The first time I heard the word "Christian-ese" was at some youth gathering in 1987 or 1988 ... Becky Pipperts book "out of the saltshaker and into the world" was huge as was "Frog in the Kettle" by Barnum ... Petra had released the song "Seen and not Heard" with the incredible hook line... "Sometimes Gods people should be seen and not heard"... We all rocked out to that one in our shredded jeans and mullets. The word Christian-ese is a term used to discribe the way we "Christians" talk about our faith. Terms like "washed in the blood", I was lost but, now I am found"... "Jesus is the propitiation for our sins" ... "I have Jesus in my heart" and many other terms used to describe our faith were deemed "Christian-ese"... Christian-ese soon became synonymous with uncool, out of touch, old, stupid, useless and useless. Over the last twenty years this kind of thinking has left a very large gap in the way believers talk about their faith simply because they were not told how to replace these "uncool" terms with new more relevant terms. What this has done, over time, is to cause believers to think that talking about their faith or explaining their faith is not important or at best only for those who are gifted and "out there".
So, Christians have been told by Christian leaders that the words they use to explain their faith were dated and out of touch and should not be used ... Because it sounded like Christian-ese ... But, they were not given a new language to use when talking about their faith... so, they stopped talking about their faith and started only relying on good deeds, and social justice to show people their faith. Unfortunately, the Bible says that if people do not hear they will not believe.
Many of us believed and embraced the whole Christian-ese thing and began to search for new and more relevant ways to communicate the gospel. We used more metaphor, told more stories, tried parables, ... replaced words like guilt, sin, and hell with feel bad, stuff and consequences... We used visuals to help us communicate, referred to movies, top 40 songs, humor, and current events... We did all these things to not be "Christian-ese" ... to be relevant, culturally congruent, cool ... and it worked ... our churches grew ... as we became more like the world and used media the way the world communicated other christians left their uncool churches and came to ours... The "not yet saved" just stayed where they were because they already had all the cool stuff that we just added. Some of us put on dances, or learned how to dance and started clubing to become more enmeshed into the lives of the "Ones God loves as much as believers" and just to make them feel more at ease we had a couple beers with them or some wine... (normally I had beer because I'm a better dancer after a couple beers)... so, now the Cool, Relevant, Non-christian-ese, Culturally Accurate churchs; do not talk about their faith, communicate through media like the world, dance, drink, and feel like a club. All of this just to keep from sounding like a Christian... wow, what alot of work... but, did it work?
No! It did not work. It made no change at all... if anything fewer people are being converted, or transformed to day than ever before... and of those who make some kind of an acknowledgment toward God... many, many, do not know if they are truly a believer or in who, or what, they believe. Our Non-Christian-ese language has turned our message into a diluted, all inclusive, un-offensive, mouth full of crap that has left people confused and speechless... a people without a language ... who learn how to manage sin and have no idea what transformation is.
Do you remember the men and women who told the stories of how the were addicted to alcohol, or drugs, or lived a life of crime but, when they believed in Jesus and let Him wash them clean they never drank again, used again, their life was transformed never to be the same again ... They let the blood of Jesus wash them clean ... do you think anyone thought it was real blood... do you really think people did not know it was a metaphor, a spiritual expression, or a story about a miraculous encounter with God... please ... no one is that stupid ... I grew up in the south... a redneck of rednecks ... my Grandpa Barney was illiterate and even he could figure out how salvation worked, what the blood of Jesus meant, how to redeem something or be redeemed ... he had a language of faith and he understood the language of faith.
In my attempts to shake believers awake, or those who think they believe because they watched "Braveheart" and had the chills when Mel Gibson yelled "Freedom". I have begun to use a mix of languages to confuse the mind and free the heart. I attack the things believers have been taught and have accepted without questioning, and dare them to think again ... I challenge them ... and I use what ever language it takes, I say things I should not, things that offend, things that surprise, things that take their breath away ... and then, while their minds are spinning ... I Preach ... I preach a message of repentance, and talk about the blood of Jesus and how it cleanses us from our sins and sets us free and gives us the ability to overcome all evil and negative things in our lives ... The blood of Jesus redeems us, He bought us back, and made it possible for us to be filled with the Holy Spirit so we can be transformed from what we were "a sinner" into "a shining light"... from the kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of Light. When I do this 65 to 75% of the hearers "believers" ... believe... their hearts are open and they really believe, they repent, they weep and they rejoice ... and they know they are saved ... they feel it... they call their family and friends and tell them something great has happened... However, I was quickly told by those in charge that this was not appropriate language to use while preaching ... truth is, I forgot if I was talking in the church or in the world, it all looked the same to me. My "not yet saved friends" say these words or this language all day, every other breath and more than half of those who call themselves believers do the same... I just had the guts to bring the real me to church... So, much for the whole "christian-ese" topic ... thats about as "non-christian-ese" as you can get. Did it work? Yes, it worked.
Being a people without a language has made it very difficult for us to spread the message of our faith... Perhaps it is time to accept the language that we do have and use it until we discover a better one. The language God used to describe our faith may be a good place to start.
