 | The examples and perspective in this article may not include all significant viewpoints. (February 2019) |
The evangelical Lausanne Movement defines a nominal Christian as "a person who has not responded in repentance and faith to Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour and Lord"...[he] "may be a practising or non-practising church member. He may give intellectual assent to basic Christian doctrines and claim to be a Christian. He may be faithful in attending liturgical rites and worship services, and be an active member involved in church affairs."[1] American Reformed theologian Douglas Wilson disagrees with the category of "nominal Christian" and argues that all who are baptized enter into a covenant with God, and are obliged to serve him; there is, therefore, "no such thing as a merely nominal Christian any more than we can find a man who is a nominal husband."[2] There are, however, "wicked and faithless Christians."[3]
According to data from the European Social Survey in 2012 show that around a third of European Christians say they attend services once a month or more.[4] More than two-thirds of Latin American Christians and 90% of African Christians said they attended church regularly.[4] Missionaries Patrick Johnstone and Jason Mandryk, estimate that 1.2 billion people are "nominal and non-practising 'Christians'."[5] According to a 2018 study by the Pew Research Center, Christians in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the United States have high levels of commitment to their faith.[6]
The Pew Research Center studied the effects of gender on religiosity throughout the world, finding that women are generally more religious than men. Pew Research Center data in 53 countries, found that 53% of Christian women and 46% of Christian men say they attend services at least once a week. While Christians of both genders in African countries are equally likely to regularly attend services.[7]
- ^ Christian Witness to Nominal Christians Among Roman Catholics, Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization Occasional Paper 10. (LCWE)
- ^ Douglas Wilson, Reformed is Not Enough: Recovering the Objectivity of the Covenant (Moscow, Idaho: Canon Press, 2000), 96.
- ^ Douglas Wilson, Reformed is Not Enough, 97.
- ^ a b Christianity and church attendance
- ^ Patrick Johnstone and Jason Mandryk, Operation World: 21st Century Edition (Paternoster, 2001), 13–14.
- ^ "The world's most committed Christians live in Africa, Latin America – and the U.S." Pew Research Center. 22 August 2018.
- ^ "The Gender Gap in Religion Around the World". Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project. 2016-03-22. Retrieved 2020-09-17.