This blog is based on material I found in a Net article called: “Leadership Journal. Net”. In it, it discussed the notion that there were 5 Kinds of people in the world today who called themselves Christians, (and sometimes in the same church or denomination too)!
This information is from a new national survey co-sponsored by Leadership. And reported by Helen Lee and posted 10/01/2007 in an attempt in Understanding the disparity of those who call themselves Christian in America.
The five groups, and their percentage of believers, and their basic beliefs, follow:
1. 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.
2. 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
3. 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
4. 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
5.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
In addition to these findings about the church, we found a most defining dichotomy over the Jesus question: Active and Professing Christians said "accepting Christ as Savior and Lord" is the key to being a Christian (almost 9 in 10), while Liturgical, Private, and Cultural Christians favored more generally "believing in God" as the main element in being a Christian. So, for a vast number of people who consider themselves Christian, Christ is not the central figure of their faith.”
The above defining of so-called Christians, helped to understand/explain that while many people claim to be followers of Christ (which is what the word Christian means,) many are not true Christians, because they only follow the name and not Jesus.
I will probably be called intolerant and pigheaded here, but for the life of me, I cannot understand how a person can believe that they are a Christian, if they don’t believe in or follow Jesus the Christ!
Whilst I won’t be judgemental of you, I would love to know which of the above categories you truly see yourself in and what you truly believe about Jesus? Over to you for now!
Sunday, May 17, 2009
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