What would they say about us?

Another Barna Update is out and this one looks at how Christianity is perceived by young people in our country. The news is not encouraging. So according to Barna, how do young people view Christianity? "...just 16% of non-Christians in their late teens and twenties said they have a "
'good impression' of Christianity." Ouch. For evangelicals, the news gets worse: "The new study shows that only 3% of 16 - to 29-year-old non-Christians express favorable views of evangelicals."

Apparently many Christians are aware of this. I know as a pastor I am. Here's what the study found from pastors: "Among senior pastors, half contend that 'ministry is more difficult than ever before because people are increasingly hostile and negative toward Christianity.'"

What is driving this negative image of Christianity? Read on:

The study explored twenty specific images related to Christianity, including ten favorable and ten unfavorable perceptions. Among young non-Christians, nine out of the top 12 perceptions were negative. Common negative perceptions include that present-day Christianity is judgmental (87%), hypocritical (85%), old-fashioned (78%), and too involved in politics (75%) - representing large proportions of young outsiders who attach these negative labels to Christians. The most common favorable perceptions were that Christianity teaches the same basic ideas as other religions (82%), has good values and principles (76%), is friendly (71%), and is a faith they respect (55%)

Ouch again! But researchers found that young Christians also feel many of the same things!

Half of young churchgoers said they perceive Christianity to be judgmental, hypocritical, and too political. One-third said it was old-fashioned and out of touch with reality.

If I'm honest, I'd have to agree with these young church goers. My experience with Christians has sadly often proven these perceptions to be true: that Christians are judgmental, hypocritical, old-fashioned, and out of touch with reality. (As to too political, I think Christians can often be blindly loyal to a particular political party and agenda. Perhaps that is the subject of a future post!)

Apparently experience has influenced the views of these young people. David Kinnaman who worked on this project had this to say:

Going into this three-year project, I assumed that people’s perceptions were generally soft, based on misinformation, and would gradually morph into more traditional views. But then, as we probed why young people had come to such conclusions, I was surprised how much their perceptions were rooted in specific stories and personal interactions with Christians and in churches. When they labeled Christians as judgmental this was not merely spiritual defensiveness. It was frequently the result of truly ‘unChristian’ experiences. We discovered that the descriptions that young people offered of Christianity were more thoughtful, nuanced, and experiential than expected.

These attitudes have been shaped by young people's experience with Christians! Ouch yet again!

That brings me to my question for our church: what would they say about us? How are we perceived in our community? Do people see us as judgmental, hypocritical, irrelevant, old-fashioned? If they do see us in a negative light, how do we change that?

I remember Jesus having something to say about this: "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." It would seem we are not doing a very good job of this.