Pastor's Blog

Why your neighbors (in Canada) might not like your Christianity

Posted on October 21, 2011 by Pastor Tom

You invite your neighbor to church but they never come – or they get hostile. Why? Check out this possibility.

“The second noticeable challenge that religious groups face are the negative public perceptions held by many towards Christians. Recalling the negative perceptions that many marginal affiliates have of Roman Catholics and Evangelicals, religious groups should carefully heed William I. Thomas’s (1966, 301) idea that “situations
that are defined as real are real in their consequences.” The public has a justifiable negative perception of Christians because of past and present scandals by a few, the strong and offensive presence of the Christian Right in the United States (that some fear characterizes Evangelicals in Canada), and the general belief that Christians are judgmental and hypocritical, often based on personal experience. Whether or not Christians and individual congregations reflect these qualities (and some do) are irrelevant so long as the general public believes these things to be true.”

Churches Are Not Necessarily the Problem: Lessons Learned from Christmas and Easter Affiliates
by Joel Thiessen, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Ambrose University College – Calgary, Alberta
Church and Faith Trends – A Publication of The Centre for Research on Canadian Evangelicalism: An Initiative of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada
December 2010, Volume 3, Issue 3, p. 14

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