Throughout Barna’s Spiritually Open series, we’ve focused on interpersonal interactions about faith and spiritual curiosity, especially between Christians and non-Christians.

In summary, there is a lot of talk about Jesus—from individual Christians sharing about Jesus in conversation to pastors teaching about Jesus from the pulpit.

On its face, this is a good thing: You may recall that the public, including non-Christians, holds generally warm feelings toward Jesus. People tend to have a positive opinion of Jesus and his teachings. The traits people associate with Jesus often align with the things they say they hope to find in their spirituality. This makes sense, when we remember that even among spiritually open non-Christians, 39 percent say they have made a commitment to Jesus that is still important to them today.

Yet, if non-Christians are looking for things that Jesus provides, have a positive opinion of Jesus and are hearing about Jesus from Christians … then why don’t more people identify as Christians? Our research suggests that the most likely reason for this disconnect is the hypocrisy non-Christians witness among Christians. This means that the biggest challenge to the effectiveness of our spiritual conversations may lie in how people—and the Church at large—embody Jesus.

Put another way, the missing ingredient in many approaches to sharing faith may actually have nothing to do with what Christians are saying, but how Christians are living. Sadly, people of no faith or of other faiths say that the hypocrisy of religious people is the number one reason they doubt their faith. Perhaps even more telling is the fact that 22 percent of Christians say the same thing.

Elsewhere, we see a deficit of trust and respect in Christianity. For instance, politics is a sticking point for non-Christians who have moved away from Christianity; more than half (51%) say they’d like to distance themselves from the politics of the Church. Of those open non-Christians who were raised Christian or had a Christian experience in their past, 40 percent say they have a hard time trusting religious institutions. Non-Christians also note that the Christians they know lack a “mature faith.”

Is all this communication and conversation about Jesus … just talk? Or are there leaders and members of the Church point to Jesus’ person and work through more than just words? And what can be learned from them?

You can read the rest of the article “From Talking About Jesus to Living Like Jesus” when you upgrade to Barna Access Plus. You’ll also gain exclusive access to downloadable Spiritually Open field guides for leaders, exclusive video interviews with experts and church leaders and the new Sharing Jesus Assessment for your congregation.