Last Year’s Most Intriguing Findings About Christians

“Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.” (Proverbs 9:9)

One of my favorite websites is www.barna.org*, a Christian website that provides invaluable information about cultural trends and the Christian church. Recently, the Barna Research Group published some rather interesting findings that may help us to put our finger on the pulse of Christianity in this country. Five lists of faith-related survey results-the most revealing, most controversial, most surprising, most significant-but-not-surprising, and most challenging-will unquestionably inspire sermons and Sunday School lessons for months to come. Space will not permit me to share all five lists with you, so I gleaned the two lists that I thought were the most interesting.

The 7 Most Important or Revealing Results

1. When people who regularly attend Christian church services were asked to describe the importance of various spiritual endeavors, a minority of regular attenders described evangelism, having meaningful relationships with other people in church, and giving 10% or more of their income to the church as very important endeavors.

2. After studying more than three dozen different faith practices and biblical beliefs, adults under the age of 35 were the least likely to have a biblical perspective or consistent participation in each of the factors examination.

3. Forty-one percent of the adults who attend Christian church services in a typical week are not born again Christians-meaning they have not embraced Jesus Christ as their savior.

4. After exploring the religious life of adults attending a variety of Protestant churches, only three types of churches-Pentecostal, Assembly of God, and non-denominational churches-had a majority of adherents who had shared their faith in Christ with a non-Christian in the past year.

5. Based on people’s reactions to a series of moral issues, Americans are comfortable legalizing activities-such as abortion, homosexuality, and pornography-that they feel are immoral.

6. Religious teaching or values minimally affect people’s moral choices. The major influences on such decisions are the expected personal outcomes of their choices, minimizing conflict over the choices, and the values their parents taught them.

7. Compared to two years ago, just half as many Americans believe that absolute moral truth exists, dropping from 38% in January 2000 to only 22% in November 2001.

The 7 Most Challenging Outcomes

1. There has been a substantial deterioration regarding people’s understanding of spiritual gifts, with a five-fold increase in born again adults who are aware of gifts saying God did not give them one, and half of all born again adults listing gifts they possess which are not among the spiritual gifts listed in the Bible. Even one-quarter of all Protestant pastors listed one or more gifts that they possess which are not listed in the Bible.

2. Financial support of churches dropped substantially between 1998 and 2000 and will likely decline again this year, as a result of changed giving patterns related to the 9-11 attacks.

3. At least three out of ten born again adults say that co-habitation, gay sex, sexual fantasies, breaking the speed limit or watching sexually-explicit movies are morally acceptable behaviors.

4. Half of all adults maintain a non-biblical perspective on the moral acceptability of four or more of the core moral behaviors evaluated.

5. Although attending church as a child increases the likelihood of a person attending as an adult, that affect is declining substantially.

6. The religious beliefs of people who have attended church since childhood are no different than those of people who did not attend when young but attend as adults.

7. Compared to teens throughout the past 20 years, today’s teenagers have the lowest likelihood of attending church when they are living independent of their parents.

Barna admits, “Such lists are always subjective, but the breadth of revelations represented by these factors may be helpful in reviewing the true spiritual condition of America.” He also concludes, “This is an exciting time to be alive for religious leaders who understand the spiritual search that millions of Americans have embarked upon and willing to engage with people who with people who do not necessarily accept pat answers or traditional solutions to spiritual problems. Our society offers people a plethora of choices. Helping people to comprehend that spectrum of options and the consequences of their choices is one of the exciting challenges facing the religious leaders of our nation.”

*(All the information contained on the barna.org website is copyrighted by the Barna Research Group, LTD., 5528 Everglades Street, Ventura, CA 93003. No portion of this website (articles, graphs, charts, reviews, pictures, video clips, quotes, statistics, etc) may be reproduced, transmitted, disseminated, sold, distributed, published, edited, altered, changed, broadcast, circulated, or commercially exploited without the prior written permission from Barna Research Group, LTD. Pen Holder Ministries has received written permission to disseminate the above information.)