Christianity in America has suffered a mass exodus in recent decades. As the pastor of a large church in North Texas, I can’t say I’m surprised.
As recently as the late 1980s, about 90% of Americans identified as Christian, according to Pew Research, but by 2020, that number fell to just 64%.
This is a radical change, and the reality is even harsher when we consider the situation from one generation to the next. While 66% of Americans born before 1946 claimed to be members of a church, that figure drops to 36% for millennials and is even lower for Gen Z. according to Gallup.
Over my lifetime, the Christian brand has gone from admired…to tolerated…to canceled…to repugnant. What happened?
We can debate the reasons. Some might focus on how the dominant culture treats the Church. But I believe the Church faces more than just a perception problem: it’s a product problem. And it’s up to Christians to take ownership of this problem and fix it.
When I talk about the “brand” of Christianity, it’s not about inventing a new marketing slogan. A brand is an identifier: it’s how someone or something is known, and it comes with a promise. Just as the Southwest Airlines brand is associated with friendly faces and affordable flights, or the Jeep brand is associated with adventure and outdoor activities, Christianity also has a brand. And we can’t make up what it is. We take our brand from our founder, Jesus, who made us understand it.
In John 13, Jesus says that his disciples should be known for their radical love. We must love as he loved us. This is how Jesus lived. He set aside His preferences, His pride, and His comfort for us… to the point of dying on the cross. Radical love is the mark of Jesus. This is how Christians roll – or should roll.
Unfortunately, investigation after investigation reveals a major problem. Virtually no one outside of Christianity associates Christians with radical love. Christianity is known for many things, but love is not one of them. Instead, people are much more likely to use words like “closed-minded,” “critical,” or “mean.” We have a brand problem.
It’s important for Christians like me to remember this as we enter a new election cycle. These seasons are times when it’s easy for us to stray from the brand, whether with our tone, our priorities, or our actions.
In recent years this has not gone very well. When the Christian brand becomes attached to a political party or candidate (left or right), our brand becomes distorted. And where politics focuses on winning elections and fighting for power, Jesus calls us to think differently; our culture is not a battlefield but a mission field, full of people from all walks of life and political beliefs whom he loves deeply.
So how can we do better? I think it starts with Christians like me admitting that we have a problem and that we have broken our brand promise.
We have strayed from the core mission of demonstrating the radical love of Jesus.
We too often miss the mark with our tone, showing bitterness and anger instead of interacting with kindness, respect, gentleness, patience, compassion and humility.
We drew lines in the sand instead of doing what Jesus did: accepting and loving people before they even agreed with him.
The solution to the challenges facing brand Christianity is not to be less than Jesus called us to be, but much more.
And we can start right now, this holiday season, at the Thanksgiving table; this election cycle in how we interact with those who disagree with us; at the start of this new year, as we resolve to make 2024 the year we show radical love to a world that desperately needs it.
Jeff Jones is senior pastor of Chase Oaks Church in Plano and co-author of the new book “Rebranding Christianity: When The World’s Most Important Brand Loses Its Way.”
This column is part of our ongoing opinion commentary on faith, titled Living our faith. Find the complete series here.
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