I read David Kinnaman’s UnChristian earlier this year and I agree with Kinnaman, “Christianity has an image problem.” If we are projecting an image of Christ that is not a faithful representation of who Christ is to the world, then WE need to change it. And as Jim Henderson has suggested with this year’s Off the Map Live Tour, WE need to be Born Again.

Kinnaman reminds that “as we work to change the negative perceptions of outsiders, we need to avoid an opposite and equally dangerous extreme. Some Christians respond to outsiders’ negativity by promoting a less offensive faith.” But then he goes on to say, “Softening or reshaping the gospel is an utterly wrong response to the objections people raise.” While I agree we need to offer a faithful representation of the gospel, I do believe we may need to do some reshaping of the gospel if we have distorted it and deformed it so it is no longer recognizable as Jesus’ gospel of the kingdom. “Like a corrupted computer file or a bad photocopy, Christianity, they say, is no longer in pure form, and so they reject it. One quarter of outsiders say that their foremost perception of Christianity is that the faith has changed for the worse. It has gotten off track and is not what Christ intended. Modern day Christianity no longer seems Christian.” The question for Christians here is: what did Christ have in mind when he thought up the church?

If Jesus wanted us to mimic his every action and copy his every word, perhaps he would have waited until the advent of YouTube to appear. Peter says, “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” (2 Peter 1:3-4) I believe being born again into a renewed and purified form of Christianity will not only require a change in what we say and do, but a recognition of the source of our life and a renewal of the transforming power of Christ within us that alone can reshape and reform us into a holy people who reflect Christ more authentically to a world in need. As we seek to change perceptions, we must be careful to seek those changes from within. “The reputation of the Christian faith should never be managed or spin-doctored, but we can change how we’re known by becoming more Christlike.” (Quotes from UnChristian, David Kinnaman)

At Off The Map Live you’ll hear more from

• David Kinnaman - President of the Barna Group and Author of UnChristian