Author Eric Shuster will be providing a series of blog posts summarizing various sections of his upcoming book Where are the Christians? due to be released this spring from Cedar Fort, Inc. We will feature one post each week from now until May 2013. For more information visit www.findyourchristianity.com.

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SECTION 4: HOW IS CHRISTIANITY TO UNITE? – A Vision

Chapter 17: Strengthening the Community

The fourth and final rung in the Model of Christian Unity following the individual, family and church is the community. The ideal scenario is for a community to be made up of strong individuals, families and churches—a blessing to all those who reside in such a community.

There is a societal lineage that maps to the Model of Christian Unity: individuals make up families; families make up neighborhoods; neighborhoods make up cities; cities make up counties; counties make up districts; districts make up states; states make up a nation; nations make up the world. There is a phrase “think global, act local,” a phrase which has great applicability to the concept of the church community.

The Biblical case for strengthening the community is really a culmination of the Biblical cases given for strengthening individuals, families and churches. Strengthening the community is not something most Christians think about—it is simply not a spiritual priority—this despite the fact that the Savior taught “if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand” (Mark 3:25).

Conventional wisdom suggests the great dividers of the Christian community come from the atheists and other anti-Christian organizations. However, that is not the case. The primary dividers of the Christian community can be found within the walls of Christianity itself—self-appointed judges and protectors of the faith as they interpret it. In short dividers are Modern-day Pharisees (from Chapter 8).

The unifiers of the community come in the form of individuals and institutions that have the vision of strengthening the body of Christ, looking past that which divides different denominations of Christianity and instead focusing on the commonality that can be leveraged. Shuster researches and reports on a number of highly successful global and local ecumenical efforts including intra-faith ministries and inter-faith ministries. Some of these institutions such as Northwest Assistance Ministries in Houston and the Neighborhood Interfaith Movement of Philadelphia are helping thousands of people each year by bringing together dozens of different Christian denominations to work together as one.

Unifying Christianity is not just a utopian pipe dream that exists in the same universe as wish granting fairies, calorie free ice cream and world peace. The Model of Christian Unity is already in progress and is strengthening communities and unifying Christianity towards reaching its potential. There are hundreds of community building efforts among diverse Christian congregations operating and changing lives around the United States. Therefore the question of whether or not it is possible to strengthen and unify the body of Christ in helping Christianity reach its potential has been answered—the answer is YES. What then will you do to help unify Christianity?

Our 18 week journey has briefly summarized who the Christians are from a historical perspective; what a Christian is from a spiritual perspective; where the Christians are from a behavioral perspective; and how Christianity can be strengthened and more united from a societal perspective. Thank you for joining us.

Go to www.findyourchristianity.com to watch the book trailer, find out what type of Christian you are, and to order the book.

Author Eric Shuster will be providing a series of blog posts summarizing various sections of his upcoming book Where are the Christians? due to be released this spring from Cedar Fort, Inc. We will feature one post each week from now until May 2013. For more information visit www.findyourchristianity.com.

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SECTION 4: HOW IS CHRISTIANITY TO UNITE? – A Vision

Chapter 15: Strengthening the Family

The second rung in the Model of Christian Unity is the family. Each individual born on earth is part of a family. Ideally that family consists of a mother, father, siblings and extended members (i.e. aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.). For too many individuals however that ideal falls short resulting in single parent families, families where there is no parent at all, and every other variety one can imagine.

Family reaches beyond genetics or a physical home. It is not uncommon to hear about persons in the military referring to their family in the service or close friends calling one another brother and sister. Whatever the configuration, strengthening the family is of critical importance in the spiritual unification process on the road to Christian Unity.

The Bible as a historical record provides stories of close-knit blood-related families such as Mary, Martha and Lazarus (John 11); close in-laws such as Ruth and Naomi (Ruth 1:16); dysfunctional families like that of King David (2 Sam. 11-13) and Jacob with his 12 sons (Gen. 34-37); and even families where one brother murders another in Cain and Abel (Gen. 4:8). The Bible outlines the establishment of the family (Gen. 2:18), the institute of marriage (Matt. 19:4-6), the importance of children (Psa. 127:3) and the dynamics of family relationships (Ex. 20:12 and Eph. 6:4).

