Jan
29
2010
Ain’t No Shame
Every once in awhile a little rant is called for. So here’s mine.
What ever happened to being called a Christian? Did I miss the ecumenical council that decreed the phrase “Christ follower” or “Jesus-disciple” be used for churchgoers under the age of 40? Of course, there’s nothing wrong with calling yourself a “Christ follower” or a “Jesus-disciple.” You can be a part of “Team Jesus” or walk in the “way of Rabbi Yeshua” if that floats your boat. There are plenty of justifiable phrases to go around.
Provided we don’t pick our phrases in order to avoid necessary unpleasantries.
I understand that “Christian” may feel stale, and that it carries baggage with some people. But the label is biblical (Acts 11:26). And the baggage is sometimes unavoidable. If you want to be a “follower of Jesus” instead of a “Christian” because the former implies only ethical emulation, while the latter suggests doctrinal and institutional commitment, then you need to check your motives not the baggage. Again, I don’t have a problem using “disciple of Jesus” to spice things up a bit. A phrase like that may even be prudent in extreme situations of persecution. But if we in North America are using it just to be trendy, or to gut Christianity of its theological center, or to simply avoid being one of those guys, we should really take a deep breath and learn to live with a term that’s been around since first century Antioch.
And while I’m at it, we should also be careful that we don’t make everything about “Jesus.” (Wait a second, did he just say that?!) Let me explain. I love Jesus. I love to pray to Jesus. I love to say the name “Jesus” in my sermons, a lot. I talk about following Jesus, worshiping Jesus, believing in Jesus, and having a big, glorious Jesus. No apologies necessary for saying “Jesus.” But then one time an older member of our congregation asked why I didn’t say “Christ” more often. I had never really thought about it before. I guess “Jesus” just packs a little more punch, has a little more edge, sounds a little fresher than Christ or Lord or the Son of God.
Again, there’s nothing wrong with referencing “Jesus.” The gospels do it a whole bunch. But we must not forget–and we must help our younger listeners remember–that we are not merely followers of a man named Jesus. We worship the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. We are disciples of this man Jesus, but this man is also our Savior and God. He is, after all, more than a carpenter.
Following Jesus is a movement. Believing in Christ is a faith. Let’s make sure we don’t have the first sentence without the second.
Don’t ditch the name that marks us out as his. Ain’t no shame in being called a Christian.
41 Comments
How do you say it . . . oh yeh:
AMEN to that!
Kevin, I have no problem with being called a Christian or a Christ-Follower. Two things to be considered and one you may have alluded to earlier. Christian is thrown around quite lightly today. I would guess that more folks would casually call themselves “Christians” than would someone using the term “Christ-Follower”. The other concern is with the baggage. I am the global outreach pastor for our Church. I have several couples working in a context with Muslims, some of them sharing CHrist with Hezbollah members on a weekly, if not daily basis. When folks in their area of the world think Christian, one of 2 things come to mind; either the Crusades, or the cross around Madonna’s neck. “Christ-Follower” “Follower of Jesus”, “I believe Jesus is Lord” all carry the same message without the baggage. I hear what you are saying, and I appreciate it. Just an alternative thought.
I agree that at times the term or label Christian has been thrown around lightly especially in the past fifty years or so. Which in my experience has been mainly due to the dilution of biblical and theological orthodoxy. Which can be primarily attribted to the influence of a lot of the theological liberalism that was proliferated in the mainline churches during those years. However what I have noticed in my experience now in the last 10 or 15 years or so with the disappearence and loss of influence by these liberal mainline churches is that the term Christian seems to becoming at least in the eyes of many non believers that I’ve encountered as well as the culture in general synonmous with being a fundamentalist/right wing republican. Which I think is the kind of thing that has prompted a lot of emergent and Churchless Christian types to want to try drop the title of Christian. Which could be one more theory to why is easy to see the Emergent and C.C’s has just a new repackaged incarnation of mainline liberal Christianity.
It’s not just the liberal end of Christianity that pushes a lot of folks to want a more descriptive way of communicating what they’re about—up here in Seattle many people would use a term like that when doing evangelism so that they could show the difference between the Gospel and Right Wing politics.
