unChristian

David Kinnaman recently wrote the book UNCHRISTIAN: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity....and why it matters. He presents the challenge for Christians to act in a Christlike manner and replace the perception of who Christians are to a new perception that would accurately represent the person of Jesus Christ. His research shows that currently, Christians are perceived as being hypocritical, just wanting people to get saved, antihomosexual, sheltered, too political, and judgmental, all concepts that undermine authentic relationships of Christians (insiders) with who Kinnaman calls "outsiders." Some might claim that it does not matter what people think of us, but indeed, when individuals have a negative view of Christianity before ever having an accurate presentation of the Gospel, we should care because it matters to Jesus who is not willing that any should perish.

The question that must be answered is "What do we do about it?" There are no quick fixes. We as Christians must take our faith seriously, not only for church growth, but more so, for our personal integrity and authenticity as followers of Jesus. Every believer must understand the importance of their words, attitudes, and actions on their family, friends, and relationships. Jesus warns us about offending the little ones (Luke 17:2) which refers to both chronological and spiritual children. We must maintain the integrity of our faith in Christ without doing so in an arrogant or condescending manner. "This is not an effort to be popular or merely accommodate outsiders, but to engage them with the life-changing Jesus rather than an unChristian version of him." We must do more than preach the truth, we must live the truth.