You know the ones I mean. Those shifty, skateboard holding, bored seeming groups of kids found in town centres the western world over. Chains, rips, dyed hair, smoking, black coat wearing, pallid groups of teens with the names of their favourite bands plastered across their chests like tribal markings, but much more offensive.

“Normal” life holds no attraction for them. And they don’t want to be like you.

Would Jesus be with them if he were here on earth now? Yes, probably. Would He be their friend? Yes, He specialised in outsiders. Would He fit in with them, perhaps wear a Marilyn Manson t-shirt? I don’t know. But He would certainly turn a few heads.

Jesus Christ, the most offensive person in the Universe, was impossible to ignore. Unnerving. Incendiary. Unstoppable.

He blitzed the Pharisees, scandalised and divided the people, threw the authorities into confusion, etched loyal devotion into the hearts of countless followers and caused others to want to rip him to pieces.

Within three years of first raising his revolutionary cry in the town where he grew up, Jesus had died the fiercest death ever known at the hands of a pack of murderous religious hawks and cynical politicians. Those three years scorched a livid mark across human history that can never be erased.

The problem is, of course, that most of us in the west have lost touch with that sort of Jesus. The pulse of revolution is not in our veins. We’ve lost touch, and our witness for Christ suffers for it. Sad, because we live in a society where people desperately need to see the awesome reality of Almighty God, alive in us, in order to believe.

“Traditional” church hasn’t hit it off. Logical arguments fail to convince. Straining to be “relevant” is patently futile.

“Friendship evangelism” can be as deep as a puddle. Comfortable religion makes your average man on the Street start to shuffle with embarrassment.

What does have an effect, however, is the power of the gospel. Blind eyes are always opened by the word of God, proclaimed with passion. In our media-saturated, voyeuristic, freak-show society - where anything goes - it’s about time that we Christians lost our coyness about the gospel of Christ and stopped treating it like that shameful family secret that we all try not to mention. We need to be confident in our message.

Yes, being a follower of Christ is uncomfortable. It is offensive. It is costly. He is the only way and He wants to take over your whole life. This is the Jesus who refuses to compromise, who demands a response, who they loved and hated, worshipped and spat at, hailed as a King and crucified. We’re not excited enough about this kind of Jesus and his Kingdom and, unlike him, we’re not ready to die for the love of it. And it shows.

The call of Christ is a lot more controversial, offensive and attractive than the latest Hollywood hero or Johnny-come-lately rock act in mismatching contact lenses. Marilyn Manson, eat your heart out.