What's in a Name

By: Dan Kimball (Afterword by Tony Griffies)

Home > Learning Center > Devotional Articles

To most Christians, the University of California at Santa Cruz would be considered liberal, unreachable, and pagan, not unlike Berkeley in the '60s. All across the campus there are fliers for Wicca gatherings and various alternative lifestyle groups. Sexual freedom and progressive thought abounds. Out of the 11,000 students there, to my best estimate there are fewer than 100 students who participate in any Christian student group on campus. From a minister's perspective, it seems like a hopeless placeóstudents have absolutely no interest in the Christian faith.

Yet a strange thing happens when you actually talk to students at UCSC. At the church where I work, we occasionally show videos of street interviews. We recently went on campus and asked the question: ìWhat words come to your mind when you hear the name Jesus?î

Immediately, there were smiles, and students' eyes brightened. They had glad and ready responses, such as: ìHe's beautiful!î...ìI want to be like Jesusî...ìHe was someone who stood up for womenî...ìI'm all about Jesus.î You could see there was passion and total openness when the name of Jesus was mentioned.

But a fascinating thing happened when we asked the same students another question: ìWhat comes to your mind when you hear the word Christian?î

Immediately, the very same faces turned to expressions of sadness or anger, and eyes looked downward. ìChristians have taken Jesus' teachings and really messed them upî...ìChristians are all angryî...ìGandhi said he'd become a Christian if he ever met one, and like him, I don't think I've ever met a true Christianî...ìJesus would be disappointed in Christians today.î

Pretty stunning change of answers. While I realized that these students were probably unfamiliar with the fullness of Jesus' teachings in the Bible, their answers haunted me. I couldn't help but wonder why emerging generations are hard-pressed to name positive experiences with Christians.

Could it be that we've become such a subculture ourselves that younger people are becoming increasingly unfamiliar with lives that have been transformed by Jesus? I wonder what answers you'd hear in your community if the same two questions were asked. And I wonder what we can do to see the people in our churches model true Christianity for those outside of church circles, so that maybe if this question were asked again, even the most ìpaganî non-Christians would be able to tell stories of Christians who'd demonstrated the love of Jesus to them.

"...I wonder what we can do..."

While I may not always agree with Dan Kimble's theology, I think he's dead-on in his call for authentic Christianity. Too often, we slip into the trap of looking and sounding very Christian when we're at the church house, and then looking and sounding very different to those who are not yet a part of the Body. It's an easy trap to fall into, and it's one that causes quite a bit of internal conflict. On the one hand, there's a recognition that there are lost souls all around. On the other hand, there's the realization that not much is being done to try to bridge the gap that often exists between Christians and non-Christians. Or even worse, the bridge is in disrepair, and no reconstruction effort exists.

There are ways to repair the bridge. There are proven methods found in scripture that we all can employ as we work towards the goals of modeling Jesus to the community and saving lost people.

"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.î (Matthew 5:14-16)

-Tony

Home | Search | Welcome Center | Learning Center