No Christian alternatives

American Christianity is a brand. In cities all over the country, a Christian can find an alternative product for almost any interest.

Anyone can get into their car—with a fish on the back, of course—tune in their Christian radio station, and drive to their Christian gym, Christian coffee shop, Christian bookstore, or Christian restaurant. All while wearing a graphically intense Christian t-shirt and, perhaps, Christian jewelry.

Are you living Brand Jesus?

On the surface level, there is nothing wrong with any of these things. Some of them can be very well done. However, we don’t NEED a Christian alternative to anything.

Instead of Christian radio playing songs for Christians about how fun it is to go to church, what if we had more Christians making popular music about how they face life outside of the stained glass? Instead of Christian gyms and coffee shops, what if more Christians were in gyms and coffee shops bearing fruit? What if, instead of a bookstore devoted only to Christians, more believers were in mainstream bookstores demanding better material?

You get the point.

We can’t hide behind a brand and skip through life oblivious to the world around us. American Christianity has spent a lot of time and money marketing itself to itself. People who are not interested in church don’t care.

Instead of Christians building an alternative reality for ourselves, we should be visibly different by our lives, not our logos and cliches. Brand Jesus is getting it backwards.