They Like Jesus but Are Not Too Thrilled With Us

By Ed Stetzer

The church is full of hypocrites.

I've heard it, and you've heard it. It intimidates many Christians.
Not just because people say it, but because we've seen it, too. It is
hard to share Christ when they believe the church doesn't show
Christ.

After all, they don't like us...right? A crowded bandwagon to jump on
these days is the one that says the world is going to hell because of Christians.
Our arrogance, legalism, and buffoonery is constantly written about - often
by us.

And it's true, at least partly. The unchurched aren't real excited
about church (more on that later). And they have concerns about Christians.
But that shouldn't deter us from showing and sharing Christ.

Jesus they like. Us...well...not so much.

In spite of their attitudes toward the church, unchurched Americans - especially
younger ones - "like" Jesus and are surprisingly open to talking
about the Christian faith.

LifeWay
Research in partnership with the North American Mission Board's Center
for Missional Research, conducted two telephone surveys in 2007 with unchurched
Americans. The survey included 1,402 people who hadn't attended a religious
service at a church, synagogue, or mosque in the previous six months. We discovered
some interesting facts. (You can download the full study at www.lifewayresearch.com.)

For starters, younger people are less cynical about the church and Christian
faith than older adults. When it comes to the "hypocrites in the church"
mantra, 75 percent of unchurched adults 30 years and older agree. But that number
drops to 67 percent among adults ages 18-29. That's still a lot, and we
should keep in mind that these are people who don't go to church, but
you might expect younger adults to be even more skeptical about organized Christianity
than older adults.

Even more surprising:

• 66 percent of younger adults believe Jesus died and came back to life, compared
  to 54 percent of older adults.
• 74 percent of younger adults agree "the Christian religion is a relevant
  and viable religion for today," compared to 63 percent of older adults.
• 89 percent of younger adults say they would be willing to listen if someone
  wanted to tell them about his or her Christian beliefs, compared to 75 percent
  of older adults.

And 71 percent of all respondents agreed that "believing in Jesus makes
a positive difference in a person's life."

More sobering is the fact that 58 percent of younger adults and 67 percent
of older adults think the God of the Bible is no different from the gods or
spiritual beings depicted by world religions such as Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism,
etc. I guess we shouldn't be surprised that people who don't go
to church don't understand how completely different the God of the Bible
is from Hinduism's pantheon or Buddhism's idea that ultimate reality
is impersonal non-existence.

When you add those views to the Oprah-ization of American Christianity, you
get a generic "big guy in the sky" view of God and a "you
believe what you believe, I believe what I believe" viewpoint on theology.
People are shocked when Christians say the Bible explains the truth about who
God is, what He expects of people and what He has done to make it possible for
us to be reconciled with Him. Shocked - but not closed to discussions.

Americans' view of God is looking less and less like the God described
in the Bible. A hundred years ago, Americans held more of a consensus about
who God is. Today, the majority of the unchurched believe in God, but He/She/It
is a generic God that fits into every imaginable religious system - even when
the religions contradict each other.

Our syncretistic culture is a rebuke to us as Christians and, at the same time,
a challenge. Is there something that causes our culture to like Jesus but reject
the church?

Yes. It's us.

Obviously, it's more than that. And there is an important spiritual element
here - only God can open people's eyes. But we have been a big part of
the problem.

One of the big mistakes Christians have been making is divorcing the explanation
of the Gospel from the demonstration of the Gospel. For decades, Christians
have been sharing presentations and not explaining how faith makes a difference
in daily life. Maybe that's what people have rejected. People don't want
to hear another presentation or be seen as a prospect. They want to be somebody's
friend, to see up close and personal the difference Jesus makes in a person's
life.

People want a faith that is not just "tell," but "be"
and "do." All three matter - "be," "do,"
and "tell."

Even though the unchurched have a confused view of God and a negative view
of the church, the fact that they are overwhelmingly open to someone sharing
about their Christian faith should make us stop and think. Or maybe I should
say, it should make us go and tell. We believe religion is off-limits in polite
conversation, but the vast majority of unchurched people say they would enjoy
conversations about spiritual matters.

Even more important, our research showed 89 percent of unchurched Americans
say they have at least one close friend who considers himself or herself a Christian,
and 71 percent say they don't think Christians talk too much about their
beliefs.

In other words, we can stop searching for unchurched people to talk with about
Christ. We already know them, and they are open to talking with us about Jesus.
All we need to do is start the conversations about spiritual matters. Perhaps
church leaders should begin teaching about basic hospitality and friendship
as part of the biblical ethic in New Testament Christianity.

Christians don't have the home field advantage we once had, but people
are open to listening, and God is still at work, using people and churches to
share the Good News in an increasingly confused world.

That should propel us to action and help us move beyond fear to share our faith.

Yep, lots of hypocrites in the church - at least that's the way 72 percent
of the unchurched see it. But only 44 percent of them say Christians get on
their nerves.

We'll have to work on the rest.

Ed Stetzer is director of research for LifeWay Research. For
more details about the survey and a podcast that discusses the results, visit
lifewayresearch.com
and edstetzer.com. This
data will be published in a forthcoming book, The Younger Unchurched and
Churches that Reach Them (co-authored with Richie Stanley).

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