Why I’m not a Christian anymore

It seems to me that good communication is not so much about what you say, but what people hear. We can feel we are being very clear and precise in what we’re saying, but our audience can hear something very different.

Missionaries have always been mindful of this when working oversees. It’s never been enough to simply learn the language; missionaries have had to learn the culture as well before they can begin to communicate effectively. Of course this is nothing new. When Peter communicated the gospel to devout Jews at Pentecost he referred to Israel, scripture, the prophets, the patriarchs and resurrection (Acts 2), cultural symbols the Jews understood well. In contrast to this, when Paul communicated the gospel to intellectual Greeks in Athens he used none of this language because he knew it would be misunderstood. Instead he referred to Greek poets and philosophy (Acts 17). And when Paul brought the gospel to hedonistic Corinthians, he hardly spoke at all. Instead he simply demonstrated the power of God’s Spirit (1 Cor. 2:4-5).

The question is therefore, what language should we be using when trying to communicate the gospel in the sub-cultures we’re a part of?

The young adults I hang round with are spiritually curious (in varying degrees) but anti-religion. With only a handful of exceptions, I’ve found that as I’ve used words like ‘Christian’, ‘Christianity’ and ‘church’ to describe myself and what I do, conversations inevitably come to an abrupt end! A recent survey brought this into sharp focus. 85% of people surveyed only had negative things to say about ‘Christianity’, but 100% only had positive things to say about Jesus.

The answer seems pretty obvious. To effectively communicate within the sub-culture I’m a part of, I need to stop referring to myself as a ‘Christian’, or an adherent of ‘Christianity’. I’m not saying there is anything inherently wrong with these words, simply that when I use them people are hearing something very different from what I’m trying to communicate.

In fact the name ‘Christian’ only appears 3 times in the Bible, and seemed to start its life as an insult. Instead the early followers of Jesus referred to themselves as just that, followers (or disciples) of Jesus, and they referred to the faith they were a part of as The Way. People weren’t joining a ‘religion’ they were embracing a Jesus-centred spiritual lifestyle.

So I’ve decided to stop referring to myself as a Christian and instead call myself a follower of Jesus (or more precisely, someone who is trying to follow Jesus). I’ve already found that this opens up conversations where the name ‘Christian’ had previously closed them down.

Tim