There are five different types of Christians, according to an article in Leadership Journal: active, professing, liturgical, private and cultural. People who identify themselves as Christians in the US are roughly evenly divided between these five categories. Nearly half of those who claim to be Christians have minimal involvement with a church, and roughly the same proportion see their faith as being focused more on “believing in God” than on Christ.
Active Christians (19%) typically believe that salvation comes through Jesus Christ, are committed churchgoers and Bible readers, accept leadership positions, invest in faith development and share their faith. Professing Christians (20%) have similar beliefs but are less committed. Liturgical Christians (16%) are regular churchgoers but have a more Catholic or Lutheran approach to their faith. Private Christians (24%) believe in God but don’t attend church or read the Bible. Cultural Christians (21%) have little personal involvement with God and do not view Jesus as essential to salvation.
These five different categories seem to be quite helpful in analysing the Christian landscape. I expect that in Australia the percentage of Active Christians would be significantly lower and the percentage of cultural Christians would be higher. The challenge is to work out the best ways of inviting members of the other groups to move into the Active Christian category.