Let me share something that should shake every mature believer to their core. But before I do, I want you to pause and make a prediction.
Picture the most biblically literate Christians you know. The ones who can quote Scripture effortlessly, who've walked with Jesus for decades, whose theological understanding runs deep. Now, guess what percentage of them are actively pouring their lives into others through mentoring or discipleship?
Got your number in mind?
Now, brace yourself for a shocking dose of reality. Our extensive research reveals a startling disconnect that's plaguing American Christianity. Here's the profile of the thousands of mature believers we have studied over the years. These are Christians who:
Pray daily (60-67%)
Read their Bible consistently at a transformational level
Place enormous value on spiritual growth (73-89%)
Hold unwavering beliefs in core Christian doctrines
Report actively growing in their faith (86-89%)
Attend church regularly, often multiple times per week
Have decades of church experience
Feel overwhelmingly capable (95.7%) of teaching others about Jesus
In other words, these are the spiritual "heavy-lifters" of our churches, and who have so much to offer. I think we would all agree that these are the types of believers who should be the “spiritual multipliers.”
Yet here's the gut-punch. The research shows that the vast majority of these mature believers – people who could articulate the Great Commission in their sleep – disciple absolutely no one throughout their typical week. Zero—not a single person.
Isn’t that a shock to learn? Take a minute to really let that sink in.
Do you believe our research findings? Please let me know by replying back Y or N.
It isn’t easy being the bearer of such news. However, our research findings clearly indicate we have churches full of spiritually mature Christians who have effectively become spiritual dead ends. They're like reservoirs that continuously take in water but never release it to nourish the valleys below. Like I wrote about last week, they have become stuck in comfortable Christianity (you can read it here if you missed it).
So I'm asking you directly: Do these findings align with what you see in your own Christian community? Has it maybe even drifted into your own life?
More importantly, does this help explain why we're seeing such profound spiritual boredom among mature believers? Instead of the “rubber meeting the road” of sharing faith and investing in others, our most prepared soldiers for the spiritual battle have become expert collectors of spiritual knowledge, but novice distributors of spiritual impact.
Think about it. We have a generation of Christians who are:
Biblically fluent but missionally-mute
Doctrinally sound but discipleship-silent
Spiritually full but impact-empty
The tragic irony? These same believers overwhelmingly report feeling capable of teaching others to follow Jesus. The knowledge is there. The confidence is there. But the action? The risk-taking? The uncomfortable stepping out? That's what's missing. Instead, dangerous comfort has taken hold, keeping believers from fulfilling their true calling.
So here's my challenge to you. Before you move on from this email, before you file it away with all the other spiritual insights you've collected, please honestly ask yourself these questions:
Do you recognize this pattern in your own Christian community?
More uncomfortably – do you recognize it in yourself?
If you do, what's really holding you back? Is it fear? Comfort? Or have we simply rewritten the Christian story to make discipleship optional?
Here's the reality we’re all facing. Every day you and I choose comfort over discipleship, we're not just maintaining a spiritual status quo. We’re actually contributing to a new and worse generation gap—a crisis of no Christian influence to younger generations. I choose to not live in this state of reality any longer. I’m standing up and saying, “Lord, start with me to make things different.” Will you join me?
The knowledge we’ve each been accumulating wasn't meant to be some sort of spiritual trophy case. It was meant to be a tool kit for building God's kingdom in the lives of others.
Thanks for hanging with me in this harsh wakeup call. Stay tuned for what we can do together after staring this truth in the face. Please be sure to reply with Y or N and include any comments. Your input is so valuable to me as I try to get the attention of ministry leaders, pastors and individual Christ Followers on what is holding us back in serving Jesus. Send your comments to me here.
-Arnie
