My friend Cindy Kunsman is reading Unchristian: What A New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity ... And Why It Matters by Dave Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons. According to her recent post Born again or born against?, the research explored in this book includes discussions of "the most common points of skepticism and objections raised by outsiders" (those outside Christianity). Those six themes are as follows:
- Hypocritical. ...morally superior attitudes... pretend to be something unreal... polished image that is not accurate... the church is only a place for virtuous and morally pure people...
- Too focused on getting converts. Outsiders wonder if we genuinely care about them. They feel like targets rather than people.They question our motives... Antihomosexual. ...bigoted and show disdain... fixated on curing homosexuals... political solutions...
- Sheltered. ...old fashioned, boring and out of touch with reality... preferring simplistic solutions and answers... not willing to deal with the grit and grime of people's lives...
- Too political ....motivated by a political agenda...
- Judgmental. ...quick to judge... not honest about our attitudes and perspectives... They doubt that we really love people as we say we do...
Apparently the research that formed the foundation for the observations in this book are from the Barna Group. I am very uncomfortable with George Barna and his ways of influencing the church. But if we hold a firm grasp on scriptural mandates, the results of his surveys can provide us with some good insight and may, perhaps, give us some direction that will help us to recognize where we are doing things improperly and to make adjustments within the confines of our true authority, which is scripture.
Moral superiority — I think the world has pegged us here. And this one fits hand-in-glove with number 5, Judgmental. We Christians are prone to thinking that we have earned God's favor through our actions. Even those of us who fully understand that it is "not of works of righteousness which I have done" and that it is "not of works, lest any man should boast" still seem to have trouble getting the concept that "there, but for the grace of God, go I." This we need to change. And although it is easy to see the sanctimonious and self-righteous attitudes of folks in the Patriarchy movement and other staunchly legalistic groups, we are all prone to looking down our noses at others and must take stock of how we are presenting ourselves to the watching world. We are sinners saved by grace—nothing more. And we are certainly not morally superior to those in need of evangelism.
Too focused on getting converts — I would have to disagree with this one as I think we are way too underfocused on this. However, I understand the reason that those outside the church walls would think this of us. Again, our theology should affect our behavior toward others. If we truly believe that salvation is of God and not of man, we will not try to "close the sale," as I heard one evangelism teacher put it. It is not up to us to close the sale. That is the job of the Holy Spirit. We cannot pressure folks into belief in Christ. We are called to present the good news to all people. The good news is that although they have put themselves under the penalty of eternal death by sinning against God, Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay the penalty of death for all those who believe in him. If we show that we care enough about others to truly want them to turn in faith to Christ, we will not be pushy—we will be penitent and patient and will call them to Christ with tears and with love, not condemnation or with a superior and self-righteous attitude.
Antihomosexual. ...bigoted and show disdain — We Christians should be antihomosexuality and not antihomosexual. This is a hard line to walk properly as we strive to protect our children from seeing blatant sin practiced in front of their eyes. I need to remind myself that I should be just as concerned about my son seeing me drive over the speed limit or hearing me gossip as I would be about having a homosexual couple over to dinner.
Sheltered. ...old fashioned, boring and out of touch with reality — I probably need to give this one extensive thought. On the surface I would say that it's probably a good thing for us to be sheltered. But we should also undersand enough of the world around us to be able to present the gospel in the terms of those we are talking to as Paul did when he presented "the unknown god" to the philosophers of his day. Had Paul not known his culture, he would not have been able to so deftly handle that situation with such a tough audience.
Too political — Amen! amen! When we realize that it is our duty to present the gospel—to call our neighbors to faith in Christ through our loving presentation of the gospel message and through our lives lived out under their watchful eye—rather than to force them to our way of thinking by judicial and legislative fiat we will be much more winning than when we think our primary goal is to pull America back from the brink of destruction. Christ's message was never a message of establishing a Christian government. At least not while we still live in this world.
Interesting thoughts. It would behoove Christians to remember the old adage, you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.
I like the adage, Richard, and I'm positive there is some truth to people's complaints against Christians. However, I wonder whether a lot of the complaining is due not to people's perceptions of what they have really encountered, but the caricatures they have in their minds, from what they've been subjected to from the media, which in the last few decades has been not friendly toward evangelicals.
ReplyDeleteI think you've hit on a valid point, Lynn. I think many of these perceptions are promoted by the media, the entertainment industry, and academia. But I think we Christians need to be careful that we are not using the misperceptions and mischaracterizations as an excuse to not adjust our behavior - at least in the areas that scripture would lead us to adjust.
ReplyDeleteHey,
ReplyDeleteMy cyber ears were burning. I think Barna gets misunderstood and that people think he is trying to get us to bend Christianity to fit popular opinion. I guess I look at it like a nurse that has to first consider the lay of the land and where people are coming from to best get them to learn or do what they need to do at a minimum and hopefully to do things with excellence.