Many people hear ‘Christian’ and think Fox News, Pat Robertson, or George Bush. I’m not arguing politically here, I’m saying that it becomes an additional stumbling block. The cross is a big enough stumbling block, I don’t want to add to it unnecessarily when I’m telling someone about Jesus.
I was coming to post something very similar to what Chase said (as one who has gone to Turkey multiple times) and then I saw his post which said it better than I could have. The cultural baggage is why I don’t call myself a Christian when I am in Turkey (instead I call myself a follower of Isa).
other verse reference:
“And Agrippa said to Paul, “In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?””- Acts 26:28
“Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.” – 1 Peter 4:16
I just don’t know if that stigma of the term is really as widespread as the media portends it to be. Not enough to change what we call ourselves either way. And besides the Pat Robertsons and George W. Bushes comes and go. What we also have to remember as well is that the unbeliever’s disposition of their hear is at emnity with God and for a lot of them they are going to take any excuse they can find to scoff at the Gospel and Christianity and if lumping us in with a stereotype is what the devil uses to blind their eyes we still need tol stand firm and dig in our heels in. Ultimately we don’t know what the Holy Spirit is doing in the hearts of individual unbelievers in their individual situations as well as God’s providential plan. I know that it was not even two days before my conversion that I was mocking and making fun of my own relative’s Christian faith as well as Christians in general. And that all changed by God’s powerful life changing spirit. Remember”This too shall pass.”
From the scripture you reference (Acts 11:26), it says that the disciples were called Christians first at Antioch. So isn’t it true that the disciples didn’t refer to themselves as Christians, but were called that by non-Christians? And wasn’t the term Christian, initially a derogatory term? Actually the term Chiristian is only referenced in the bible like four times. However, the word disciple is referenced over two hundred times.
Anyway, I have no shame in being called a Christian for that is what I am. However, I typically refer to myself as a disciple of Jesus Christ.
Thanks for the thoughtful post!!!
Good reminder. I had thought years ago that “Christian” can mean so many different things. As in simply someone who goes to church. A very broad term in our culture. “Believer” seemed stronger. I’ve heard others say “Bible-Believing Christian.” Truth is you are no Christian if you are not a bible-believing Christian.” But even that can be interpreted as someone who believes in the bible, rather than someone who is a Christian according to the definition found in the bible. Perhaps, “I’m a believer, a Christian.” There is hardly a label to identify that is universally understood – we should right up front make clear what we mean by “Christian.” Definitions of words so important SO as to be fully understood. Just as the term “follower of Jesus,” does not really explain or mean the same things to everyone. We will have to ask, ‘Do you mean “Follower of Jesus” as according to the word of God. Or do you mean “Follower of Jesus” as in “I don’t care to know things and truths about Jesus – I only want to follow him, in his example.” ‘
Similar rant from James MacDonald you might enjoy…
I seldom talk to someone that I’ve never met before, without saying to them, “Have you given your life to Christ? Are you saved?” And use biblical terms. Down with “are you a seeker,” “are you pre-converted,” “are you unreached…” ARE YOU LOST? How’s that? “Are you lost?” I’m going to think that God’s not upset about the Bible. I think that he likes his terms. I’m going to stick with those. “If you’re lost, you need to be…found.” “If you’re unsaved, you need to be…saved.” You need to be forgiven. You need Jesus Christ in your life…This is nothing we want to mince words about. I don’t want to be clever about this, I want to be CLEAR about it.
Great comments! I am a Christian who is well over 40 and has no problem with the label. But I do understand why some would. Christian as a descriptive term has almost gone the way of Evangelical. It means so many different thing in our society, not all of them good. It means Westboro Baptist Church to some, Jeremiah Wright to others. It means the justification of torture to one group and socialism to another. Perhaps we just need a qualifier to be added to the term. But then where would that end? Most importantly, we Christians need to ACT like Christians so that the world can see what the tern really means.
nice rant, loved it.
-bob, a self-proclaimed dinosaur Christian.
