The Spiritual Spectrum

I just received a request for a graph I've used in illustrating the spiritual spectrum of our audiences. These are general categories that expand and contract dependent on audience we are reaching out to.


The general explanation is that while we are doing outreach...

• We’ll discover Christians – some who are Connected to a community of believers and growing. Some who are Unconnected.
• We’ll discover Seekers – who are searching for God in their spiritual journey.
• There are individuals who are Open – they are not actively seeking God, but they are generally open, if approached appropriately, if in a safe environment.
• The greatest majority may be the Indifferent. For them it is just not on their radar screen, they aren’t thinking much about it, because it seems irrelevant to how they live.
• Another group is the Resistant . Their resistance is rooted in world-views and beliefs that conflict with the gospel.
• Finally, there are the Hostile. Their hostility could flow out of strong beliefs that conflict with the gospel, but often it flows emotional issues like bad experiences in their past.

All of them need others to enter into their journeys and help them along. But before we can help show them the way to Jesus (the Guide) or get beyond their obstacles (the Builder), or encourage them to keep following Christ (the Mentor), we have to discover where they are at.