MondayMorningInsight - Leadership & Encouragement for Church Leaders

New Survey Identifies “Five Kinds of Christians”

Posted by: Todd
Posted on: Tue, November 13, 2007
Viewed 69
(9) comments so far

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

Comments

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Peter Hamm on Tue, November 13, 2007

Well, the ones I know well tend to live in the first two categories. I think the vast majority of our folks are in the Private and Cultural categories. the trick is to get the private ones to read their Bibles and the cultural ones to understand that just because the culture doesn’t think there’s any absolute truth, that doesn’t necessarily make it so…

GREAT survey!
Deaubry on Tue, November 13, 2007

the people i know is in the one and two categories, i beleave that a person that do not believe jesus is the only way has been taught wrong all their lives, and it is sad. and i believe if a person gets born again there is truely a change in them,when jesus saved me i was at home, all i had said that day was, god there has got to be a better way to live than this, and the love of god flooded the house, i sat on the side of my bed with my four little ones hanging on to me i know they felt it to because they never said a word, i cried out to god to save me , and it felt like a ton of weight came off my body. at the time i was hooked on nerve pills, i never needed another one. i was on birth control pills, and every time i tried to get off them i started bleeding and would not stop, i had tried five times before, and that day i ask god to help me and i came off of the pills and every thing was normal from then on. the next few days i was reading my bible and i saw in it where god would fill you withh the holy ghost. i told god that i did not know what the holy ghost was but i knew it had to be good because it was from the lord, when i ask him to fill me he did, it was like heven came down on me and i could not stand up under such power. and i never wanted to do the things i had done before i was saved.god truely saved me.and i did not have to wonder.
Peter Hamm on Tue, November 13, 2007

Deaubry writes [i beleave that a person that do not believe jesus is the only way has been taught wrong all their lives, and it is sad.] Or maybe they’ve been taught right, but haven’t believed what they’ve been taught. Oh that everybody who walks in the doors of my church experiences the touch of God like you have… I have to just keep telling them!
Deaubry on Tue, November 13, 2007

do anyone belive in dreams, i sure do, i had a dream one night about three years before god saved me. i dreamed that i heard a noise out side, i ran out of the house to see what it was, and in the sky i saw a small cloud away off, then it got closer and in the cloud a hand came out with his finger pointing, it started on the left side of the cloud and started scaning across and when it got to me a voice said , i want you to come live for me, i woke up shaking and scared. i know it was god without a doubt. it took me three more years to come to god, if you give god an inch he will take a mile , i am saying that with all honor to him, that is how much he wants to save people.
Wendi on Tue, November 13, 2007

I’m not crazy about the term and description of “liturgical Christians.” I know plenty of “active Christians” who are part of very liturgical faith communities and denominations.

I think the hardest people to reach in our mission fields are those “private Christians” who see no connection between their private faith and the world in which they live, who sense no missional call or responsibility. Cultural Christians at least could be engaged in a dialogue about Jesus’ redemptive work.

I agree with Peter, most of the Christians we work with fall into the first two categories.

Wendi
Stewart on Tue, November 13, 2007

I didn’t read the term “liturgical Christians” as a negative. I thought they were described relatively acurrately. It would only become offensive if contrasted with the term “Active”. Most liturgical Christians I know are very active.

Having said all that - I divide up the Christian community in very different ways that Zondervan chose to. Their categories were helpful to the extent that they helped me try on a new lens with which to understand my brothers and sisters.
Wendi on Wed, November 14, 2007

Good point Stewart. I did contrast, because I believe that the article led us to do that. “Different” types of Christians implies that if you are one you are not the other. A Christian can be very active and still appreciate or prefer liturgy and high church.

Wendi
Mathew on Mon, June 09, 2008

I think the thing, that is written in this article is true. And in my church we mostly have only Private Christians, I think, and it’s not very good…
Lucas on Wed, June 11, 2008

We have almost only active christians and it’s great!