Open letter to those who cringe at the word “Christian”

Hi. Please forgive us. Let me explain. Maybe you’re of a different faith. Maybe you don’t believe in God. Maybe you believe in God but just don’t want to live for Him. Maybe you once called yourself a Christian, but now you aren’t sure you want to be tied to the name. Or maybe there’s another reason.

No matter what your reason, I want you to know that I understand your response. The church has done a terrible job at showing you what we really believe, who we really are.

We are broken people, too. We make mistakes often and gloriously. Sometimes we try to hide it because we want you to see the hope we have in Jesus, and we think you won’t if you see how messed up we all are. Sometimes we lose our way. Sometimes we don’t do and act like we say we should. We sound like hypocrites to those who have heard our message and just want to see it lived out. We are trying. I say “we” because, well, that’s what we are. We are one body. We are family.

Sometimes there are those who claim to be part of our family but aren’t actually. Often those become the face of us without our consent, and you may have come to view us as people who hate, who lie, who judge, who curse you, or fill in the blank. Some of our family are young. They are new to our family, still immature and growing. We are all growing. They may get it wrong. We may get it wrong. I plead with you not to let those people shape what you believe about Jesus.

Friend, I implore you to learn about Jesus. The first place you will find the truth of Jesus is in the Bible. It’s what we believe. But if you read the find print (it’s not actually fine print…it’s just in there with the rest of it), you’ll realize that becoming a Christian doesn’t mean we have some magical ability to live perfectly as Jesus. It means we have found a Savior who saves us from ourselves. We have a God who extends us grace when we bumble and sin and fall far short of the message we want to spread. His love is deep and wide.

The truth is, we are desperately in need of a Savior. You are desperately in need of a Savior. You are. The only thing truly separating us if you aren’t a disciple of Jesus is that I have grave and hope and peace to offer you in Jesus’s name. I can introduce you to Him. I can also introduce you to some amazing Christ-followers who, while imperfect, will change your mind about what it means to be a Christian. So back to what I first said. Please forgive us. Forgive us for not always being light, for being absent when we should be the solution.

We want you to see God’s love, mercy, forgiveness, grace, and hope. We want you to have faith that overcomes fear. We want you to have truth that silences lies. We want you to have eyes to see clearly what the next step is when the path ahead is blurry and the world is pulling in different directions. We want you to have ears to hear truth when the world is shouting at each other very loudly. We want you to spend eternity with God rather than separated from Him.

Lastly, we want you to know that you don’t have to be perfect to be a part of our family. As I mentioned before, none of us are. But Jesus is the Way. He draws us to obey Him, and He gives grace when we fail. He loves you the way you are, but He loves you too much to leave you that way when He has so much more for you. Contact me if you want to know more. Friend, I love you, and I hope this message starts something new in your heart and life and brings you some hope.