Is Christian a Bad Word?

That's a topic I seem to be hearing more of lately, but murmerings of this have been around for quite a while. In fact, just a look through the New Testament beginning in Acts and going through the end of the Bible would seem to indicate that "Christian" has had a shady past.

I was reading this article by Pastor Francis Chan, and he opened with the following remarks:

We live in a time when the term "Christian" has been so diluted that
millions of immoral but nice people genuinely consider themselves "good
Christians." We have reduced the idea of a good Christian to someone who
believes in Jesus, loves his or her family, and attends church regularly. Others
will label you a good Christian even though your life has no semblance to the
way Christ spent His days on earth.

I would venture to guess that each generation has had it's version of Chan's assessment, but from where I sit, it is so true for today. More than once I have heard that "Christians" give Christ a bad name by the wickedness that sometimes comes from those who claim Jesus as savior. It's those situations that seem to be blamed as reasons for people to not follow Jesus.


As a result, I've noticed a recent effort in some arenas to stop labeling the followers of Christ as Christians, and instead using terms such as Christ-follower. To be honest, I actually like these efforts to re-label true followers of Jesus. Before you get your feathers in a ruffle, allow me to expound on this.


Pastor Chan is correct in his assessment that the term Christian has been diluted by people who claim the name of Christ, either through family heritage, or simply doing so on Sunday and living like the world the rest of the week. The lukewarm-Christian and the Christian-by-association has done great harm to the reputation of Christianity. We often do not give much consideration about how our actions influence the public perception of Christianity, but when we lie, cheat and harm those around us, we end up destroying their perseption and giving "Christian" a bad name.

Here's my challenge to you:

1. If you have friends who view Christians in a bad way, try changing up the termonology. The early believers were called followers of The Way, so take that precident and feel free to call fellow believers something else, like Christ-followers. Just be sure the people you're referring to as followers of Jesus, actually live and act like Christ did. There's no sense in watering down that term, too.
2. Call out those who claim Christianity, but live a lifestyle that does not promote Christ. Our churches are too full today of people who try to claim that we can't criticize what they do. But, 1 Corinthians 5 says otherwise. At the end of that chapter, Paul points out that Christians have a duty to correct others claiming Christ as their savior. (BTW, the last verse says it's God's job to judge those who aren't Christians.) Oh, and if you're wondering how you should correct someone who is ruining the Christian name, I'm not going to tell you. You need to read the New Testament to get that answer (hint: start here).
3. Inspect your life to ensure your actions, whether public or private, are hindering the cause of Christ. There aren't many worse things than to realize that something you did caused someone to NOT make a decision to follow Jesus.