I Like Jesus but not the Church

Dan Kimball in an article, “I Like Jesus… Not the Church”, published in Outreach, March/April, 2007 and posted on Christianity Today’s website, looks at six misconceptions non-Christians have about the church and Christianity today. Most unbelievers, he says, are very open to discussing Jesus, his life and his teachings, but are very turned off by Christians and the church.

The six main objections are:

1) The Church is an organized religion with a political agenda.

2) The Church is judgmental and negative.

3) The Church is dominated by males and oppresses females.

4) The Church is homophobic.

5) The Church arrogantly claims all other religions are wrong.

6) The Church is full of fundamentalists who take the whole Bible literally.


He tackles three of these perceptions and gives some advice as to how we as Christians can help overcome these misperceptions:

First, we need to communicate how and why our church is organized the way it is, explaining clearly the biblical principles underlying the structure. We must assess the titles we give our staff and determine whether those titles are communicating accurately what we want. We must also be aware of our biases and not confuse them with Jesus’ teaching. Care must also be taken to listen to the younger generation and give credence to their viewpoints and opinions, getting them involved in important decisions and ministries.

Second, we must be careful that we don’t communicate a judgmental attitude while talking about sin. People are open to hearing Jesus’ views, even on sin, but it must be communicated in a nonjudgmental way. We should also spend more time talking about what we stand for and less about what we are against. We must also evaluate whether we are truly concerned about the things Jesus was concerned about, such as social injustice, the poor, the sick and the needy. We need to get out of our Christian bubbles and interact with those outside the church.

Finally, we need to realize that we live in a post-Christian, pluralistic society in which all world religions are present. We need to have a basic understanding of these world faiths and be able to interact with members of these faiths intelligently. We must also be able to explain clearly and calmly why Jesus is the only way and be able to answer their objections gracefully and intelligently.


You can read this article at: http://www.christianitytoday.com/outreach/articles/ilikejesus.html

America gets an F in Religion

Every once in a while a secular magazine publishes an article about religion that is worth reading. This week’s U.S. News & World Report, April 9, 2007, page 28 has an interview with Stephen Prothero entitled, “In America, an F in Religion.” Prothero, head of the department of religion at Boston University, laments that while America is the most religious country in the world, it has the lowest religious literacy. Even though 9 out of 10 believe in God, or some divine being, and two thirds believe the Bible is a source of answers for every day life, only half can name even one of the four Gospels and only 10% of teenagers can name the five major world religions.

America used to be the most religiously literate country in the world, with churches, schools, homes, Sunday schools, colleges, and Bible and tract societies all educating the public about Christianity and religion. The change started in the 19th century when religious groups couldn’t agree about which version of the Bible to use in public education.

The second major reason is the decline in Biblical education within American churches. When Evangelicals began to dominate America’s religious scene in the 19th century, they focused on experience at the expense of learning and reason. Before the rise of Evangelicalism, sermons focused on Biblical narratives and doctrine, while after sermons tended to focus on personal piety and religious self-help topics. By focusing on experience and emotion Evangelicalism was the major force in the decline of biblical knowledge and religious education. Text book companies try to stay away from controversial topics in order to sell their books in as many school districts as possible. So, while we tend to blame the atheists and secularists for the decline in religious literacy, the main culprit is the church.

Prothero feels that the Bible and world religions should be taught in the public schools in order to educate the public about religion. Because religious issues are at the core of many of the issues we face in our world today, we can’t afford to be ignorant about religion. I think Prothero is right on target.


You can read this article at: http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/070401/9qa.htm

What Did You Go Out to See

In his article “What Did You Go Out to See?” in the January/February Books & Culture, pages 32-33, Andrew Jones evaluates modern American views of the church and missions. He shows how we have bought into the “bigger is better” mindset, causing us to overlook much of what God is doing around the world today.

“By focusing our attention on Western look-a-likes rather than the God-breathed expressions of ekklesia, we miss the joy of participating with the global church. We also miss the blessing these networks and ministries can offer us. But even more tragic is the reinforcement of our western stereotypes as superior models, each one another mega-brick in the colonial tower of Western Christian supremacy. Any attempts at finding a third space, where their world and ours could meet, are thwarted by our search for what appears successful in our own eyes. We need to learn to see the unexpected and unlearn our compulsion to see the expectable.”

“What did we go out to see? The influential missionary Roland Allen was once asked by his board to report some spectacular stories from the field. His response was unexpected: ‘I do not trust spectacular things. Give me the seed growing secretly every time.’”

When we look at Christianity around the world through our American glasses we miss most of what God is doing around the world. In fact, much of American Christianity is not healthy or biblical, so when we evaluate Christians from other cultures by our standards, we will measure incorrectly. Instead, we should learn from those who are different than us, and maybe we will be challenged to grow and change as well.


You can read the whole article at: http://www.christianvisionproject.com/2007/02/what_did_you_go_out_to_see.html

Thy Kingdom Come

I have just finished listening to Randall Balmer’s book, Thy Kingdom Come: How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America. It is a well presented, cutting evaluation of modern Evangelicalism and the dangers of Christians pursuing political influence through single-issue politics and selective biblical interpretation.

Balmer traces the development of Evangelicalism from its beginning involvement in social reform and progressive politics to the present where it ignores social reform and attacks progressive politics. Balmer feels that the Religious Right has used selective biblical interpretation to push single-issue politics in order to motivate Evangelicals to vote for Republican candidates. Issues such as abortion and gay marriage have been used to lure Evangelicals to support the Republican Party without looking at all the other issues, many which were more important to Jesus. There is great danger in Christians becoming tied to one political party.

Religious freedom, pluralism, and separation of church and state are foundational to our democratic society. However, much of what the Religious Right is doing is contrary to the heart of the constitution. In stead of fearing pluralism and trying to gain hegemony, Christians need to embrace pluralism and seek to influence those who are different through love, care and personal evangelism. Much of what the Religious Right is doing is counterproductive and pushes others away from Christ.

Many Evangelicals will hate this book and seek to defame Randall Balmer. However, I think he needs to be head and his insights seriously considered. Humility and introspection is needed if Evangelicalism is to regain its voice and influence in our society.