Do Christians Exist?

I recently read "Whether Christianity Exists" by Soren Kierkegaard for my church history class. The point of his homily is to show how far removed we are from the church as its described in the New Testament. Although it was written in the early 19th Century the criticisms are incredibly applicable to me and the church in general.

"If I must be candid, I do not deny that I am not a Christian in the New Testament sense; if I must be honest, I do not deny that my life cannot be called an effort in the direction of what the New Testament calls Christianity, in the direction of denying myself, renouncing the world, dying from it, etc.; rather the earthly and the temporal become more and more important to me with every year I live."

He has some very challenging and convicting things to say for the modern evangelical pastor as well. Referring to the church leaders of his day he writes:

"He lectures about renunciation, but he himself is being steadily promoted; he teaches all that about despising worldly titles and rank, but he himself is making a career; he describes the glorious ones (the prophets) who were killed, and the constant refrain is: If we had been in the days of our fathers, we should not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets."