I grew up going to church, as did my parents and their parents. I also live in a country where Christianity is the most popular faith. These factors gave me a strong foundation in understanding the Bible, faith, and what it means to follow Jesus. However, they also put me at risk of becoming a cultural Christian.
What Is Cultural Christianity?
Let’s define what we mean by a “cultural Christian”: A cultural Christian is anyone who identifies as Christian but doesn’t prioritize following Jesus in their everyday lives.
But why would people identify as Christians if they don’t want to follow Jesus? Well, there are a lot of reasons.
Many people say they are Christians because they grew up in a “Christian country,” have parents who identify as Christians, promote “Christian values,” enjoy elements of Christian culture, admire Jesus’ character, respect Christianity’s contribution to human rights, or celebrate holidays like Easter and Christmas.
Let’s Be Slow to Label People
There’s no one way to identify if someone is a cultural Christian, so we ought to be cautious about labeling people as cultural Christians. They may simply have personal but differing beliefs. Or they could be newer to faith. And there’s a chance they grew up in an environment that gave them an incomplete or distorted view of Christian beliefs. Let’s be slow to label and quick to show grace.
Instead, let’s consider our relationship with God. While we might not label ourselves as cultural Christians, we can easily drift toward elements of cultural Christianity. Let’s keep our eyes open to avoid falling into unhealthy spiritual traps.
What Does Jesus Say About Authentic Faith?
People who identify as having faith in God but don’t let faith change them are nothing new. In the New Testament, Jesus often confronted people who believed in God but lived without compassion, grace, or love.
On one occasion, Jesus saw a tax collector named Zacchaeus and shared a meal with him. Zacchaeus knew God, yet wasn’t pursuing a deeper relationship with God. In fact, he’d been using his authority to extort money from his neighbors. Jesus’ kind yet strong guidance led him to stop treating his faith like an accessory and begin forming an authentic, transformative faith.
Hope for Cultural Christians
Cultural Christianity doesn’t lead to a meaningful relationship with Jesus. Yet the story of Zacchaeus shows us that it’s possible for someone to step out of cultural Christianity and into a genuine faith.
3 Ways to Identify and Avoid Cultural Christianity
This isn’t a list to label others as cultural Christians. Instead, use this as a self-reflection tool to examine your own faith. Consider how you might have let cultural Christianity influence your growing relationship with Jesus using the following three identifiers.
1. Ever Feel Motivated by Guilt or Duty?
When I was simply a cultural Christian, I kept going to church, serving, and attending Bible studies, but my heart wasn’t in it. Instead, I felt motivated by duty and fear of shame about what people would think if I stopped showing up. I felt I was “supposed” to participate in a list of Christian activities.
My faith felt passionless, directionless, and uninspiring. Has your faith ever felt that way? Like you’re going through the motions of Christianity without any of the hope, joy, strength, or peace God offers? Then you might be experiencing cultural Christianity.
Note: Sometimes, Christians go through times when they find it harder to connect with God, which can result in a faith that feels less energized. These seasons are normal, and not a sign that you’re a cultural Christian. If you find yourself in this situation, continue seeking God and taking part in practices like prayer, Bible reading, and community. This season will pass.
Finding Healthier Motivations
Maybe you maintain spiritual habits to please God or a loved one. If so, it’s wise to audit your motivations.
Jesus had a group of followers who left everything behind to follow Him. He didn’t force, guilt, coerce, or drag people into being His disciples. They needed to make the choice for themselves.
Why Follow Jesus?
Jesus’ disciples each had a genuine experience that compelled them to give up everything to follow Him. In Jesus, they saw the answer to life’s biggest questions. Who are we? What is our purpose? And what does it mean to live well? They followed Him to find peace and purpose.
Guilt and duty can drive us to action but not toward a meaningful, purpose-filled life. Only a genuine desire to follow Jesus and allow His love to influence our whole lives can truly change us.
