11 Reasons Why I Don't Like The Term "Christian" by John Smulo

My article on preaching was published in the Baptist mag a month ago, & brought some strong response … 3 intelligent & gracious articles from Bible college lecturers (2 of whom I’ve studied under previously) …. I’m not convinced by their responses, & have the opportunity to respond in 800 words next month. There was also a few ‘why do we print this rubbish’ type letters (critiquing preaching in Baptist circles is like a red rag to a sacred cow), plus a ‘this anti-preaching article must have the devil rubbing his hands in glee’ letter … this imagery brings a smile to my face.

Here are some thoughts from John Smulo on why he doesn’t like the tem ‘christian’, and why he prefers ‘Jesus-Follower’
It might just seem like semantics (playing with words), but I’m convinced that as christians oops jesus-followers, we need to be accurate with our words where possible (although being vague or ambiguous can help in some situations).

11 Reasons Why I Don't Like The Term "Christian"
http://www.johnsmulo.com/
Words have meaning because we give them meaning. Sometimes particular words lose meaning. Other times they take on new meanings that are loaded.

"Christian" is a word that has several meanings depending on the context in which it is used, and who is using it.

Below you will find a list of reasons why I struggle with the term "Christian" to represent faith in Jesus.

1. Because it has a lot of historical baggage.
2. Because it raises a lot of hurt for many people.
3. Because people think they have “Christians” all figured out.
4. Because it’s become a stereotype, even if often a painfully accurate one.
5. Because the kind of Christianity I’ve read about (see below) has different connotations than “Christian” implies.
6. Because it provokes anger in many people.
7. Because it often has little to do with Jesus.
8. Because it’s associated more closely with judgment than grace.
9. Because I’d rather use a term that causes people to ask questions, rather than giving them a box to put me in.
10. Because in popular culture it’s more associated with what “Christians” are against, than what they’re for.
11. Because it’s often inaccurately tied to other words such as “nation”.

12 Reasons Why I Prefer The Term "Jesus-Follower"
Here are some of the reasons why I normally refer to myself as a 'Jesus-follower'.

1. It centers on Jesus.
2. It implies action.
3. It raises questions rather than answers.
4. It encourages further understanding and exploration.
5. It points others to Someone beyond myself to look to.
6. It suggests a journey rather than a destination.
7. It requires a dynamic, rather than static, context.
8. It agrees that there is room, if not a need, for A New Kind of Christian Follower.
9. It doesn’t have historical baggage, and unlike a more popular term, is less likely to cause angst and heart burn.
10. It fulfills what Jesus himself asked of people time and time and time and time and—well you get the point—again.
11. It is a conversation starter rather than stopper.
12. It exhorts relationship, interaction, and partnership.

The kind of Christianity I’ve read about
What happened to a Christianity that was for the poor, instead of the middle-class?
God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.

What happened to a Christianity that was for those without happy-smiley-faces?
God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

What happened to a Christianity that didn’t demand it’s rights in the public square?
God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth.

What happened to a Christianity that sought justice for the least of these?
God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied.

What happened to a Christianity full of mercy, grace, compassion, and love?
God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

What happened to a Christianity without mixed motives and deep simplicity?
God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.

What happened to a Christianity that wasn’t tied to wars of words and tanks?
God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God.

What happened to a Christianity that was persecuted for having a dream of a better world for others?
God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
Matthew 5:3-10

What are the essential biblical ingredients of a church?

I’ve been involved in the NZ Baptist “Sharpening the Edge” Conference the last couple of days (Being part of a panel reflecting on the stories being told).
One of the questions I raised (which was nicely sidestepped) related to what the Biblical essentials for a church are. This conference is a group of jesus-followers who are leaders (mostly pastors), who are interested in alternative forms of church for the sake of mission here in NZ. As they explore alternative models such as weeding gardens on a Sunday morning, or a 7-day-a-week childrens program with no formal church service … the question arises “what is church?” As part of figuring that out, I think we should be able to clarify what the biblical essentials are ….. consider 3 levels
1. Biblical essentials (you must have these to have a ‘church’, & they all have sound biblical basis)
2. Very important things (but not essential)
3. Other helpful things
It is interesting & challenging to try to put the various aspects of normal church into these 3 categories (ie ordained ministers, weekly meetings, Sunday meetings, corporate sung worship, sermons, leadership structure, buildings, communion etc etc) Why don’t you try to do it??? Or if you know a ‘minister’ .. ask them. & let me know via a comment here.

My challenge to the Baptists was “we’re all ministers / theologically trained’ & trying to create churches … we should be able to do this quickly … 30 seconds & we should have the items in level #1 – but I bet we can’t, & there would be no common agreement on it (scary)
They side-stepped the question graciously & said something like it was something they needed to be working on over the next year (their ecclesiology)

My experience of asking a group of 8 ministers the same question was that there was no common agreement on the biblical essentials for a church ….. what does that tell us about our ecclesiology (theology of the church)???
Maybe you can set me straight on this ….

