I was in the school bookstore this morning and I came across a book that was all about doing church right. I glanced through the table of contents to try and get the gist of this book and I noticed that the first chapter was titled: "No more Christian"
Hmm... I went to that chapter to read a little more.
Right off the bat it said that we need to totally drop the name or label of "Christian(s)"
It got me thinking.
Why should we drop that name? Is there something wrong with it? The book made the claim that a lot of people claim to be Christian, but don't act any different than a non-christian. I believe that is a valid point. A lot of Christians "blend in" with society and the non-Christians. That is a sad fact.
So, the point is that we should now call ourselves Christ-followers to show that we are different.
Personally, this whole movement is bothering me. I am a Christian. I am a Christ-follower. What is the difference? They are both a name. I see Christ-follower as the definition of Christian. I understand that true believers want to be different and stand out in the crowd, but a name change will not necessarily accomplish that. To stand out, you have to act differently. If people begin calling themselves a Christ-follower but do not act any different, what good is done? Society sees Christian and Christ-follower as one in the same.
I understand that the Christian name doesn't mean a whole lot to most people because of the fact that we don't act any different. And I understand that with a different name Christians have a second chance to change societies view of the Christian faith. I am glad that there is an effort to be different. At the same time, however, I am scared that too many people are going to jump on the band wagon, call themselves Christ-followers, and NOT change the way they act in their everyday lives. If the name is all that changes about a person or a group, non-Christian's perspective on them wont change.
I am not bashing "Christ-follower" and I am not promoting "Christian". I am calling for reform of our ways. To change the opinion of the on-lookers, give them something new to watch.
Call yourself a Christ-follower?... act like Christ.
Call yourself a Christian?... act like Christ.
I would love to hear your opinion about this topic. I know there are a lot of different thoughts about this and I want to know what you think. :-)
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3 comments:
a more simple way of putting that, is actions speak louder then words. live your life as god would have u live it. and spread the word of god by living your life for god. people see you doing that and they might think to themselves that they want to do that too. but if your all about words, which a lot of churches are, then people start to think to themselves that they will be all about words. or as you said, labeling themselves. people tend to copy each other. if they see their precher doin and living his life for god then they might do the same. but if that precher is just about the words, then they will do the same.
That is really good, it makes a lot of sense, you'll make a good youth minister
The Christian church is struggling now-days with attracting people into it, so they do things like putting starbucks in mega-churches in order to appeal to today's world. This Christ-follower movement might be another way the church is trying to attract the world; by changing it up a little bit. Don't 'diss' the movement until you know both sides of the story. But on your side of things, maybe christians are getting stagnant and bored in their walk with Christ so they get restless and need change, and the way to di it is to change the name of their beliefs in order to grow closer to God. This is a problem..how will the world follow and stay faithful when "Christ-followers" get bored and lose faith?
Good thinking Joe, keep it up!
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