In this Lyons and Kinnaman presented research conducted by the Barna Research Group that is presented in their new book, unChristian. The purpose of the research was to find out general attitudes about Christians and Christianity from the non-Christian world. The findings reveal that 9 out of 10 outsiders (those not in the church) age 16-29 use the following words to describe Christians:
- Antihomosexual
- Judgmental
- Hypocritical
- Political
- Proselytizers
- Sheltered
Their conclusion is that these findings are deeper than an image problem. The people surveyed weren’t coming up with their opinions based on what they saw and heard in the news; their opinions were based on personal experience with the church and with Christians!
My personal thoughts:
This session gave me a lot of things to think about. Honestly, though, the findings didn’t surprise me. I think that the majority of Christians today act nothing like Christ and resemble the Pharisees. It’s not an image problem in the church; it’s a heart problem! Christians need to quit putting on masks, pretending to be people they’re not; we need to be real!
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