Once we have the right motivation, practices like prayer, Bible reading, and going to church take on a whole new meaning. Instead of tasks to check off a list to get God or loved ones off our backs, they become empowering practices that lead us into deeper relationships with God and others.
2. Do You Have a Personal Faith?
Growing up, I had faith, but it wasn’t personal. Instead, my beliefs about God, faith, and the Bible were shaped by my parents, pastors, and church volunteers.
Everyone, at some point, needs to make their faith personal.
I’m so grateful for their guidance, which gave me a great foundation. But everyone, at some point, needs to make their faith personal. What does that mean? Well, everyone has a unique background, personality, and perspective. This means we all come to faith with different questions, assumptions, and hopes.
Using Someone Else’s Faith
There’s a difference between scrolling through the Wikipedia page for a foreign country and actually visiting the country yourself, right? The former is information provided by a trusted source, while the latter is a personal experience.
For a cultural Christian, faith is information that has yet to be experienced. They might hold strong beliefs, but they’re recycled from past spiritual influencers rather than personal convictions.
For a long time, I was a Christian who walked around with someone else’s faith. My spiritual leaders told me the Bible was true, Jesus was my savior, prayer was important, and going to church mattered. These were all true, but they didn’t become meaningful until I personally pursued these practices with a desire to learn.
How to Make Faith Personal
Have you made your faith personal? Have you asked yourself why you believe in Jesus and whether you want to devote your life to Him?
Or let me ask this differently. Imagine if no one you knew was a Christian and you lived in a country where the majority of people were of a different religion. Would you still be a Christian?
Your family background, home nation, or favorite influencer can’t define your faith for you. If you want to avoid cultural Christianity, make your faith personal. Test it, try it, and see what it’s like to live it. Dive into Scripture, examine your doubts, spend time in prayer, take a bold step to serve, and look for ways to bless the people around you. Don’t walk around with someone else’s faith. Make your faith personal and see how God fills you with passion and purpose.
If you’re not sure how to get started, check out this article about what it means to find Jesus for yourself.
3. Does It Seem Like Faith Is Easy?
On Sunday, you’d know I was a Christian. I’d sing the songs, listen to the sermon, avoid saying bad words, and smile at everyone. Monday through Saturday, though? That was different.
At school, I acted like my school friends. At work, I acted like my work friends. And at church, I acted like my church friends. I wasn’t trying to be hypocritical, I just found it easiest to conform to the people I happened to be around.
If you can relate, don’t beat yourself up. We all have an instinct to try to fit in. But there’s a problem with this: People who constantly try to fit in rarely make a difference in the world.
How to Make a Difference
At the end of His ministry, Jesus offered a bold challenge to His followers—to share the good news of God’s love through their words and actions. Saying “yes” to this mission led Jesus’ followers to make big and small decisions to spread hope, share resources, and create relationships.
Those decisions made them different from the people around them. On many occasions, their generosity, advocacy, and message lead them into conflict. But they knew the world wouldn’t change if they took the easy route.
Faith Is a Lifestyle
Challenge and sacrifice are features of Christianity, not optional add-ons.
Challenge and sacrifice are features of Christianity, not optional add-ons. If we want to avoid cultural Christianity, we need to embrace being different, even if it costs us.
What does this look like practically? It starts by recognizing that faith isn’t an accessory you wear on Sundays. Instead, it’s a lifestyle of looking for ways to offer hope, include outsiders, make peace, and share the good news of God’s love.
Following Jesus might make your life more complicated, and it could create tension in relationships, too. But you’re not going to make a meaningful difference from the comfort of conformity. Choose to follow Jesus, not just on Sundays, but with your whole life.
Let Your Faith Change You
Every cultural environment presents different challenges, and even the most committed Christians have room to grow. You can give yourself grace as you grow.
At the same time, don’t settle for cultural Christianity. Christian faith is more than just a set of ideas, trends, traditions, and values. It’s a lifestyle rooted in the life of Jesus Christ. So keep seeking Him. Check your motivations, make your faith personal, and commit to following Him every day.
God is for you. He’s with you, and He wants to help you find life.