The “Nothing in Particular” Crowd

There was a survey out this week saying that Christianity in America is on the decline. Seventy percent of us still identify as ‘Christian’ in some kind of way, but apparently that majority is shrinking. The percentage of people identifying themselves as “nothing in particular” grew by leaps and bounds.

Nothing in particular, because church is boring and irrelevant.

Nothing in particular, because Christians are judgmental hypocrites.

Nothing in particular because God is gonna do what He’s gonna do with or without our help.

I have no idea if this poll is correct or not.  Perhaps the true Christian population isn’t decreasing at all, perhaps it just wasn’t that large to begin with. It’s easy to go along with the crowd when it’s the popular thing to do. That convenient kind of Christianity isn’t going to get us very far anymore. The greatest way to draw in that “nothing in particular” crowd isn’t with a two minute pop culture sermon. We draw them in with the truth. Plain and simple truth, the way Jesus and His followers preached it. They didn’t have large buildings, money or technology. But they turned the world upside-down and inside out with power from above. The spoken Word and the power that comes with it was all it took to turn hearts and minds to Jesus.

It is heartbreaking that people are choosing “nothing in particular” over the abundant life that Jesus offers. It’s equally heartbreaking that professing Christians are living like practical atheists by believing more of what the world says than what God says.

God’s truth will ruffle feathers. It will stir things up. It won’t always be comfortable. That’s a good thing. Proclaiming the truth is important. Actually LIVING it out is even better.

Let’s have people be drawn to us not just based on what we say, but because of how our lives play out. If God’s power is manifest in our lives, all of the sudden that ‘nothing in particular’ lifestyle doesn’t seem so great. People take notice. They begin to ask questions. No one ever yearns for compromise, they hunger for Truth. Strip away all the fluff and misconceptions we’ve heaped onto it, and Christianity is actually quite exciting.

When we try and impress everyone, we captivate no one.

“The weakness of so many modern Christians is that they feel too much at home in the world. In their effort to achieve restful adjustment to unregenerate society, they have lost their pilgrim character and become an essential part of the very moral order against which they are sent to protest. The idea that this world is a playground instead of a battleground has now been accepted in practice by the vast majority of Christians. There is today no lack of Bible teachers to set forth correctly the principles of the doctrines of Christ, but too many of these seem satisfied to teach the fundamentals of the faith year after year, strangely unaware that there is in their ministry no manifest Presence, nor anything unusual in their personal lives.” AW Tozer

Christianity isn’t dying out. It’s becoming more clearly defined. The separation of the wheat from the chaff, the sheep from the goats… that’s what is taking place. Let’s not be “strangely unaware” of the battle around us. Let’s captivate people with the love and truth of Christ.  The enemy would like nothing more than to render us passive “nothing in particular” people. Believers and non-believers alike will be drawn to the true nature of God when they see it manifest. It’s that simple. We don’t need to ‘sell’ Jesus. His power speaks for itself. Be the vessel, speak the truth lovingly without compromise, and watch what happens!