Are You
a Christian or a Christ Follower?
By
Deborah Dombrowski
Christian or Christ follower?
It’s a distinction that is being made more and more today, and often the latter
term, “Christ follower,” is replacing the former term, “Christian.” Even many
Christian 
leaders
are making the switch. But just what does it mean?
Emerging church leader, Erwin McManus says
his “goal is to destroy Christianity as a world religion and be a recatalyst
for the movement of Jesus Christ.” In McManus’ book, The Barbarian Way,
he talks about being “awakened” to a “primal longing that...waits to be unleashed
within everyone who is a follower of Jesus Christ.” McManus says that the
“greatest enemy to the movement of Jesus Christ is Christianity [i.e., Christians].”
A video series on YouTube.com called “Christian No More” (by Christian Community
Church in Naperville, IL) exemplifies this view by portraying those who call
themselves Christians as shallow church-goers who wear suits and ties, have
Christian bumper stickers on their cars and prefer the King
James Version. This video is evidence that it is increasingly more popular
to call oneself a “Christ follower” rather than a “Christian.”
Interestingly, most of those leaders
who seem to be downplaying the name Christian and promoting the appropriation
of the term “Christ follower” are contemplative spirituality proponents. One
contemplative advocate, Rick Warren, has the term throughout his pastors.com
website. Lee Strobel refers to it in his book Case for Christ (Student
Edition), and Wesleyan pastor David Drury has a Christ Follower Pop Quiz on
his web site to help determine if you are really a ‘Christ follower.’
This theme of anti-Christian sentiment
is not going to disappear any time soon. Book titles, for example, express
this growing attitude. One book, Why One Can Be a Christian or a Christ
Follower (But Not Both), by Floyd Henderson, is a case in point. Emerging
church leader and labyrinth promoter Dan Kimball has a new book coming out
in the spring of 2007 called, “They Like Jesus,
But Not the Church.” The idea is that you can go for Jesus, but you don’t
have to identify yourself as a Christian or part of the Christian Church.
This concept spills over into some missionary societies too, where they teach
people from other religions that they can keep their religion, just add Jesus
to the equation. They don’t have to embrace the term “Christian” which is
part of the New Missiology that states: 1. You can keep your own religion — Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism,
Mormonism — you just need to add Jesus to the equation. Then you become complete.
You become a Buddhist with Jesus, a Hindu with Jesus, a Muslim with Jesus
and so on; 2. You can throw out the term Christianity and still be a follower
of Jesus and 3. In fact, you can throw out the term Christian too. In some
countries you could be persecuted for calling yourself a Christian, and there
is no need for that. Just ask Jesus into your heart, you don’t have to identify
yourself as a Christian.
So what’s the problem? So what if you want
to be a ‘Christ follower’ instead of a Christian. Well, the problem, when
identified, will show you why the Spiritual Formation movement (which is
promoted by Rick Warren, Willow Creek, and the emerging church, just to name a
few.) is so dangerous and misleading.
Let us explain. If you have researched
the teachings of contemplative authors, you may have noticed a common message.
That message says: “If you want to be like Christ, then practice these certain
disciplines and you can be like Him.” Chuck Swindoll has bought into this when
he wrote his book, So You Want to Be Like Christ:
Eight Essential Disciplines to Get You There. But Swindoll exalts one
particular discipline – ‘the silence.’ In fact, he goes so far as to say you
can’t become a deep, meaningful Christian without it. Beth Moore, in the
pro-contemplative film, Be Still, says: “[I]f we are not still before
Him [God], we will never truly know to the depths of the marrow of our bones
that He is God. There’s got to be a stillness.” And
this is what contemplatives teach. The one common thread woven throughout
spiritual formation teachings is that ‘the silence’ and being a ‘Christ
follower’ are practically synonymous. You can’t have one without the other. And
of course, this ‘silence’ is induced through meditative practices such as
centering prayer.
So what we are witnessing is countless
teachers, authors and leaders telling people they can become like Christ
through a method that can be learned. Richard Foster teaches that anyone, not
just believers, can practice contemplative prayer and become like Christ.
Now here lies the difference between a Christian
and a Christ Follower. A person who is truly born-again has Jesus Christ dwelling
within him. Jesus lives inside that person. And it is His life in 
him
or her that gives the power to become progressively more like Him (sanctification),
as Paul said in his address to Corinthian Christians: “But we all, with open
face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same
image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (II Corinthians 3:18). The believer draws
his strength and power from Jesus Christ (who indwells him), and he realizes
his salvation and any good thing in him is from Christ; as the Scripture says:
“Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians
2:9).
