Christ, and lead us into a deeper relationship with Him, so that we might become more like Him.

What are your thoughts?  Is there anything to be gained from paying attention to a study like this?  If so, why, and what do you learn?  If you have anything to share, please post your comments.

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