Christian?

I have been reading a book recently titled The Big Idea by Dave Ferguson. The first chapter of his book is titled "No More Christians." He believes that true Jesus followers should no longer call themselves "Christian" and should stop encouraging others to become a Christian. Don't misunderstand--he is all for evangelism. He states that some 85% of Americans (or 247 million people) call themselves Christian. Dave then points to research that shows there is no differnece in the attitudes or actions of Christians and non-Christians. He asks, "If the contemporary concept of a Christian is of someone who is no differnt than the rest of the world, is Christian really the word you want to use to describe your willingness to sacrifice everything you have to see God's dream fulfilled?" He answers, "No way." He concludes the chapter by saying that Christianity "has been reduced to the expectation of niceness." He no longer calls himself a Christian, but a Christ follower--a disciple. One last quote, "I am a Christ follower. I follow Jesus step by step as his Spirit moves me in his community called the church."

I did a little research. The term "Christian" only appears in the NT three times. Compare that to "disciple" that appears close to three hundred times. I grew up in a Christian hertitage that prided itself on "calling Bible things by Bible names." Although I don't get into that, I do want people to understand that I am serious in my faith walk. In our society where it is acceptable to call oneself a Christian and not go to church but a couple times of year or even every Sunday but not be involved with the life of the church or growing more into the image of Christ--do I want to call myself by the term that is synomous with that lifestyle? So I have been going back and forth in my mind about no longer calling myself a Christian. I thought about adopting the either the term "Christ follower" (as Dave Ferguson uses) or "Disciple" to describe my relationship to Jesus. To be honest, I haven't made up my mind yet.

These are the questions I have been pondering--Should Christians who are serious about their faith walk with Jesus adopt another label such as "Disciple" or "Christ follower?" Should we continue to use the label of "Christian" but work to redefine what it means it our society? Is that even possible? Has the term "Christian" been so hi-jacked that the church is past the point of being able to redefine it back to what it originally meant in the NT? Are there/What are the advantages and disadvantages to using a new term or continuing to use the term Christian?