Posted: 03/19/07

They Like Jesus but not the Church

Sean McDowell

            There is little doubt that the contemporary church is in trouble. Statistics reveal an unsettling exodus from the church by younger generations who are "spiritual, but not religious." Pastor Dan Kimball has addressed this disturbing trend head-on in his new book They Like Jesus but not the Church (Zondervan, 2007). Dan is a pastor at Vintage Faith Church and the author of multiple books on the emerging church* His book is endorsed by Lee Strobel, Josh McDowell, Greg Koukl, and other respected conservative voices.

            Rather than relying on statistics to make his case, Dan interviewed young non-Christians as to their perspectives of the contemporary church. He asked them two simple questions, "What do you think of when you hear the name Jesus?" and, "What comes to your mind when you hear the word Christian?" He found that emerging generations are largely favorable to Jesus with comments such as, "He is beautiful," "He is a wise man," and "I want to be like him."

But when asked what they think of Christians and the church, students' responses were markedly different. Most of the young people Dan interviewed held six common misperceptions of the church:

1.      The church is an organized religion with a political agenda

2.      The church is judgmental and negative

3.      The church is dominated by males and oppressed females

4.      The church arrogantly claims all other religions are wrong

5.      The church is full of fundamentalists who take the whole Bible literally.

Dan asks an important question that is worth pondering: "Could it be because we have never really engaged in conversation and relationship with them, so they form stereotypes? Could it be that when we do engage in conversation with them or 'witness' to them using our typical methods, we are doing more harm than good? Maybe in the church we have been doing so much talking that we haven't really listened. Shouldn't we hear their thoughts, hear their hearts?" (38)

There were many misperceptions during the inception of the early church that were only fully overcome when apologists explained what Christianity was truly about and Christians befriended non-Christians. Some of the misperceptions against the church today will only be overcome through apologetics and relationships.

Since we live in a culture that is increasingly post-Christian, Dan argues that we must think of ourselves as missionaries. No longer are the values influencing emerging generations shaped by pastors, Bible teachers, and Christianity as a whole. Emerging generations of young people no longer know the biblical story, they are open to all faiths, and they believe many of the stereotypes of religious people presented in the media. As a result, Dan suggests that take the following approach:

Instead of viewing our towns and cities as Judeo-Christian and feeling that everyone needs to automatically adhere to what we believe, we need to act like missionaries do when they enter a different culture. When missionaries enter another culture, they listen, learn, study the spiritual beliefs of the culture, and get a sense of what the culture's values are. They may try to discover what experiences this culture has had with Christians and what the people of the culture think of Christianity. Missionaries in a foreign culture don't practice the faiths or embrace the spiritual beliefs of that culture, but they do respect them, since the missionaries are on the other culture's turf (29-30).

You may disagree with parts of They Like Jesus but not the Church, but this is a provocative book that must not be ignored. With love, compassion, and forthrightness, Dan challenges the contemporary evangelical church to take a hard look at how our actions and attitudes shape the perspective our culture has of Jesus. The cross is certainly a stumbling block to people as Paul makes clear (1 Corinthians 1:23), but the problem is, according to Dan, that many non-believers struggle over the attitudes of Christians before they even get to the cross.

By Sean McDowell Click here for bio and archived articles