Do Perceptions Matter?

Gabe and I frequently encounter the idea that Christians should not care what outsiders think about us. After all, Jesus warned that the 'world' would hate us. Scripture even promises persecution for those who follow Christ.

Keep in mind that part of the reason Christians possess a bad reputation is because our faith perspectives grate against a morally relativistic culture. Mosaics and Busters find that Christian perspectives run counter to their anything-goes mindset. Although outsiders don't always understand us, we have to be very careful about not tossing aside the biblical motivations that contribute to these perceptions. For instance, Christians are known as judgmental because we address sin and its consequences. Christians should be pursuing conversations and opportunities that point people to Christ because we are representatives of life's most important message. And Christians should strive for purity and integrity even if that makes us appear sheltered.

As Christ's representatives, we have to articulate the reality that there is a holy Creator who holds us to a standard that exists beyond our finite, cracked lives. Our awareness of a transcendent being should alter who we are and how we think.

However, before you dismiss the unChristian perception as 'just Christians doing their duty,' realize that the challenge runs much deeper. The real problem comes when we recognize God's holiness but fail to articulate the other side of his character: grace. Jesus represents truth plus grace (see John 1:14). Embracing truth without holding grace in tension leads to harsh legalism, just as grace without truth devolves to compromise. Still, the important insight based on our research is that Mosaics and Busters rarely see Christians who embody service, compassion, humility, forgiveness, patience, kindness, peace, joy, goodness, and love.

Should we care what people think? Gabe and I began to realize that the more important question was What if young outsiders are right about us? What is missing in our portrayal of the Christian faith to new generations? If we have failed to represent the grace that Jesus offers - if we have been poor representatives of a holy and loving God - then, absolutely, what they think about us matters. If we have been unChristian, then we bear responsibility for the problem - and the solution.

In trying to understand people's reactions to Christianity, there are four reasons why perceptions matter.

1. What people think about Christians influences how they respond to us. Many people make a conscious choice to reject the message of Christianity, or to avoid churches, because of their views about the faith. People's attitudes drive their actions. For instance, our firm has done community-based research for hundreds of churches. Many congregations are perceived in the same negative terms: judgmental, boring, insincere, arrogant, old-fashioned, irrelevant, and so forth. Typically these images are based on specific experiences that outsiders have had in that particular church. So the negative images are not just 'made up' or 'out there.' Young outsiders are choosing to avoid churches and reject allegiance to Christianity because the faith seems at odds with the type of people they want to associate with.

2. What people think about Christians should help us be objective. Outsiders kept telling us that Christians are not realistic or transparent about themselves. An important perspective we should embrace is 'You are what you are, not what you tell people you are.' As Christians, however, we need to make continual, honest evaluations of ourselves so that we can uncover the ways in which our lives do not accurately reflect what we profess. Then we might be more discerning about the things we say and how we say them. We might realize that people don't change their perceptions just because we disagree.

3. What people think of Christians can change. Another reason Christians should care about the image of their faith is that people's attitudes are constantly in flux, particularly in a society that is as fluid and dynamic as ours. Just a decade ago the Christian faith was not generating the intense hostility it is today. If the Christian faith has image problems today, the ever-changing environment means we will have opportunities tomorrow to change those perceptions. This won't happen if we try simply to make ourselves look good. The reputation of the Christian faith should never be managed or spin-doctored, but we can change how we're known by becoming more Christlike.

4. What people think about Christians reflects personal stories. The unChristian faith affects your life, perhaps more than you realize. As you interact with your friends, the labels 'hypocritical,' 'conversion-happy,' anti-homosexual,' 'sheltered,' 'too political,' and 'judgmental' are welded to what many people think about you. You do not have to like this, but it's a fact of our complex world.

If you are a pastor, your church has to deal with the image of Christianity each time you send a mailing, in each instance of interacting with city officials, and every time you invite unchurched individuals to your church. If you are a professional working in other industries, such as science, education, the media, and so on, your job and your witness are affected by the image that people conjure up when they hear you are a Christian. This is important because, as much as I want to help you understand the national patterns, it is ultimately your task to interpret those trends for your context and for the decisions you make each day about how you represent Christianity to others. Is there an appropriate balance between grace and truth in your life? Jesus was concerned about the reputations of his Father in heaven. Are you? Your life shows other people what God is like.

If I have still not convinced you to care about unChristian faith, I wish you could read and hear the thousands of interviews we did. Some of the stories will appear in this book, but the brief written excerpts give you only a glimpse of their potency. It is easy to say you don't care that Christians are known as judgmental, but then you hear a kind, soft-spoken single mother describe what Christians said to her about her parenting abilities. You can biblically defend the fact that Christians should be against homosexuality; then you interview a young person who describes how her experiences in churches led her to believe that Christians have absolutely no compassion or answers for her gay friend.

If you are skeptical that perceptions matter, my request is that you read these pages prayerfully. Then spend time listening to outsiders in your life. What have they experienced? What do they think of you? The depth and force of unChristian faith will start to hit you, as it did Gabe and me.