Christians worldwide are simply too busy for God, a newly released five-year study has revealed.
In data collected from over 20,000 Christians aged15 to 88 across 139 countries, The Obstacles to Growth Survey found that on average, more than four in 10 Christians around the world say they "often" or "always" rush from task to task.
Busyness proved to be the greatest challenges in Japan, the Philippines, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Mexico and Indonesia. Christians in Uganda, Nigeria, Malaysia and Kenya were least likely to rush from task to task. But even in the less-hurried cultures, around one in three Christians report that they rush from task to task. In Japan, 57 per cent agreed.
The busy life was found to be a distraction from God among Christians worldwide.
Around 6 in 10 Christians say that it is "often" or "always" true that "the busyness of life gets in the way of developing my relationship with God". Christians most likely to agree were from North America, Africa and Europe. Christians in South Africa, Nigeria, Canada, Singapore, Ireland, Philippines, the United States and the United Kingdom are more distracted from God than those in other countries.
While across gender lines, busyness affects both men and women, the distraction from God was likely to affect men more than women in every surveyed continent except North America, where 62 per cent of women reported busyness interfering with their relationship with God compared to 61 per cent of men.
