Posted by Todd Rhoades in Trends
on Dec 11th, 2012 | 2 comments
Our friend Larry Osborne thinks a new study that shows a decreasing number of people who identify as “Protestant Christians” could actually be a good thing. Here’s why:
- Cultural Christianity has never done anything to advance the kingdom. It only inoculates against the real thing. When large numbers of nominal and cultural Christians wave the banner of Christ, it confuses the message of the gospel. But now that they have ditched the title, it opens the door for genuine disciples to get the word out without all the confusion.
- Despite the drop in the number of people who chose the label “Christian” the actual number of people who identified as evangelical and attend church continues to increase (even among those under 30). In other words, the nominals have fallen off, but they were never aboard. And the number of committed Christ followers has increased.
- The decrease in the number of people who call themselves “Christian” also shows the folly of messing with God’s Word in an attempt to make it more palatable. The drop in self-identified Christians is roughly equal to the drop in self-identified mainline Protestants. That’s right. The churches that left scripture and orthodoxy in an attempt to be culturally relevant, have become culturally irrelevant. Those who try to improve upon God’s Word or bring a new gospel have always done so at their peril. Jesus said he would build his church, not ours.
You can read more of Larry’s thoughts here…
What do YOU think?
Todd
I am one of those who have left the Christian label behind. Not because I don’t believe or compromise the scriptures (let me rephrase that, everyone compromises the scriptures because no one practices or even interprets all of it accurately). I left the label because it has become a label for judgementalism, clickish groups, money grubbers, unfair and uncareing about the poor and marginalized, at worst anti-Christ, and at best good at manipulating people.
If some of these comments described your church of Christians, would you keep it?
Many I know who love Jesus and follow Him with their whole heart have adopted the first century label which was “follower” of the Way. I’ve chosen the be a follower of Jesus, not a little Christ as the term Christian means. And it wasn’t a very nice connotation of the label at the time of the early Christians were called that.
I’m not so sure that Larry is entirely accurate that those who choose not to be called Christians are the “nominal” folks. I see the direct opposite. Passionate people of love the Lord and embrace the scriptures, but are tired of the corruption and mismanagement of the resourses God has given His people. So my experience has observed something different and quite saddening as well. People who love God, but find no place to express their passion in the “church”. The faithful are marginalized, while the compromising, complacent, and powerful remain….Mmm…in power!!
Blessings on your journey
James
False converts will always be part of the church, changing labels is not going to solve the problem or root them out. The NT epistles show as soon as the Christian Church was started there were false doctrines to be countered; and one of the mandates of preaching is to continue to oppose false doctrines while heralding the true Good News of Jesus.
Most of the time when dealing with a “cultural” Christian I have found they do not see themselves as being a false convert; they have no understanding of what it is like to truly know God, all they know is how to be moral and go to a church. They don’t comprehend how to be any different than they are when you discuss what it means to be a Christian. They’ve grown up believing they are in, telling themselves they are in; they aren’t very open to someone coming along and suddenly telling them they are on the outside and have never been in at all. Those who have a more genuine faith who attempt to address the issues are usually seen as being overbearing, judgmental, super spiritual, or just weird.
I should know, I was a cultural Christian for close to twenty years of my life, I went to church, I knew all the right Biblical facts, I was more moral than my “worldly” friends, but my heart was cold when it came to loving God, he was a force to be appeased so I could live life as I wanted to. Like the prodigal’s older brother I attempted to keep God at a safe distance even though physically I was in His house, doing religious good things so I could get what I really wanted. This is where it gets confusing, because us Older Brother types live basically a good life by church standards, we do and say all the right things, it is difficult to see the idols of our hearts.
The wonderful thing about the Gospel is when it is preached explicitly and as an all encompassing worldview it has the power to break through any and every counterfeit or distortion of the Gospel message.