The importance of the family to the greater whole of Christianity is unmistakable. Strong families translate into strong churches and strong communities. Because the forces of evil know this the family is constantly under attack. Inspired spiritual leaders have spoken publicly about the criticality of the family including Pope John Paul II who said “As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live.” Yet, despite decades of warnings society continues to ignore the obvious and pay the consequences including increased crime, child abuse, and abandonment.

At the core of the disintegration of the family is divorce. The absence of both parents in the home and the associated economic stress has not only been linked to an increase in child abuse, but a new phenomenon of technology as a babysitter. A study released by the Kaiser Family Foundation in 2010 revealed 8 to 18 year-olds in the United Sates devote an average of just over 7.5 hours per day to entertainment media including TV, video games, computers, iPods, and cell phones. The impact of such tremendous exposure to media has a devastating effect on children and youth.

To strengthen the family Shuster offers a unique lesson in the Divine Triangle whereby family unity is enhanced through the pursuit of Christ and His gospel. For those times when certain family members are in need a little extra support the Divine Triangle can transform to buoy those who are struggling. The chapter ends with practical counsel and tips from authors and family clinicians on healthy family dynamics—all designed to strengthen the family on the road to Christian unity. Next we look at strengthening the church.

Go to www.findyourchristianity.com to watch the book trailer, find out what type of Christian you are, and to order the book.

Author Eric Shuster will be providing a series of blog posts summarizing various sections of his upcoming book Where are the Christians? due to be released this spring from Cedar Fort, Inc. We will feature one post each week from now until May 2013. For more information visit www.findyourchristianity.com.

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SECTION 3: WHERE ARE THE CHRISTIANS?—A Categorization

Chapter 13: What Kind of Christian are You? Take the Test

Christians in America are spread out among those who are departing, feeling adequate, hesitating, and laboring (understanding there are very few who are latent). These Christians—meaning all Christians—move along a continuum based upon the exercising of faith unto works in an often erratic and volatile way. There may be a time when a Christian is inactive and disillusioned only to be inspired by a life-changing event that increases their faith towards becoming a more active Christian. Conversely, there may be a time when a Christian is active and faithful only to lose motivation and interest in life towards becoming a more inactive and indolent Christian.

The question of “Are you a Christian?” now becomes irrelevant and is replaced by “What kind of Christian are you?” The Christian community can eliminate the judgmental spirit of deciding who is a Christian and who is not by moving to a more useful and productive dialogue of where believers are along the Christian Continuum.



To accomplish this author Eric Shuster developed a unique exercise that accurately categorizes individuals into one of the five Christian types (Departing, Adequate, Hesitant, Laboring and Latent). The exercise contains 32 simple questions divided into three parts, all of which are answered on a scale of 1 to 5:

• Part One of the exercise evaluates individuals on a primary set of five attributes relating to belief (or faith). If the participant is not a Believing Christian then the test is concluded.

• Part Two of the exercise evaluates individuals on a secondary set of Believing Christian attributes. The eleven attributes in part two measure the depth of belief using tenets that are closely associated with faith in Christ and support the belief system of the Christian.

• Part Three of the exercise evaluates individuals on a set of Practicing Christian attributes. The sixteen attributes in part three measure the degree to which the individual is a Practicing Christian ranging from weak to strong.

After completing the exercise the scores are added up on two different axes: 1) the Believing attributes on the vertical axis (or the y axis from your high school math days) and 2) the Practicing attributes on the horizontal axis (or the x axis). The simple calculation and plot shows the participant exactly where they are on the continuum at the time of the exercise. Readers can use the manual form provided in the book or immediately complete the exercise and discover what type of Christian they are at www.findyourchristianity.com.

The remainder of chapter 13 is dedicated to helping the reader interpret the results, along with an enlightening exercise of charting the five Christian denominations discussed in chapter 7 onto the Christian Continuum—an revealing exercise you won’t want to miss.

Go to www.findyourchristianity.com to watch the book trailer, find out what type of Christian you are, and to order the book.