According to the Pew Research Center, only 63 percent of people in the United States self-identify as Christian—down from 75 percent ten years ago. As followers of Christ, we need to take time to identify and analyze why a growing number of people are no longer drawn to the church and its message. Is the church still relevant? Is God still speaking? Is anyone still listening?
Last year, the He Gets Us campaign sought answers about persistent trends in the current faith landscape in America. Expert research was conducted over a four-month period in three phases: an extensive quantitative study via online interviews of 5,000 US adults, a qualitative study, and finally, an additional qualitative study through online interviews with people from all walks of life. This research provided crucial insights that built the foundation for He Gets Us.
This research highlighted the need for people to rethink who Jesus was during his time on earth and why he’s relevant to our lives. The goal is simple: to connect people to the real Jesus and his message of radical love and acceptance. He Gets Us wants people to understand that Jesus experienced real human challenges during his time on earth.
Secondly, it wants to provide resources for pastors, church leaders, and lay leaders, encouraging them to create space for the hesitant skeptics in their own communities to ask questions. They believe that providing safe environments to wrestle, question, and learn about Jesus will offer many skeptics an opportunity to truly know him.
Who Are the Skeptics?
In Western philosophy, skepticism emerged in Ancient Greece in the fifth century. The tradition has persisted among great thinkers and taken many forms, each of which has one thing at the core—an individual’s questions about certainty concerning knowledge. In its modern meaning, skeptics are defined as people who doubt what is presented to them without evidence. Unfortunately, the church has not always been a safe place for people with doubts to ask questions.
After researching current faith trends, He Gets Us discovered that roughly one-fourth of the US population views Christianity skeptically to varying degrees. The overwhelming majority believe in God, and two-thirds believe Jesus existed. The struggle begins with believing in Jesus’ divinity. Even if people don’t outright reject the idea that Jesus was God on earth, they often cannot understand the need to have a personal relationship with him. Among the people surveyed, some of the respondents were relatively open to learning more. Another segment was made up of a number of people who are ideologically neutral, suggesting they would potentially be less open to learning more about Jesus.
Asking Questions, Breaking Down Barriers
Research revealed three major barriers keeping skeptics from a holistic belief in Jesus.
First and foremost, skeptics have difficulty reconciling faith and science. They require proof before they can believe. Secondly, many skeptics believe in the historical Jesus and respect and even revere the spirituality and values he lived and preached; however, they cannot accept Jesus’ claims of divinity and the other supernatural elements of his existence—the Virgin Birth and descendence from God, his bodily resurrection, and his ascendance into heaven. Lastly, most skeptics have no experiential relationship to prayer. When Christians talk about the “power of prayer,” skeptics have no real connection to anyone or anything on the “other end,” believing that their words, no matter how earnest, remain unheard.
In addition, skeptics have deep-seated instincts when it comes to responding to Christians or the church, either because of their lack of exposure to the church or their own negative experiences with Christians. Often, they believe the best Christians are those who keep their opinions and practices to themselves.
Finding a Better Way
In the mid-1920s, Bara Dada, Indian philosopher and brother to Rabindranath Tagore, said, “Jesus is ideal and wonderful, but you Christians, you are not like him.” One hundred years later, we are still hearing the same sentiment from those who are reticent to receive Christ.
Unfortunately, some skeptics have no desire to be in conversation with Christians because they see Christianity as a religion of judgment and hypocrisy. In their minds, Christians are not living out the values of the Savior they purport to follow. And while skeptics agree that Jesus’ teachings are positive for society as a whole and that the world would be better if we all lived out the principles of the gospel message, they don’t see Christians practicing what they preach. What benefit is there to a faith that doesn’t actually change the lives of the people who claim that faith?
Additionally, in the minds of some skeptics, Christians have left an impression that Jesus belongs only to the people who step inside church buildings on Sunday mornings—which is simply not true. Jesus is for everyone. Jesus embraced diversity, included people that other religious leaders rejected, and he didn’t wait for people to be perfect before welcoming them. Jesus, in his humanity, wants people to come as they are. He understands the struggles people face because he struggled with the same things.
Thankfully, we know that lives can be completely transformed when Christians embrace Jesus, going into the world as representatives of the healthy body of Christ. We know that following Jesus is the answer to a lot of questions.
Many skeptics are interested in finding those answers, with over half of our survey participants reporting that they are familiar with Christianity, the Bible, and Jesus, and open to learning more, especially those who have children in their homes. People are looking for guidance for themselves, but they also want to make a better life and a kinder world for their kids.
For both skeptics and Christians, the pandemic provided an opportunity to reevaluate beliefs and behaviors alike. Countless people experienced solitary times that illuminated which areas of their lives may need changes. Many people changed jobs and reprioritized relationships and are now collectively addressing stress, anxiety, and depression as a result of these seismic paradigm shifts.
After witnessing and experiencing suffering on a global scale, people are looking to heal broken relationships, deal with physical and mental health challenges, and seek ways to find purpose. Healing and growing from a whole-person perspective includes meeting spiritual needs.
The church has a unique opportunity to address these spiritual needs while people are open to enriching their lives through the gospel message. What a privilege it is to serve a shepherd who cares deeply about his sheep—so much so that he’s willing to go after the one who has wandered and needs help finding its way back. Christians who care deeply about their communities can lead people to the saving grace of a Jesus who understands every struggle they’ve experienced because he’s been there too.
He gets us, and it’s time to share that powerful truth with the world in a better way.
