Nov

10

Five Kinds of Christians

November 10, 2007 |

You think that Christians are basically alike? No so. CT has posted a fascinating article from the Fall 2007 issue of Leadership Journal. It’s called 5 Kinds of Christians: Understanding the disparity of those who call themselves Christian in America, and is based on a national survey co-sponsored by Leadership.

Three critical issues emerged from the study:

• The local church is no longer considered the only outlet for spiritual growth. The survey shows that for nearly half of Christians, involvement in a local church body is a minimal part of their daily lives. Faith is relevant to these people, but the church is not.

• Churches must develop relational- and community-oriented outreach. People can get good teaching from TV, the Internet or other media. They can only get community with other people.

• Lay people have to be better equipped to be God’s ambassadors. Self-identified Christians hold a wide range of theological and doctrinal beliefs. For many, Bible-reading is minimally important. Thus, as churches encourage their congregants to engage with the surrounding communities and build relational bridges with people, they must simultaneously equip these Christians to handle the questions and attitudes they may encounter, both with non-Christians as well as with other Christians who hold different beliefs.

The study identified five types of Christians, with roughly equal distribution:

Active Christians 19%

* Believe salvation comes through Jesus Christ
* Committed churchgoers
* Bible readers
* Accept leadership positions
* Invest in personal faith development through the church
* Feel obligated to share faith; 79% do so.

Professing Christians 20%

* Believe salvation comes through Jesus Christ
* Focus on personal relationship with God and Jesus
* Similar beliefs to Active Christians, different actions
* Less involved in church, both attending and serving
* Less commitment to Bible reading or sharing faith

Liturgical Christians 16%

* Predominantly Catholic and Lutheran
* Regular churchgoers
* High level of spiritual activity, mostly expressed by serving in church and/or community
* Recognize authority of the church

Private Christians 24%

* Largest and youngest segment
* Believe in God and doing good things
* Own a Bible, but don’t read it
* Spiritual interest, but not within church context
* Only about a third attend church at all
* Almost none are church leaders

Cultural Christians 21%

* Little outward religious behavior or attitudes
* God aware, but little personal involvement with God
* Do not view Jesus as essential to salvation
* Affirm many ways to God
* Favor universality theology


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