What makes someone a Christian?

Tonight we thought about what makes someone a Christian. It wasn't as obvious as it at first sounds!

We looked at three different models that people have come up with to try to explain it. 

The first, was a scale (The Engels scale) where non-Christians moved up the scale to a point at which they became Christians and then progressed further up the scale as they moved on in their Christian walks.

The second, was the idea that we follow Jesus as he moves all over the place. 

The third model, was of Jesus hounding us, rather like a cat wanting it's brekkie, pestering us and not letting us go.

We had a really interesting discussion about which model (if any) we felt most accurately described the experience of 'becoming' one of Jesus' followers. It seemed that the consensus was that there were good and bad things about each model and that perhaps elements of all three models made the best description.

We also talked about how using exclusive language (Christian - non-Christian) was perhaps unhelpful in a setting like SofaChurch, where we're all somewhere along the 'following' path. We went on to think about how SofaChurch can balance being a place that meets the needs of old-timers and newcomers alike. A tricky one, but perhaps a challenge that every church faces. 

Another interesting point was made in conversation at the end by one of our visitors, that his experience of SofaChurch, although interesting and enjoyable, was that the group was very much one of established friendships. Which on the one hand is precisely what we want, but on the other, we perhaps need to be careful not to become cliquey and appear unwelcoming to new-comers. Any thoughts on how you do this practically welcomed! It's a tricky one...