There are a lot of “biblical terms” that, when said to a true Christian, are understood at their meanings for that person. However, those same “biblical terms” have different meanings to the rest of the world.
And as Christians I believe, specifically from 2 Timothy 2:24-25, (And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth).
I believe patience and teaching here, and please correct me if I am wrong here and am eisageting rather than exageting the text, but I believe in today (and maybe even back then), when we recognize that there “biblical terms” have different meanings, we are responsible to teach correctly using terms then that explain properly what we are teaching.
When Chase Bowers replied “one of 2 things come to mind; either the Crusades, or the cross around Madonna’s neck “ I believe he was making a correct distinction here.
And Dean replied “synonymous with being a fundamentalist/right wing republican”. He was correct.
The experience I do have is that if I choose to use the term “Christian” and then try to explain the difference between a true Christian and a false Christian, I seem to be putting myself on a spot. I have to defend my “point of view” as opposed to what the term really means. However when I use a more descriptive phrase, and a term that I know most people are not associating (although they can see a tie in), I find that sharing, or teaching them is not necessarily easier, but more clearly understood.
Does that make sense?
Sometimes all you need to say is, Amen!!
I appreciate the perspectives from the overseas folks. God bless you. I tried to include enough caveats to allow for wisdom in different contexts. The last thing I want to do is lay down a law that every believer must refer to himself as a Christian at all times. What I want to avoid, however, is the attitude that prefers “Jesus follower” because it sounds cooler and doesn’t suggest any theological or church commitments.
Amen!
A-men & amen Kevin, Thanks. In the “Screwtape Letters” the Devil loves it when people classify others as “Puritanistic”. I think this is on that same theme. By flippently being called Christian or Puritanical the World will cause the names to be less thought of. Thanks again Kevin.
[...] Read the rest. As always, good thoughts. [...]
I signed up on Facebook recently. When it asked about my religious views, I simply wrote “Christian.” I have seen all of the cool religious views, but I figured people actually might know what I meant when I wrote that I was a Christian.
Thanks for a fun post to read!
What I don’t like about being called a “Christ Follower” is that anybody can follow Jesus’ good works but not many can be a Christian in the Biblical sense of the word. Just my 2 bits.
Have you heard of being called a “Christ-ian”, because we follow Christ, not a “Chris-tian”, because we don’t follow Chris?
Until recently, I lived in Houston, TX, and I began noticing a sad trend. Churches of more traditional denominations began removing the denominational names from their signs. Some even changed the name of their church in order to sound more like the modern, non-denominational churches that are “fellowship-this” or “community-that,” but they remain completely Baptist, Episcopal, or whatever.
My problem with that, is this…as a Baptists, say, aren’t you proud to be a Baptist. You must be a Baptist because you believe that the Baptists have the best understanding of the biblical truth, right? But now you’re obscuring that, because you’re ashamed of being a Baptist? Be what you are! Quit trying to attract people with a bait-n-switch method of evangelism! Be proud of what you are, and if you can’t be, then change! I did.
I am proudly a Calvinist, after nearly twenty years as a faithful Arminian, because, in my mind, that system provides the closest and best understanding of truth.
All labels have baggage, based upon the person who hears it; that can’t be helped. This is why we must be prepared to give an answer to any who ask, because the baggage they may associate with the Gospel, is probably wrong. Only loving education can remove that weight from their minds.
Baggage lite, baggage heavy, good baggage, bad baggage…
As Christians we will have baggage, no matter how hard we try..
But there is some baggage that is liter or better than others.
I am in a Baptist church, but am a Christian, Christ-follower, Ambassador of Christ Jesus.
My doctrine is Calvinistic.
But I have seen and heard one too many bragging s from a Circus masquerading as a Baptist church, giving invitations to raise hands and accept Christ, and whamo, just add water and they are now as Rick Warren says: “Welcome to the family of God” instant Christians.
That is NOT meant to single out the Baptist denomination, they all are doing this more and more as they embrace synergism more and more.