Why Gather

For a few weeks, I've been musing over a line in Mark Strom's book "Reframing Paul". It relates to our purpose in gathering as 'the church' being to "gather in community for conversation".

Our Sunday gatherings these days are really a teenage bible study / feast / fun time - where we try to interact with each other, parts of the bible, & god. So this phrase "gathering in community for conversation" seems like a good description for us (even thought the conversation gets noisy as lots of people speak at once) .... & probably a good description for why church communities in general should gather ....

I've been 'invited' to a court hearing on Thursday - an ex-minister vs denomination dispute re 'church' property. It reminds me that if you don't have a structured organisation, there is no one to battle with, and if there is no organisational property, then there is no property to fight over.

Making 'A' Decision & the 'Sinners Prayer'

A friend wrote a good article on his blog about 'viral church' (see link above). I agreed with virtually all of it .... but one line seemed worthy of further discussion.

He said “the goal of a (there was a misisng word here) is to encourage every person on this planet to advance in some way in their search and discovery of Jesus.” (that bit was fine) then “Don’t get me wrong, bringing a person to a point of decision and praying the sinners prayer with them is an important part of the process” ….

So .... I stepped into dangerous ground for an evangelical (or someone with a baptist, evangelical & pentecostal background) ….

In the NT I don’t see Jesus bringing anyone to a ‘point of decision’ & praying/saying anything like a sinners prayer …. Although individuals did clearly respond to him in different ways at different times (eg Nicodemus, Zaccheus, rich young ruler) ….

Interestingly, there is only a record of the ‘born again’ thing being said … & it was only to one person on one occasion (to Nicodemus in John 3) … the same frequency as the ‘sell all your possession’ thing (to the rich young ruler) hmmm ... we build a doctrine around the 'be born again' passage, but ignore or minimise the 'sell your possessions' passage by saying "that was just him" or "he obviously had a problem with his possessions". I'm not convinced this is consistent.

I don’t see the (single) point of decision / sinners prayer thing anywhere in the NT (either JC or Paul) .... I say 'single point of decision' because there are indications of individuals like the disciples making a number of decisions which have practical & spiritual effects in their lives .... but I haven't been able to discover where any of the disciples made the BIG point-of-decision (? when exactly did they become 'christians'?). Also, the example of Paul (Saul)'s conversion isn't exactly the norm these days .... although you do find bright lights & loud voices in some big churches :-)

Historically “personal conversion” is a relatively new construct - it came with the great awakening & evangelical revivals from the 17th century onwards. The earliest notion of a sinners prayer is less than 500 years old. It wasn't formalized as a theology until around the time of Billy Graham – in the 1950s Bill Bright (working with Billy Graham) came up with the Four Spiritual Laws (which ends with the Sinners prayer). Some of this theological shoft was based on misuse of Rev 3:20 (which is written to lukewarm churches, not pre-christians) & the inaccurate Living Bible translation of Jn 1:11-13 (which adds “All they needed to do was to trust him to save them. All those who believe this are reborn!” …. which has no basis in the greek text)

So .. I think we all face a multitude of decision points in our lives … where we have choices relating to choosing for or against God, Jesus, & his kingdom. We do need to be spiritually renewed … probably many times. This spiritual renewal should reveal itself in our lives & actions, as is nicely pointed out in Matt 25:31ff

That’s my quick thoughts …

Where Is It??

“Where is it? If a new thing is happening, why can’t we see it? If these new models or wineskins of church are so great, why aren’t they strong and visible now?” A friend involved in leadership of a ‘normal’ church regularly throws these questions at me. Other leaders raise the same issue in the form of a statement “when you have a church of a thousand people and are seeing hundreds saved every year, then you can critique current church structures.”

For myself, and other proponents of alternative ways of extending God’s kingdom, including house churches, organic churches, and truly missional churches, these questions are often raised by defenders of the status quo - by leaders within structured churches, as they look outside the domain of organised Christianity at the alternative forms of ‘church’ being discussed and attempted. “If what you’re proposing is so great, where is it? Why can’t we see it? Why isn’t it growing rapidly?”
These appear to be good questions, at least from the perspective of those who ask them.......


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First blog post

For the last 20 months, I've been writing some articles, & stealing others, & emailing them out to interested people. The response has been great, and many people appreciate the articles.

At times, people respond to the articles with questions, or comments. I teply to them, & hence some email interaction occurs. Much of this is invisible - yet might be of interest to other people.
Hence .... a blog to contain some of those pearls of wisdom, heresy or questions.

Also - the comment has been made that I have a 'captive audience' with the 'ideas from the edge' emails ... so when people critique them, they can't pass those critiques on to this 'captive audience'. hence, a blog might enable some of those critiques (& other intereactions) to be visible.

So ... if it works ... this might be the start of a blog ...