An online survey has indicated that about a quarter of Christians are 'not very Christian' in how they live their daily lives.
The Christianity Quiz, which was created by the nonprofit Changing the Face of Christianity, includes 10 multiple-choice questions that assess how anonymous participants live their faith.
In data taken from January 2011 to October 2012, which included 8,475 responses, the Quiz found that 71.6 per cent of respondents were either "Good Christians" or "Spiritually Mature Christians". By contrast, 24.8 per cent of respondents were identified as "Worldly Christians" and 3.6 per cent were identified as "Far from Christ".
Changing the Face of Christianity defined a "Worldly Christian" as someone who lives much like their non-Christian peers and deals with challenges with little regard to what Christianity teaches.
R Brad White, founder of Changing the Face of Christianity, told The Christian Post that he was unsurprised by the results.
"We've run this study for close to two years now and we've checked in on the results several times. This latest update is our first cumulative look at the 22 months of data," said White.
"These 'worldly Christians' or people we categorise as 'far from Christ' are doing incredible damage to our faith. They are a stumbling block to people who are considering Christianity."
Questions asked on the quiz include asking the respondent how often they read the Bible and what they would do in certain real-life circumstances like someone cutting them off on the highway.
"For those that don't score very well, we hope it convicts them with a desire to study the Bible and pursue a more loving relationship with God and others," said White.
White told CP that he felt these findings should prompt churches and congregations to "wake up and take this seriously".
"Churches should be about helping followers to become spiritually mature disciples of Jesus Christ. But, I would also say that the responsibility isn't just with churches, pastors and church leaders," said White.
"The responsibility lies with individual Christians within the fellowship of a supportive church community. How many people accept Jesus Christ as their saviour but have absolutely no initiative and no plan on how to truly become a living disciple of Jesus Christ in their daily life?"