In sharing, not boasting, I have been blessed to be in an area where I have many venues to share the Gospel to strangers. What experience has shown me is that when people ask me either what denomination I am or what a good denomination would be to attend, I need to give a small “baggage lesson” if you will. I will not tell them Baptist is a good denomination, Presbyterian is a good denomination etc…
Because I see all to often (and for 42 years of my life) one can and often will, associate their salvation on a particular denomination… And that is a damning thing.
I will tell them they need to be wary of things called Christian or Churches. I feel compelled to point them to their bibles and encourage them to compare what they here to what the Bible says, and even give them a short bible reading hermeneutic. I will explain them when references to a bible verse to also read above and below that verse and then see if it still means what the preacher, author says it does.
So I guess baggage identification is something we need to school ourselves in.
This has always grated on me too. Of course, I am over 40 so that might be why. But the term “Christian” implies who I am (or whose I am), and “Christ-follower” implies what I do. Turns the table from what Christ did to what I do. Sometimes I am not following Christ very well, but I am always a Christian. One saves, the other doesn’t.
[...] Kevin DeYoung: Ain’t No Shame [...]
Christians go to Churches. Christ-followers go to things called Bridges, Tribes, or Mosaics.
How about neither Christians, nor Christ-Followers go to either Churches or Mosaics as Churches are not places, but Biblical Communities of Spiritually growing people with the Intentional mission of glorifying Jesus over all the earth. This has sadly shifted into an ethno-centric western argument. My friends who are serving in the United Arab Emirates call themselves Christ-Followers, because Christian is a term synonymous with the Crusades, which had little or nothing to do with Jesus. They are part of a Church, unashamed of Christ, and taking the Gospel to a tribe of unreached people.
Quote by JMB:
What does it mean to be a Christian?
What I consider to be the greatest weakness of contemporary evangelical Christianity in America . . . did I say weakness?
It is more.
It is a tragic error.
It is the idea – where did it ever come from? – that one can be a Christian without being a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It reduces the gospel to the mere fact of Christ’s having died for sinners, requires of sinners only that they acknowledge this by the barest intellectual assent, and then assures them of their eternal security when they may very well not be born again.
This view bends faith beyond recognition – at least for those who know what the Bible says about faith – and promises a false peace to thousands who have given verbal assent to this reductionist Christianity but are not truly in God’s family.
- James Montgomery Boice
[...] Ain’t No Shame by Kevin DeYoung asks whatever happened to being called a Christian? [...]
very interesting to read all these posts…i am way past 40 and have used “christ follower” on FB for 2+ years without knowing it was in any way trendy…Thought it was more clear with the majority identifying with “christian” . Will definately give the matter more thought…thanks for the insights
Great post, Kevin. I completely agree. But it’s not just the emerging type folks who often ditch the Christian label. My brother recently asked someone, “Are you a Christian?”
“No,” the man responded, “I’m a Calvinist.”
I have nothing against Calvin, but when we identify with his name before Christ’s, we’ve got the wrong JC!
this kind of thinking is why I changed my facebook religious views a couple months ago from “following Jesus” to “just an ordinary Christian.”
By the way, spellcheck still doesn’t recognize “facebook” or “spellcheck” for that matter.
Initially I liked the term Christ-follow when it first seemed to pick up popularity. Over time since, I have found the sense of “coolness” to be a growing reason for its use.
Kevin,
When we are in India working among our forward caste Hindu friends, we usually employ “Yeshu Bakt” or “Yeshu Shishy”, both of which translate to “Follower/Disciple of Jesus.” The term “Christian” in an Indian context carries little–if any–of the substance of the biblical usage. If I call myself a “Christian” when interacting with my Hindu friends, I say nothing whatsoever about myself or my faith, Jesus or religion. This is because they already assume that my entire civilization is “Christian” without regard to what it means in our own American religious context. On the other hand, more often than not, when we use more descriptive terms as our title (like ‘follower of Jesus’), we have opportunity to share the Risen Christ. Due to Indian caste, law and media, the term Christian means a lot more and a lot less than you think.
For the record, if we call ourselves “Christian” in Hindu India, we are saying far less than by using one of the other phrases.
Thanks for the blog.
Blessings.
