Have Christians Lost Their Credibility? TLA Stories of the Week

Today, while doing TLA Stories of the Week (below) I realized that we should talk more often about how us Christians (as a whole and as individuals) are perceived. Another words, let's talk credibility.Sure, it's not healthy to focus too much on what other people think of us, but like a football coach showing game films (video) of Sunday's game on Monday to his team, the practice of reviewing an analyzing can be very helpful.So, where do we start?Let's start by taking a look at an article recently published at TogetherLA: The Shocking Reasons Christians Have Lost Credibility in Today’s Culture.So, have we lost our credibility?Is it our job to change the culture? Is changing the culture part of the Great Commission? Why or why not?Will deepening our prayer life "do the trick?"Will showing up at church make a difference?How about reading the Bible? Will that help change culture?As stated in the article, LifeWay Research found that 40% of churchgoing Christians read the Bible “once a month, rarely or never.” That means when it comes to the primary book informing us about the God of the universe, His remarkable and unfolding plan for our lives, and our eternal destiny, Christians think so little of it that we read it only when it’s convenient. Maybe it’s time we rediscovered the power of God’s Word.How about politics? Can we change culture through our politics?The authors of The Way Back say we need to be careful with politics. "Vote, join a party, run for office. But keep the Church above the process. Think about it – the country is pretty evenly divided between parties, so when we drag the gospel into party politics, we’ve immediately alienated half of the country. How does that help the cause of Christ?"It is the cause of Christ we are talking about here.Perhaps we start by caring what Jesus Christ cares about.Let's have this conversation! Please leave comments below.

The Shocking Reasons Christians Have Lost Credibility in Today’s Culture

We’d like to say we were shocked, but the truth is, we were expecting the criticism. My friend and marketing expert Jonathan Bock and I were asking people on the street what they thought about “Christians.”BY PHIL COOKE AND JONATHAN BOCKThe response? Hypocritical, judgmental, harsh, phony, insensitive, bigoted, and exclusive. Not exactly the “Fruit of the Spirit” the Bible describes as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.That disconnect — the difference between what the Bible says we should be known for, and how those outside the Christian community actually describe us launched our new book project, The Way Back: How Christians Blew Our Credibility And How We Get It Back.We began the book thinking it was a marketing problem. After all, we’re media and marketing experts and know the power of a great marketing campaign. But when we examined the research from major organizations like Gallup, Barna, Pew, Lifeway, and others it didn’t take long to realize that we’re not living the kind of lives that would make anyone want to become like us.To put it simply, we don’t have a marketing problem, we have a salesforce problem. Study after study reveals American Christians simply don’t believe in our product anymore. Can we turn it around? We believe we can, but not until we get serious about living the kind of life that astonishes the surrounding world. Remember in the gospels how people were “astonished” at the message of Jesus? But 2,000 years later, how many people are astonished at our message or our lives today?If you’re serious about changing the direction of the culture, here are eight good places to start:1) Deepen Your Prayer Life - Research indicates that 37% of Christians don't even think prayer is essential. That’s more than a third of American Christians! Our connection with God is rapidly being snuffed out, and we wonder why we’re losing our momentum.2) Start Showing Up - The Hartford Institute of Religion found on a typical Sunday, only 20% of Christians show up at a church at all - which means 80% of American Christians aren't. Over and over the New Testament calls us into a fellowship of believers. You can’t do that in your bedroom, so let’s get up and experience the power of joining together in worship.3) Read Your Bible - LifeWay Research found that 40% of churchgoing Christians read the Bible "once a month, rarely or never." That means when it comes to the primary book informing us about the God of the universe, His remarkable and unfolding plan for our lives, and our eternal destiny, Christians think so little of it that we read it only when it's convenient. Maybe it’s time we rediscovered the power of God’s Word.4) Get Serious about Giving - Only 10% of churchgoers give 10% or more of their income. Think of all the Christian work that never happens because we refuse to support it financially.5) Become a Better Neighbor - Our friend and evangelist J John says, “You want to be a missionary? Great. Go next-door.” Who’s life could you impact on your own street or at your office? Don’t worry about changing the world until you change your neighborhood.6) Be Careful with Politics - Vote, join a party, run for office. But keep the Church above the process. Think about it - the country is pretty evenly divided between parties, so when we drag the gospel into party politics, we’ve immediately alienated half of the country. How does that help the cause of Christ?7) Be an Example With Your Own Family - Right now, the greatest hot-button issues in culture are about sex, gender, and marriage. What kind of impact could we make if Christians became known as the one group who are willing to go the distance to have amazing families? Being a powerful example would have far more impact than criticizing other people’s choices.8) Do It All With Joy - The greatest key to reflecting the fruit of the Spirit is that you never actually have to “witness” to people. Trust us, when you’re exhibiting traits like joy, love, and peace, people will come up to you and start asking about it! Living a joyous Christian life astonishes people and makes them curious about where your joy comes from.All of our research for the book showed us that as a Christian community, we’re simply not living the kind of life that astonishes or amazes unbelievers. Can we turn it around? The first believers certainly did. During the first few generations of the Church, those believers had no money, no political power, no influence, and no plan. But they had one thing the 21st Century Church has forgotten about:Commitment.They believed so much in the reality of the gospel, they were willing to give up their possessions, their status, their reputations, and their lives. And because of the commitment, within a remarkably short time, their example turned the world upside down.The question today is — is it easier to throw stones and blame others for Christianity’s disappearing impact, or take a hard look at ourselves and start showing the world a new way to live.Maybe it’s time to try something “new.” Something that 2,000 years ago transformed the world.Phil Cooke and Jonathan Bock are media consultants and producers based in Los Angeles. They’ve just released a new book, “The Way Back: How Christians Blew Our Credibility and How We Get It Back” by Worthy Publishing.

