“What are Christians about? What are we about, not what are we supposed to be about, but what are we actually about?”

I asked that of a class of 25 teenagers this morning. I think their answer was right on. I also think their answer was a little unsettling. They listed the top four things we are about:

1) Meetings
2) Classes
3) Comfort and Safety
4) Relationships with other Christians.

They’ll know we are Christians by the number of meetings we go to? Is that what Scripture says? No, it says the unchristian world will know we are Christians by the way we love. I does tell us not to give up meeting together but that’s to empower us to do the stuff that we are supposed to be about.

My students said we go to classes and spend our time learning stuff that, when we’re honest, most of us aren’t doing. Class after class, week after week. We spend a lot of time learning how to share our faith with strangers. We get little evangelism cubes, color coded books and bracelets and tracks so that we are ready to spring the Good News on people we don’t know.

And then I asked what they thought we are supposed to be about. They nailed it.

1) Loving God
2) Loving others
3) Serving
4) Sharing

We’re supposed to be about being like Jesus, being imitators of Christ. We read in James that we are to be “doers” of the Word rather than people who are just great at listening to it, singing about it and studying it. Put it into practice.

It seems to me that we’ve got some retooling to do. It’s time to serve, to love, meet needs and share not by some mystical lifestyle osmosis alone, but by telling people what Jesus means to us.

This week, we agreed to pray, “Lord, bring someone across my path this week who you want me to share with.”

That’s a good place to begin.