God, culture and you
I received an email from a good friend asking me to check out an artilce in a magazine that interestingly enough I had just received a frree copy of in the mail the same day. When these things happen - I get thinking God wants me to check it out too. It had to do with spiritual trends in America and five kinds of Christians. Of course I immediatley wanted to see where I fit in.
[click on Five Kinds of Christians title to get link to whole article]
Note the graph, but check out where you might fit.
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