Phil Cooke, 'The Way Back,' and 'The Approaching Cultural Storm' at Proclaim 18

LOS ANGELES — Gale-force winds may already be here, but a discussion about “The Approaching Cultural Storm” led by top Christian media consultant and producer Phil Cooke is scheduled for a super session on Wednesday at the National Religious Broadcasters 75th Annual Convention in Nashville, Tennessee.“There’s such a disconnect between how Christians see themselves and how the world sees them,” Cooke, who is co-founder of the LA-based Cooke Pictures, told Together LA on Friday. He said that he’ll be doing a lot of talking about his new book, "The Way Back: How Christians Blew Their Credibility and How We Get It Back?" at Proclaim 18 (Feb. 27 to March 2) and using it as a background for hosting the session.“What we discovered while researching and writing the book will be shocking to many Christians in America,” said Cooke, whose book was co-written by Jonathan Bock. “If you’re interested in why Christianity continues to disappear from the culture, and how to turn it around, this is the book for you.”Heading into NRB’s Proclaim 18, which kicks off on Tuesday, we asked Cooke some questions about Christians and media, and the convention where hundreds of media professionals are expected to attend.Together LA: What are you doing at NRB and what are your goals with Proclaim 18?Phil Cooke: The NRB Convention is the one place where we can meet churches, ministries, and nonprofit clients and potential clients who produce media programming, all in a single week. It’s the international meeting place for Christians involved in media, so it’s a very productive week for our team at Cooke Pictures. This year, I’m also hosting three different “super-sessions” - two with the filmmaker’s track, and another that covers a very important topic: “The Approaching Cultural Storm."TLA: What will you talk about in regards to your new book, "The Way Back: How Christians Blew Their Credibility and How We Get It Back?"Cooke: My new book has really taken off, and I’ll be doing quite a few media interviews at the convention. But I’ll also be using the new book as background for hosting “The Approaching Cultural Storm” session. My co-writer, Jonathan Bock and I look at why there’s such a disconnect between how Christians see themselves and how the world sees them. What we discovered while researching and writing the book will be shocking to many Christians in America. If you’re interested in why Christianity continues to disappear from the culture, and how to turn it around, this is the book for you.TLA: What is the importance of NRB in general? How about to you personally?Cooke: The NRB began as an organization to promote Christian broadcasting. It began with radio stations, then expanded to TV, and now includes film and online, digital media. It’s primary focus is assuring that there will always be a place for Christian broadcasting in America, and that our rights to proclaim the Christian message will not be hindered or restricted. We’ve also expanded into a massive teaching event, and have educational tracks for radio, TV, film, the Internet, and one for college students who study broadcasting, filmmaking, and digital media.TLA: Is media part of the solution for Christians to get our credibility back? How so?Cooke: No question. We live in a media-driven culture. One British study indicates that the average person today is bombarded with up to 5,000 media messages every single day. We check our iPhones 110 times a day. We live in the most distracted and disrupted culture in the history of the world. As a result, sharing our message on multiple media platforms is absolutely essential. In the gospels, Jesus spent His life where the people were. In those days it was the temple square, the marketplace, or social gatherings like weddings. Today, the people are online, watching TV, listening to radio, or in movie theaters. We need to be there. In fact, keep in mind that today, by population, Facebook is now the largest country in the world. Who’s sending missionaries to that country? Who’s planting churches in that country? We shouldn’t just think of “missions” in terms of geographical boundaries, but also think in terms of digital boundaries.TLA: Can you tell a favorite story about how you observed God working through a specific media project you did?Cooke: Billy Graham passed away recently, and I’ve been remembering that 22 years ago, the ministry asked me to “produce a Billy Graham TV special that someone who would never watch a Billy Graham program would watch.” As a result we produced a prime Time TV event called “Starting Over.” It was broadcast globally and because it was television, it was the first time Billy had preached to 50 different countries at the same time. The Los Angeles Times reported that more than 2.5 billion people viewed the program globally and insiders at the Graham ministry told me that it generated 1 million phone calls for salvation. I can’t think of a better way to show the impact of sharing the gospel through media.TLA: What do you look forward to most about this year's NRB convention?Cooke: Helping inspire and motivate a new generation of Christian media professionals. We can’t keep doing what we’ve always done. We need new ideas, new creativity, and new energy. The Bible says God never changes, but trust me, everything else does. People change, trends change, styles change - we need to make sure we’re proclaiming an unchanging gospel to a world that’s constantly changing. We need to learn to speak that language, and I love teaching young filmmakers and media producers and challenging them to change the world.