Living in Charlotte, NC for the last five years, I’ve definitely encountered my fair share of “cultural Christians.” Cultural Christians would be people who identify themselves as Christians, and perhaps even have good church attendance, but lack any real relationship with Christ. Most of these folks believe in God and believe that church is a good thing/place, but lack a real Christian worldview. They would have weak stances on who Jesus is, what sin is, etc.
There’s a really good chance you’ve encountered these folks in your community according to a recent Barna Group survey. Here are some excerpts from the survey:
“Nearly three out of four people call themselves Christians, even among the least ‘Christianized’ cities. Furthermore, a majority of U.S. residents, regardless of location, engage in a church at some level in a typical six-month period,” he said in the report Monday.
“The real differences spiritually between various regions are not so much what they call themselves; the faith gaps are more likely to be issues of belief, practice, politics and spiritual emphasis – how people think about, prioritize and express their faith.”
Barna Group saw wide gaps when it asked survey participants specifics about their beliefs.
When asked to agree or disagree with the statement “the Bible is accurate in all of the principles it teaches,” nearly three-quarters of residents in Charlotte, N.C., and Shreveport, La., held Scripture in high regard, according to the research group. But just over a quarter of residents in Providence, R.I., and San Francisco agreed.
Regarding evangelism, a majority of residents in Birmingham, Ala., (64 percent) and Charlotte (54 percent) said they agreed strongly that a person has a responsibility to share their beliefs with others. Meanwhile, only 14 percent and 17 percent of Providence and Boston populations, respectively, agreed.
For those of us hoping to use sports to reach people for Christ–we need to be aware of this culture in our communities. We need to find ways to communicate more than nomenclature and communicate a relationship. We need to ask good questions to bring out a person’s worldview and not just wave an invitation for church attendance like it’s a magic wand.