TJ
Real belief actually requires “movement”, or action (James 2:20), and neither doctrinal statements or institutional towers are any substition. There is no name that “marks us out as His”, the only thing that sets someone apart from the World is real faith in Christ, not some label…
Have you at all considered that the “baggage” being avoided by those who choose to not use the word “Christian”, might not have anything to do with the core Truths of the Gospel, but rather political or cultural byproducts of religion?
I don’t know about you, but where I live, if you identify yourself as a “Christian”, people do not automatically think, “Oh, so you believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God…” They more likely are thinking, “Oh, so you vote Republican”…
In this day and age, in my town, calling oneself a “Christian”, (a “biblical” word that wasn’t actually used by the people who believed in Christ) amounts to little more than an unintentional obfuscation of what it really means to be a servant of Jesus Christ…
The first I heard someone mention “Christ-Follower” and similar descriptors, I was skeptical of the reason. I understand the need for cultural sensitivity in certain regions of the world, but in North America? I found the users of the term to be a bit arrogant, thinking that the 2000 years of rich history needs to be set aside, or ashamed when they realize that the World scoffs at the Faith and always has.
I also think this follows a trend towards a shallow faith. Yes, Jesus is the greatest revelation of God, but Jesus speaks of the Father and the Holy Spirit as necessary for living the complete life. I have never met Jesus, but the Holy Spirit has revealed Him to me, and I look forward to the day when I lays eyes upon Jesus. I cannot adequately describe the Father, but the Holy Spirit shows me His work and reminds me of how Jesus spoke of doing the Father’s work. I follow Jesus, but only because the Spirit, through scripture and prayer, shows me how to follow and empowers me to do what He sees the Father doing. I am a Christian because I can be no other.
Please help…
I have not “ditched” the term Christian, and really have not used Christ follower, but have considered it.
Where I am having issues though, and I would be lying if I said I didn’t, is that I know True sheep, know what Christian means, but when using the term to a goat, and I know it means hypocrite, It means like I was, I had been a professing Christian for well over 40 years, and helped greatly in showing that it meant hypocritical lip service.
Mac, question for you, (not meant to be pointed at you, but an earnest question I struggle with), How do you differentiate, set yourself aside, from comparing yourself to other proclaiming Christians?
How would you keep someone from saying you are a Christian, ah, you must like Joel Osteen, and you must close your eyes at scandals like the Bakers had, and you must also be a fan of Christian faith-healings of Benny Hinn.
Or you are a Church goer on Sunday’s, but on Friday night, you can drink with the best of them?
I grew up calling myself and all my family and most friends Christians, and would argue fiercely with anyone who said different, because I had “head knowledge”.
I feel the term in USA English, has been so twisted, like the term “gay” has, that when you refer to it, it’s meaning in USA has nothing to do with Jesus, except a false claim.
Thanks in advance…
Great post Kevin,
A brief response: http://www.xavierpacheco.com/post/Aine28099t-No-Shame-a-Response.aspx
Let me add my “AMEN!” to that!
Michael Adams:
I differentiate myself the same way Christians have for the past 2000 years. We are not the first generation to struggle with nominalism and charlatans…nor will we be the last. Remember, there were self proclaimed Messiahs even as Jesus walked in Israel.
I am a Christian, a convert from Sunni Islam and now planting a church among Muslims in Asia Minor.
How Muslim or ultra-nationalist extremests understand the word Christian should not determine our usage of the term Christian.
Chase Bowers writes that Hezbollah and others in this part of the world may relate the word ‘Christian’ to the ‘Crusades’ or ‘Madonna’s cross.’ He is right. But if we avoid using the word Christian and use another word instead they think we are a new cult outside of Christianity. Some also think that we are renewing Christian outlook. I even heard some say that we are deceiving them by using another name, other than Christian.
I don’t want Crusades or Madonna or missionaries to determine whether I should use this biblical word ‘Christian.’ It sounds foolish to continue using it. But the message we carry saves Muslims by the grace of God.
fikretbocek at gmail dot com
[...] Ain’t no shame in being called a Christian [...]