In a new national study, evangelical Christians have graded their spiritual lives as roughly a C+ when weighed against 12 discipleship categories.
Infinity Concepts and Grey Matter Research collaborated to produce The Spiritual Report Card: Perception vs. Practice Among Evangelicals, which surveyed 1,000 American evangelical Christians who graded themselves on the following: prayer, Bible knowledge, Bible reading, tithing, charitable giving, volunteering, church attendance, worship, Christian relationships, evangelism, ministry and their relationship with God.
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Only 12% of respondents gave themselves an overall A, and 16% graded themselves as D+ or lower. Also insightful: the results closely tracked with the personal behaviors of those surveyed, suggesting they were self-aware and tended to be honest. Respondents were asked to use a 4-point GPA-style scale for each question. The average grade of 2.42 across the 12 categories (a C+) is a passing score in school. Worth noting is that in Revelation 3:16, Jesus scolds the Laodicean church for being neither hot nor cold but “lukewarm.”
“When some evangelicals say they are struggling spiritually, they usually are not being overly critical — they are being honest,” said Ron Sellers, president of Grey Matter Research.
Especially telling was where those surveyed grade themselves lowest — “Helping others come to know Jesus” (2.16), “Giving your money” (2.13) and Tithing (2.01). On the other hand, among the highest average scores were “Putting God first in your life” (2.88) and “Your prayer life” (2.87). Some three-quarters of respondents who gave themselves an A for reading the Bible say they read it every day.
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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Jerry Pierce and originally published by Decision Magazine.
