Chalke Talk 46: So what is a Christian anyway?

So, what is a Christian? This question sparks this week's episode of Chalke Talk where Steve looks at the biblical and historical context of Christian identity and how we've gotten it wrong.

Steve reflects on growing up believing that Christianity is about saying a prayer.  However, this doesn't really reflect the story of who Jesus was and is.  In fact, it should not be overlooked that Jesus never referred to himself as a Christian; he was Jewish. Steve also adds that "originally, the ‘followers’ of Jesus were simply known as ‘People of THE WAY’; people who identified with THE WAY of life Jesus that taught and demonstrated."

Therefore, it's much less about we believe and more about trusting Jesus enough to walk in his way. As Steve puts it, "it’s about letting his story shape our actions, our attitudes, our responses and initiatives." 

So what do you think? If following Jesus, isn’t about ‘religion and its paraphernalia’, but simply about Jesus’ way of walking the road of life – loving God, loving others, and loving ourselves’ – how do we start to build communities that echo that? And, as it seems that the whole world is now stuck with the term Christian – is our best approach to try to redefine it, or to dump it?