5 types of Christian? What do you think of this article?

Question

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

from : Christianity Today.com

Jolly Rodger, they did have a whole article. I just put the summary in.

Answer 1

Just goes to show how sad it is that even there is no definition of what a Christian is anymore. Now we have different "types?"

Lord, deliver us from the chaos and disunity that was fermented by Martin Luther!!

Pax Vobiscum+

Answer 2

The last group seems awfully small, really; the implicit assumption that active churchgoers are assuredly more than Cultural Christians (as opposed to, say, Cultural Christians in certain rural areas with entirely to high levels of justified fear of being found out) may be partly responsible.

The term "Professing Christian" used to mean a large segment of people who are actively Christian (as opposed to just professing when pressed for their religion the way many cultural christians will) is repugnant and a strong indication the article was written by a Christian right fundamentalist who resents those who choose to experience their faith at a personal level and not be offensively evengelical toward non-believers.

The fact the author also assumes private Christians don't read the bible further supports this view of the author, nulling their credibility.

Answer 3

Believe salvation comes through Jesus Christ -- Yes
Focus on personal relationship with God and Jesus -- Yes
Similar beliefs to Active Christians, different actions -- Yes
Less involved in church, both attending and serving -- Yes
Less commitment to Bible reading or sharing faith -- Yes
Liturgical Christians 16%

Answer 4

Well... first of all... let's just say this.... It's not about you. It's about God. I think we at times really turn this into an inward reflection when we should be outwardly focused on God. With that being said... I can see the generation behind me definitely looking more like cultural Christians. At our church we have even moved away from the word Christian, because it has been so watered down. I'd rather be called a follower of Christ, because it is by Jesus ... and Jesus alone that we can be saved.

When all is said and done... there is only one Christian... because after all... no matter what we might believe on different matters... we are all on the same side!

Answer 5

I quote:" Each group represents about one-fifth of those identifying themselves as Christian, with Active Christians ... most likely to have a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that affects their beliefs and inspires an active church life; Cultural Christians ... least likely to align their beliefs or practices with biblical teachings, or attend church."

I find this statement to be outrageously prejudiced. The comparison is so extreme; lumping extroverted, Christo-centric, evangelical, church-going people into one side and contrasting them with (spiritually) introverted, non-Christocentric, non-evangelical, non-church-going people and then to imply that they are somehow less christian because of it? I mean, c'mon!

If I don't have a jesus fish on my car, does it make me any less of a christian? Put it in a different light - if I don't own a single Steelers jersey, does that make me somehow *not* a Steelers fan? (I'm not christian and not a Steelers fan, but does that help?)

I quote: " 'It's fine to use religious media as an addition if you are part of a local Christian community," says Lindsay. "It becomes problematic if you have no binding commitment to a local community and you become a Lone Ranger Christian. Before long your faith becomes something you put on and off like a jacket." '

At this point any credibility that this article could have had has just disappeared. This is simple ad hominem, a personal un-justified and unsubstantiated attack on those who don't join in to the larger group, those who perhaps don't fit in.

What we need to remember is that this particular article was written by and for Chrisitan leadership of local churches. It perpetuates and reinforces common hard-line evangelical stereotypes - "other christians (or other faiths) put on and take off their faith as they want", for instance.

What would you think if you were a Steelers fan (let's continue the analogy), went to your local bar to watch the game, and everyone there looked down on you because you weren't wearing a Steelers jersey, facepainted in Steelers' colors, or have a Steelers car decal? What if they looked down on you and dismissed your passion for your favorite team if you only did *one* of these things, instead of all of them?

I'm not a big fan of evangelicals, of any faith. It used to be that in proper English society a man's faith was a man's own business - that has morphed into today's American society, where if you *don't* sport the Jesus fish, you must not be as Christian as the next guy.

I almost hate to draw the comparison, but have you ever been involved in a music scene that turned into a fashion show? Punk, mod, glam, goth, metalcore, screamo (just off the top of my head)? It starts off as an idea, a brotherhood, and ends up as an external image where the people who dress the best (apply that image the most to the appearances) are the ones who become the scene. I honestly don't know if anyone else can understand where I'm coming from with this, but I'm a musician, and it resonates particularly strongly with me.

I carry my ideals, and I don't try to dress to appeal to someone else's fasion sense. Do you? Can it ever be okay for a Christian to be a christian without having to belong to some church? Can it ever be okay for someone to say "Hey, I disagree with you, Mr Pastor, and I'm not going to let you have authority over what I believe and how I perceive my Creator"?

I find it fascinating that towards the end of this article the author recommends equipping the "Active Christians" with Biblical resources and better understanding of apologetics in order to trickle over into the other four "categories" of Christianity.

I quote: "People will always default to what they know, and if they believe general statements such as 'We're all God's children' or 'Jesus was just a representative of God,' then that is all they will know."

I have to ask - unless you are an evangelical christian (or otherwise religiously xenophobic), what's wrong with that?

*Sorry for the long answer, guys.* =)

Answer 6

Unless they talked about how these breakdowns where determined and what the sample set was for determining the percentages, I would tend to think that this is just a wild guess in the dark.

The other thing that this strongly shows is that even though you shouldn't judge others, here is a article judging others, if not all Christians.

Me, I'm just glad to be an atheist.

Answer 7

If it walks like a duck, looks like a duck, talks like a duck, it is probably a duck. But if one say they are a Christian and shows little love to his fellow man, he is not a Christian. I once suggested to a minister friend that the only problem with his congregation was there were know Christians in it. Sadly, he could not argue with me. Peace

Answer 8

I currently represent aspects of all five, though, and over the course of my life have been squarely fit into one of the categories. Not that I'm typical though. These categories might be useful, but I suspect their use is limited to Evangelicals in the top group beating up on all the people in the other categories?

Answer 9

There are millions of types of Christians.

Christainity, like all religions, are based on old fictional stories that have little to do with the real world and which contradict each other all over the place. Therefore, Christians have to cherry pick what parts of the Bible they believe and either ignore or reinterpret the rest. There is also a high influence that society has on religions. If you look at the history of Christianity, for example, you'll see that their beliefs change over time. Though, they usually lag society's beliefs and tend to be outdated, they do evolve with society.

Everybody, Christian or otherwise, has developed their own beliefs based on what country their from, social level, neighborhood, friends, family, and their own experiences. Their religious beliefs tend, therefore, to reflect those beliefs. Most people use religion to shore up the reasons they have the beliefs they grew up with. Oftentimes, through childhood indoctrination, those beliefs are inseparable in minds of the believer and they can't see the secular origins for their beliefs.

Answer 10

I am always amazed at how the human brain has to group things that are impossible to group..SO many labels and categories..NO I don't agree. There is no neat little way to label something as diverse as ALL Christians.