Rebranding Christianity - Mission drift

Jeff Jones' answer to how the church's brand is like the Comcast brand, is that Christianity is experiencing severe mission drift. In other words, we tend to lose focus on our primary commitment to the mission of Jesus Christ. He says this is when "non-believers are more likely to believe that we don't care about them."

I understand why many churches choose to focus on politics or social issues. It's tempting to try to fix the problems we see in the world rather than help correct the root causes. We tend to use the same methodology with discipleship thinking that doing the right things and checking the right boxes leads to spiritual maturity. Then we think we can just get the right people in power and fix the right social issues to make the world a better place. The apostle Paul says its transformation by the renewing of the mind that gets kingdom results.

Can we take a Christ centered position on social issues without reinforcing our us vs them reputation? I think we can. Can we put loving people ahead of our doctrines? Its ok, love and kindness are the fruit of the Spirit. No one will think we've gone soft on the gospel message if we choose to love more and act selflessly.

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