UNC has proved time and time again to be an excellent representation of what the next generation of Christianity will look like across the state of North Carolina, and possibly around our country. I say this because I am in a Peer Leadership class this semester which discusses a broad variety of cultural norms, traditions, and issues, and today, our professor told our class of 20 students that we each had to answer the following prompt and then share it with the class. Here is part of the prompt we had to answer:
I am from (your religion… further describe in one sentence).
The responses were staggering, and I believe they say much about the way Christianity is perceived not only by the nonChristian world, but also–and to a more horrifying extent–to those inside the church, proclaiming Christ.
As each person shared around the room, I kept a mental tab on almost everything everyone said, but especially for those who started off with ‘Christianity’.
Out of the 20 students in the room, 9 indicated that they were Christians, including myself, which I deemed to be a reasonable number, given that while NC is in the Bible Belt, UNC is the belt buckle of liberalism. But the brief descriptions the other 8 students gave after ‘Christianity’ is what really took me aback.
To reiterate, the activity was structured such that you indicate your religious affiliation, and then write a ‘one sentence description’ that might as well be the first associations you make when you think about your religion. Here were the responses of the other 8 proclaiming Christians:
1. “Christianity… being drug to Sunday school growing up”
2. “Christianity… going to church with my parents… and now if I wake up on time”
3. “Christianity… going to Easter Sundays and Christmas caroling”
4. “Christianity… devouring a huge pizza after our 30 hour fast”
5. “Christianity… saying grace before meals and doing the right thing”
6. “Christianity… going twice a week, where I’d get my two best meals of the week”
7. “Christianity… having Baptist tendencies”
8. “Christianity… growing up Baptist”
I’m honestly not trying to come down hard on those who proclaim Christ. However, if 8 of the 9 proclaiming Christians in the room can describe what Christianity means to them in one sentence, and if these are the responses that follow, then Christianity is in utter need for a resurgence. Christianity is so much more than pot-luck dinners, country club morality, fasting with white knuckles, doing the right thing, and Jesus-themed holidays. Christianity is wholly about Jesus–who he is and what he has done. THAT should be what our Christianity means to us. THAT should be what we immediately associate with the term ‘Christianity’.
In fact, if it means for us to throw out the traditional, cultural, social, and familial characteristics of Christianity in order that people may know what it is really about, so be it. Otherwise, the world will continue to believe that the only substance Christianity retains is simply another expression of social morality, yet this time through the spectrum of southern culture: KFC, football, and fellowship.
Nonetheless, to be sure, I am all about chicken, community, Sunday mornings, and ethics–and I believe that only the Christian church serves the best kinds of each of them. However, those things are not Christianity. And let’s not forget that ‘Christianity’ without ‘Christ’ is like ‘chemistry’ without ‘chem’. Without the root, it would be ‘ianity’ or ‘istry’–fundamentally describing nothing. And if this isn’t the case, Christianity will be as irrelevant as every other religion is under the philosophy of tolerance and coexistence.
Why go out of my way for the sake of others to know Jesus if all my Christianity means is caroling, pot lucks, and upbringing? Fuel for the Great Commission is certainly not stored there. But if my Christianity is about Jesus–who he is and what he has done–then I will live as if nothing else really mattered.
* * * * *
Here are some other statistics that I found interesting as well, which I believe are incredibly unique to the college campus, and why these stats make college campuses the best mission fields out there:
In one class of 20 students:
- 9 proclaimed Christianity; yet, only 1 of the 9 believed that premarital sex is wrong.
- 3 Catholic
- 1 Hindu/Buddhist
- 1 Jew
- 1 Muslim
- 1 Philadelphia religion church(?)…something unique to where he grew up
- 3 no religious affiliation
The diversity is simply astonishing and unreal. What an incredible chance to reach the lost. And how great a need is there to light a fire under Christian nominalism by getting back to the One who is of first importance: Christ (1 Co. 15:3-4). The church is dying of internal vitality now, and its numbers will begin to externally resemble this reality in the coming years. Churches need to step up; they need to shepard the flock better.
Like Mark Driscoll says in his forthcoming book, A Call To Resurgence, “It’s not time to wear sandals, it’s time to wear work boots”.
