The 5C Christians | The RAM Blog

What kind of Christian are you? Or a better question would be, what kind of Christian do outsiders consider you to be?

In this week’s edition of The RAM Blog, we are exploring an idea that came to my mind within the last few weeks. I call it the 5C Christians. FYI: This idea is still pretty raw, but I would like to flush it out more for a potential video in the future. For the sake of this blog edition, I will be simply outlining what these 5Cs are. I should also note that when I say Christian, I don’t necessarily mean that they are true, genuine believers, but instead that they would call themself a Christian.

The first is the Cultural Christian. This is the kinda person who follows “trendy Christian culture.” If it’s a new and popular Christian song, they are probably on that bandwagon. If there is a cool Christian fashion company out there, they are probably wearing those clothes.

However, the Cultural Christian is not limited to just what is new and trendy. This can also be the elderly couple who have gone to church for decades because, well, it was just the “normal” thing to do. They may look and possibly act the part on the outside, yet when you see them outside of the “church bubble,” they are hardly distinguishable from an unbeliever.

The second is the Compromising Christian. These Compromising and Cultural Christians often overlap, although not all the time. Of course, the understanding of compromise can result in heated debate, especially with another C Christian that we will talk about later.

The Compromising Christian is willing to follow Christ when it feels good, makes sense, and is considered noble, but they will turn away once life begins to get difficult. These Christians are similar to the seed dropped on the rocky ground in the Parable of the Sower. They may play the part for a time, but they will not endure. However, there are those who some would consider to be a Compromising Christian, yet the compromise is not over an absolute necessity of the faith, but instead a point of conjecture among Christians.

The third Christian is a Casual Christian. Once again, this Christian can be lumped together with the other two C Christians, but they are not always together. The Casual Christian may or may not be a genuine believer because of their lack of zealousness to live for the Lord. They do the bare minimum but do not consider their lives worth fully pouring out for the name of Christ. Instead, they hope the Sunday morning message makes them feel good, and so that they can check off their spirituality box and go back to “normal” life.

The fourth Chrsitian is very very different from the first 3. Unlike the Casual Christian who lacked zealous passion for the Lord, the Critical Christian often appears the most zealous, although not always for the right reason. Now similar to the Compromising Christians, defining who is and is not critical can be very mixed. Some good, Godly Christians come across as critical, when in reality they are just sharing truth from God’s Word.

However, some say the truth without love, which means the giver of truth has sinful motives, because it is impossible to not share the truth in a Christlike way without love. Now, it is important to note that love necessitates truth. Therefore, for someone to be loving, he must speak truth out of love for that person. This of course is a very tricky balance, and no human outside of Christ has perfected it here on this earth.

Yet at the end of the day, the kind of Christian all genuine believers should strive to be is a Christlike Christian. After all, the word Christian literally means “little Christ.” We are supposed to reflect our Savior by knowing of Him, not just about Him, and then letting the reality of his character and actions transform our inner desires, so that we can live all for the glory of God!

So returning to the original question, what kind of Christian would others consider you to be? Are you a Cultural, Compromising, Casual, Critical, or Christlike Christian? May God continue to give us the grace and strength to live for His glory and our good everyday!

-Ramiro D. Franco