But being born again or having the indwelling
of Jesus Christ is not a prerequisite for the Christendom of today. Spiritual
formation can be practiced by anyone. Jesus becomes a model or an example
who can be followed and mimicked. For example, Ken
Blanchard, says Jesus is a perfect model to follow.
That’s why he talks so much about leading like Jesus would lead. But
Blanchard has shown time and again that he believes meditation is a key factor
in becoming like Jesus.
While Jesus was and is a model,
that wasn’t His primary mission. And when people refer to Him as a model,
it is often because they see Him as a model for higher consciousness rather
than the unique Son of God, Emmanuel (God with us) Who came to die for us
and be our Savior. And that’s what you find across the board in contemplative
writings.
This is actually the heart of the
whole spiritual formation movement. It supposedly teaches you how to be like
Christ, but the power to do this doesn’t come from Jesus Christ living in
you (in fact that isn’t a requirement, according to Richard Foster) - but
the power to change has to come from somewhere. Where? It comes from meditation!
So anyone at all, from any walk of life, from any religion, can be a “Christ
Follower.” But this does not mean they have Jesus Christ in them. The contemplative
prayer movement is misguiding millions into believing that if they practice
certain disciplines they can be like Christ, thus securing their spiritual
well being. They may come to believe that they have a Christ consciousness
and are Christ like, yet they do not have the actual power of Christ within.
That power can only come from the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit as
Scripture says: “But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.” (John
1:12); “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power
of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also
to the Greek.” (Romans 1:16); ”For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness;
but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” (I Corinthians 1:18) and “This know also,
that in the last days perilous times shall come...Having a form of godliness,
but denying the power thereof.” (II
Timothy 3:1,5)
The man who virtually wrote the book on the
subject (Centering Prayer), Basil Pennington, made the point of what we
are trying to say when he penned these words: “It is my sense, from having
meditated with persons from many different [non-Christian] traditions, that in
the silence we experience a deep unity. When we go beyond the portals of the
rational mind into the experience, there is only one God to be experienced.” Another
major contemplative promoter, Tilden Edwards, stated: “The new ecumenism
involved here is not between Christian and Christian, but between Christians
and the grace of other intuitively deep religious traditions.”
These two men have both been leaders of the
contemplative prayer movement for decades. And it is important to note that
evangelical leader Richard Foster endorsed Edwards’ book, Spiritual Friend
in his book Celebration of Discipline. Both Pennington and Edwards would
call themselves Christ Followers, following in the same spiritual path that
Jesus Christ followed. But as you can see, both Pennington and Edwards do not
accept the view that believing the gospel is a vital prerequisite for having a
relationship with the living God. Otherwise they would not have said the above.
With this mindset, the message of the cross is rendered useless.
And so the question that we must ask
ourselves is this: “Will we, who have Jesus Christ living in us, call ourselves
Christians?” Let those of us who name the name of Christ, stand and say, “Yes,
we will be called Christians.”
Publisher’s Comment
For
clarification purposes, Mrs. Dombrowski mentions the video clips on YouTube.com
called “Christian No More” which were produced by Christian Community Church
in Naperville, IL. I personally reviewed the four clips and was appalled –
if not angered. In my book, both characters depicted – the stuffy, shallow
church-attending ‘Christian’ in a suit and the hip, casually dressed ‘Christ
Follower’ – mock what it means to be a true, born again follower of Jesus.
Being a true born again believer is not about what you wear to church, bumper
stickers, Christian rock music, or any of the other characteristics shown
as differences between being a ‘Christian’ and a ‘Christ Follower’. A born
again believer is not superficial like both characters depicted, because Christ
indwells him or her and fills them with His characteristics – love, grace,
kindness, gentleness, a love of the truth, a servants heart, sacrifice, discernment
and much, much more. In my opinion, Christian Community Church has disgraced
the name of Christ and portrays an inaccurate and deceitful portrait of what
it means to be a true Christian with these clips. If anything, these clips
will more than likely reinforce in the minds of those who do not know Christ
that they want nothing to do with our Lord and Savior. If being a ‘Christian’ as opposed to a ‘Christ
Follower’ was good enough for the disciples in Antioch (Acts 11:26) then I am proud to use the name CHRISTIAN. And yes, I
am a FOLLOWER OF JESUS CHRIST.
Deborah Dombrowski is the
editor of Lighthouse Trails Publishing. This analysis is posted on www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com.
For a complete analysis and documentation of contemplative spirituality and
its infiltration into Christendom, we encourage you to read A Time of Departing by Ray Yungen and Running Against the Wind by Brian Flynn both of which can be purchased on their web site or ordered
through any bookstore. For more information regarding the ministry of Lighthouse
Trails visit their web site, call 503-873-9092 or send an e-mail to editors@lighthousetrails.com.
