I recently saw a post asking whether a particular figure in the public eye was really a Christian. This is not the first or only post of this kind. They pop up frequently. I am not going to sit here are rake over public figure’s testimonies and pronounce on them one way or the other here. Rather, I want to ask a more basic question: why are we so desperate to front public figures this way?

A celebrity or individual in the public eye makes a profession of faith. All well and good. Maybe it is genuine, maybe it is not. Who, but their church, is to say? Certainly not me. In a sense, that is all there is to say here. But frequently, we feel the need to claim them as our own. In some cases, we are quick to start asking them – irrespective of qualification or just good sense – to put their name to books, study notes, and all manner of things. It is this phenomena I find more troubling and, in truth, I don’t think this kind of thing serves anybody very well.

For one, we all know the stories of celebrities who got plastered all over our evangelistic materials and fronted as a believer in the public eye who later fell away and renounced it all. In our desperation to front the individual, we end up bringing the gospel into disrepute. By the same token, being quick to front the celebrity name we put the person in a particularly tricky spot. Now, their public profession is coupled to their public image and the world is watching. Putting anyone under that sort of pressure, let alone a relatively new believer, is deeply unhelpful to them and any genuine fledgling faith that may exist.

Given we already know these things, the real question is why we continue to do it regardless? Why are we so keen to name celebrities and people in the public eye as one of ours? I suspect two main reasons, both of them linked, probably drive it.

First, we think it lends credibility to us. I’ll be honest, I don’t know why we think a sports star putting their faith in Jesus lends anymore credibility to the gospel in and of itself than anyone. It’s not like their training and experience lends weight to the gospel accounts or the reliability of scripture. I would get it a bit more if a famously atheistic professor suddenly trusted in Christ and became convinced of the evidence, but few of us get quite so excited by that because most people haven’t heard of most professors! But a dude who kicks a football about or a bloke who raps or presents TV shows seems to make us get very excited. I suppose the thought process is something like, ‘if you like this guy, and this guy now likes Jesus, perhaps you will start to seriously think about Jesus too’. And we get very excited by that prospect and are quick to own it. While it doesn’t lend us credibility in terms of relevant qualifications, it does bring a level of social credibility¹, which Christianity often lacks.

Second, the other side of the same coin, we are so starved of any public influence these days that we get very excited by anyone with any level of public clout jumping onto Team Jesus. Let’s leave aside the discussion about whether we ought to be seeking such public influence and whether it is actually beneficial to us in the way we assume it is. But I do think our lack of meaningful influence in most aspects of public life tends to make us keen to front anybody whom we reckon to have so much as a toehold on public life. Perhaps this will be our way to influence. That dude some people like says he’s a Christian now – get him on the blower and front him for an evangelistic campaign and let the Christian influence flow! It is very sweet, if utterly naïve, that we think Stomzy saying he’s a believer will somehow lead to revival and great Christian influence once again. It simply isn’t so (not least, I refer you to the preceding paragraph).

Don’t get me wrong here. If people in the public eye genuinely turn to Christ, that is a good thing. Just as it is a good when anybody turns to Christ. And such as friends and family of any individual who trusts in Jesus will notice a real difference in their life and begin to ask whether the claims of Jesus are true, so those in public eye might do that within their sphere of influence. But it bears saying, we can’t expect it and we are foolish to front them as a result of it. If their faith is real and genuine, let it be and leave them and their church to work out what that looks like for them.

What we perhaps forget is that it is not celebrities and public influence that will bring anyone to Christ. It is the Holy Spirit who does that work. Apart from him, nobody is going to trust in Jesus. Influence may be one of the means the Lord uses, but let’s not forget that he often works in altogether more mysterious ways. What is more, it is the quiet influence of unknown people amongst their friends and family through whom the gospel has generally advanced. Before we are quick to get excited about the influence a celebrity might bring, we would do well to simply equip the multitude of largely unknown believers in our churches to live out their Christian lives to the glory of God amongst their friends, family and local communities. I am sure this will have a far greater effect for the kingdom than any celebrity most of us don’t know in person, even if we can praise God that he is pleased to work in whomever he will.

Anyway, I’ve got to go, Kriss Akabusi and Bear Grylls are coming to workshop an evangelistic mission…

1. By which I ultimately mean that Christianity is viewed as exceptionally uncool and lacking in any social cachet that we think this celebrity that some people like might bring it for us. ↩︎