The people that they survey don't talk about the media and the caricatures painted there, it's about what real people have learned from the real Christians that they really know. There's a line in that book that keeps hanging with me == It's how we act on the way to going to do something and what we say in the hallway after the service. The Busters and the Mosaics that are the focus don't fall for the media portrayals as much as they are keen to observe motive and hypocrisy. They've grown up hearing generations of talk and lecture. They want what was lacking in the talk and don't settle for anything less.
I don't think the rest of those perceptions help any, though. But the book focuses on what people observe from the real-life relationships with Christians that they do have.
I look at the stats as information, and we can learn from all sorts of info. This is info specifically from a new group of people that will be replacing us. It's kind of a study in what they've walked away with from Christianity which should make us ask ourselves about the quality of what we've offered them.
It is what it is. It's information. My interest in it was piqued by how significantly some of the admonishments apply to the patriarchy movement. The Gospel is still the Gospel, though I keep thinking of an old sermon title that sounded like a tennis lesson --"Improving your serve."
Cindy - "Improving Your Serve" was the title of a book by Chuck Swindoll and the phrase ended up working its way into many sermons. Swindoll was quite creative in the names of a few books in that series. They were ahead of their time in that regard.
ReplyDeleteRegarding Barna - you would need to know a few different levels of context to understand why I said what I did. First, most of the people in my inner circle will turn off their ears as soon as they hear the words "Willow Creek Church", "Bill Hybels", or "Barna Research Group." Without the caveat, they wouldn't finish reading my post. I preface my comments about Purpose Driven [Insert Current Fad Here] as well. I appreciate much of what Rick Warren has to say, but many of the people I am closest too would not listen past the mention of his name.
The second level of context is the fact that George Barna strongly promotes concepts that I think run in direct opposition to scriptural mandates for the church. In his book Habits of Highly Effective Churches he made many recommendations for making church more relevant to the younger generation. Among his recommendations are such things as reducing the amount of Bible taught in seminaries and increasing the credit hours for business and marketing courses in those seminaries. He has called for an end to expositional preaching and recommends that preachers tell jokes and make cultural references instead of quoting Bible verses.
I think his research is valuable if taken in the right way. Similar to Tylenol, if you take Barna straight without filtering it and limiting it you'll end up with ecclesiastical liver failure.
You mentioned in the last comment that people won't get past the mention of Rick Warren's name. I have noticed this lately and I wonder why? Sure, I wasn't a huge fan of Purpose Driven Life simply because (not to sound like a know it all) being raised in the church, I already knew what he had to say, but I know many people who were touched by that book and accepted Christ in their lives.
ReplyDeleteShouldn't that be the main point? Why do Christians have to be all high and mighty about the books they read and the preachers they listen to. So what if it's about something you already know. The point is, other people don't know about walking with Christ and that book was a great tool for them.
My cousins attend his church (Saddleback) and just seeing the changes in their lives is proof enough for me that even thought Rick Warren may not be for me, God is using him in a big way.
Becky - I agree that God uses all sorts of people. We all have our own peculiar imperfections. In our weaknesses, Christ is strong. I think that's part of why he uses us. It proves that its actually God doing the work - not us.
ReplyDeleteAs to why people turn off when they hear mention of the name, I think we all do this to some degree. If someone says, "As Al Gore mentioned in his documentary..." I don't listen much further. I simply am not particularly interested in putting the mental effort into finding the truth past the things I know to be lies.
However, I am perfectly willing to discuss the philosophies of Emmanuel Kant, John Locke, Nietzche, etc., even though I have strong disagreements with all of them. I think the difference stems from the fact that I'm just not mentally energized by the topic Al Gore represents but am more interested in things related to philology, world-view, etc.
So ... the reason some people turn off Rick Warren is that he is part of the seeker sensitive movement. The leaders of this movement use business marketing techniques to grow their churches. There is a large and somewhat vocal group of conservative Christians who believe that this is a direct violation of scriptural mandates. So they turn off as soon as they hear the names of these leaders (Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, etc.)
I take a middle of the road perspective on this. I found much in Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Church (haven't read Purpose Driven Life) that seemed very useful and have recommended to my church leadership that they consider incorporating some of it into our church's operational systems. I think it's good with regard to such people as Rick Warren to strive for a balance rather than throwing the baby out with the bathwater. But my desire for balance regarding Rick Warren is probably because of the fact that I am interested in ecclesiology and the related things on the periphery of "church."
I'm glad that your cousins have grown in Christ at Warren's church. I think God is definitely at work there. And as Christians I think we should try to keep our discomfort with smaller issues under the radar so the unsaved world doesn't see as as bickering all the time amongst ourselves.