The Jesus Gap

Jen Bradbury ymjen.com

@ymjen

“I presented a gospel to Christian Bible college students and left out Jesus. Nobody noticed.”

- Don Miller, “Searching for God Knows What”

Relevant Research● NSYR

– Moralistic Therapeutic Deism

– “De facto dominant religion”

● Sticky Faith ● 35% of students

“gave an answer that didn't mention Jesus”

Research Question:

What's the nature of the Christological understanding of high school students in the

ELCA?

Where were participants from?

Is Jesus God?

44%

44%

12%

Jesus is God Jesus is not God Don't know

Was Jesus fully human?

54%

31%

15%

Jesus was fully humanJesus wasn't fully humanDon't know

Who is Jesus?

Jesus is fully God, fully human

Jesus is God alone

Jesus is just another human

Jesus is neither God nor human

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

26

12

23

17

Who is Jesus?

● 2010 ● 877 7th - 12th grade

participants from24 states and various denominations

● Reach Workcamps

34% - Affirmed Jesus is God 25% - Jesus might be God, but he might not be. 30% - Don't know 11% - Jesus is not God

Is Jesus God?

Kenda Creasy Dean

“Conversational Christianity requires Jesus-talk, not just God-talk... Jesus is simply not an optional category for Christians.”

– Almost Christian

Even language not understood impacts Christology

73% of the language used by students to answer the question, “Who is Jesus?” was creedal in origin

“Son of God” Apostles': I believe... “in Jesus Christ, his only

Son” Nicene: “We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the

only Son of God”

Was Jesus perfect?

34%

57%

9%

Jesus was perfectJesus was not perfectI don't know if Jesus was perfect

Did Jesus sin?

49%

36%

15%

Jesus sinned Jesus didn't sin Don't know

Did Jesus sin?

“All who sin fall short of the glory of God. If you sin, you can't get into heaven. It would make no sense for Jesus to have sinned and even get into heaven, let alone be the sacrifice for

all of us.” - Redeemer Student

Did Jesus sin?

“Jesus sinned because he was a human being like the rest of us. Even the best people in the

world sin.” - Trinity Student

Did Jesus sin?

“Jesus was God's son after all. He was human. It's really hard to know. You'd think he would

be perfect. But humans – it's impossible to be perfect.” - Faith Student

39% of students strongly or somewhat agreed “Jesus was a great, great man, but he was not 100% perfect so he may have sinned”

Did Jesus sin?

Who is Jesus?

Perfec

t God

Impe

rfect

God

Perfec

t hum

an

Impe

rfect

human

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

21 20

10

29

Per

cent

age

of S

tude

nts

WDJD, not WWJD

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven,

Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to

empathize with our weaknesses but we have one who has been tempted in

every way just as we are, yet did not sin.- Hebrews 4:14-15

God vs. Resurrection

Jesus is God & roseJesus is not God & rose

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

43 43 “God was in Jesus. He was like a puppet for God that was supposed to come down to earth and show everyone what he could do.” - Faith student

Is it possible to be a Christian and not believe in Jesus?

30%

42%

28%

YesNoDon't Know

1 out of 3 students affirmed Jesus, Mohammad, Buddha and other great religious leaders all have equal standing in leading people to heaven

Other religions?

“The overarching value of supposed tolerance for other religions has trumped the value of truth, making it natural for Christian students to deny their own beliefs when they may be perceived (rightly or wrongly) as intolerant.”

Other religions?

The Christology of the ELCA Representative view of atonement

Jesus does not replace us. Christ suffered for us, but he did not suffer instead of us. We still have to suffer. Christ died for us, but he did not die instead of us; we still have to die. He is not our substitute in the sense that he replaces us. He is qualified by his life, death, and resurrection to be our representative. He has the right credentials to be the ambassador of the human race before God. (Who is Jesus? Disputed Questions and Answers, 106).

Who are students talking about Jesus with?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 81

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

With Youth Minis-triesWith Friends With Family

Christology Score

Jesu

s Ta

lk S

core

A final question

If you were to ask your students these 7 basic Christology questions, what do you think you'd

find?

The Jesus Gap

Jen Bradbury ymjen.com

@ymjen