Q&A: Signs of an Identity Crisis
At a conference, I heard a speaker say that he has stopped using the title "Christian" because it has too much cultural baggage. He has gone to using the phrase "disciple of Jesus." Is this something that should get our attention?
Bethany: The very nature of the statement is meant to get our attention. The conference speaker has sounded the alarm that it could very well be the hypocrisy of Christians that has kept the "lost" from exploring Christianity. Calling ourselves Christian does not automatically make us appropriate representations of Christ's love to the world. Holding up a mirror to the Christian community and reminding us that we are not always who we claim to be is dramatic and provocative—Jesus did it to the Pharisees all the time.
Bob: The interesting thing I find about the comment, and I suppose where I might disagree with Bethany, is that the speaker was directing it solely at an unchurched audience. I didn't hear him saying that he's changing his label to impact the church at all, but to open a wider path of conversation with non-Christians. My impression was that it was a strategic evangelistic maneuver.
Scott: My sense is that he was speaking to both the church and society expressing a concern and frustration over the way we have come to define the title "Christian." In his eyes, the tendency is to identify those who claim the name of Jesus in ways that express a political perspective or a moral agenda. It is interesting to consider how we have gone about the process of separating the designation "Christian" from the call to follow Jesus.
Bob: Personally, I can understand why many people in our culture don't like Christians. It doesn't have anything to do with the label, but the content of people's lives. If a Christian evokes a negative response from someone in our culture by virtue of a less-than-Christlike, judgmental attitude, I'm not sure you can solve the problem by changing labels. A need exists to change the character of the person who evoked that negative response.
Bethany: I agree. I'm not sure that what we call ourselves makes much difference. To a large degree, I'm not sure how many of those outside the Christian tradition know what the word "disciple" means. They don't speak "Christianese." What's missing has little to do with semantics and everything to do with action. Many young adults in our culture feel hurt and wounded by the church. We will change their minds one at a time through relationship, not through a bait-and-switch name change. The difference is in the degree to which we are salt and light. We must allow the powerful love of the Most High God to transform our lives and send us into authentic Christlike action.
Scott: I am in total agreement with what we have identified to be the heart of the issue, but what do we make of the growing number who are saying that, while they aren't drawn to Christianity, they have interest in Jesus? I'm sensing that, for many, there is a feeling of freedom and independence associated with the idea of following Jesus that they do not find in the corporate body that is called Christian. It is as if they want a more personalized faith. Could this be a form of "designer Christianity"?
J. Scott Shaw (Bremerton, Washington), Bob Sherwood (Idaho Falls, Idaho), and Bethany Hull Somers (Mt. Vernon, Washington) are Church of the Nazarene pastors.
Holiness Today, September/October 2007
Please note: This article was originally published in 2007. All facts, figures, and titles were accurate to the best of our knowledge at that time but may have since changed.
