Jesus: an example, not an existence?

This is something that popped into my head over Easter, and also before that, after hearing a presentation by Lauren, from my Vetamorphus group, about "What do you think of the Messiah, and who He was?"

Does it really matter if Jesus existed or not? Is my role as a Christian to live to spread the message of being a good person, or is to defend the existence or share the story of Jesus the person? Or is it both? Or do they overlap, and help make each other happen?

At our school Easter service, a dude from TEAR Australia had a chat to us. He spoke about this doctor from Ethiopia, who got the chance to get educated in the USA. However, after becoming a recognised doctor, this guy decided to give up on all the stuff he had in the States, and return to put his knowledge into use in his homeland. He founded the 'Hope' program, which provides everything for children, especially orphans. The message was that it was because of this guy's faith in Jesus that he did these things. But what I took away was this: Does it matter if Jesus existed? Even if he was only a story with a meaning, but not actually historically real, who could discredit such a good thing happening because of a faith in Jesus? Whether or not this faith is in something real, something positive came out of it, so does it matter?

Me personally, I am thinking that maybe one of the roles of a Christian is to try and live the life of Jesus, treating other people right, and in doing so spread our reason. But if I wanted to set any type of example, it would be encourage people to live a good life, even if they don't come to believe. This blog isn't going to be some Christian propaganda thing, it's just stuff I believe in. I'd much rather see a world of people doing good things for others than a world of people feeling uncomfortable with a Christian faith.