One in Four Believers Are 'Christians in Name Only,' According to Survey

By Allison Summers, Christian Post Reporter Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Changing the Face of Christianity Inc., a non-profit corporation dedicated to reversing negative Christian stereotypes, has released the results of a quiz designed to determine how well Christians live the teachings of Jesus Christ. Through the quiz, the organization found that one in four self-proclaimed Christians admit that they do not live according to Christ's teachings.

The anonymous assessment consisted of 10 multiple choice questions that returned a score to the participant at the end, which then indicated to that participant if he was 'Far from Christ," a "Worldly Christian," "A Good Christian," or a "Spiritually Mature Christian," which was the highest rank possible.

The responses, which were collected over a seven-month period from January 2011 to July 2011, indicated that 23.7 percent of Christians in the pool of over 2,000 questioned were classified as "Worldly Christians" or Christians in name only, as defined by R. Brad White, the founder of Changing the Face of Christianity Inc.

"When posed with a real world situation which tests their faith, they tend to do what the rest of the world does, instead of living as Jesus instructs," White said about "Worldly Christians."

"To be clear, these aren't 'bad' people. The score results suggest they think much more about themselves than they think about God and other people. Reading the Bible and praying aren't a common practice. These are people that you would probably be surprised to find are Christian, if it weren't for the cross around their neck. These people are in the sweet spot of where we need to do our work. We are here to walk along side them, love them, educate them, mentor them, and guide them into living their faith through their words and actions."

White said this is the group his organization is particularly eager to help to put them back on the path to righteousness.

"We are currently piloting a revolutionary way of 'doing' Christian small groups, that helps Christians live their faith; a sign of Christian maturity," he said. "Instead of just doing Bible study after Bible study, our small groups platform gets people studying, serving, praying, praising, and enjoying their lives together."