The following excerpts are taken from the Barna Research Group's 2009 Year-In-Review Perspective.
Theme 1: Increasingly, Americans are more interested in faith and spirituality than in Christianity.
"The purpose of faith, for most Americans, is not so much to discover truth or to relate to a loving, praiseworthy deity as it is to become happy, successful, comfortable and secure. For a growing percentage of citizens, their sense of spirituality, more than Christianity, facilitates those outcomes."
Theme 2: Faith in the American context is now individual and customized. Americans are comfortable with an altered spiritual experience as long as they can participate in the shaping of that faith experience.
"Now that we are comfortable with the idea of being spiritual as opposed to devoutly Christian," Barna pointed out, "Americans typically draw from a broad treasury of moral, spiritual and ethical sources of thought to concoct a uniquely personal brand of faith. Feeling freed from the boundaries established by the Christian faith, and immersed in a post modern society which revels in participation, personal expression, satisfying relationships, and authentic experiences, we become our own unchallenged spiritual authorities, defining truth and reality as we see fit.
"Consequently, more and more people are engaged in hybrid faiths, mixing elements from different historical eras and divergent theological perspectives," Barna stated, "In some ways, we are creating the ultimate ecumenical movement, where nothing is deemed right or wrong, and all ideas, beliefs and practices are assigned equal validity. Everyone is invited to join in the dialogue, enjoy the ride, and feel connected to a far-reaching community of believers. Screening or critiquing what the community believes is deemed rude and inappropriate. Pragmatism and relativism, rather than any sort of absolutism, has gained momentum."
Theme 3: Biblical literacy is neither a current reality nor a goal in the U.S.
Barna's findings related to Bible knowledge and application indicate that little progress, if any, is being made toward assisting people to become more biblically literate.
"Bible reading has become the religious equivalent of sound-bite journalism. When people read from the Bible they typically open it, read a brief passage without much regard for the content, and consider the primary thought or feeling that the passage provided. If they are comfortable with it, they accept it; otherwise, they deem it interesting but irrelevant to their life, and move on. There is shockingly little growth evident in people's understanding of the fundamental themes of the scriptures and amazingly little interest in deepening their knowledge and application of biblical principles.
Barna noted that some of the critical assumptions of many preachers and Bible teachers is inaccurate. "The problem facing the Christian church is not that people lack a complete set of beliefs; the problem is that they have a full slate of beliefs in mind, which they think are consistent with biblical teachings, and they are neither open to being proven wrong nor to learning new insights."
Theme 4: Effective and periodic measurement of spirituality - conducted personally or through a church - is not common at this time and is not likely to become common in the near future.
"There are two levels on which evaluation of where we stand spiritually can take place," noted the California-based author. "There can be external measurement, such as that conducted by pastors, teachers, coaches or peers, and there can be self-evaluation. At the moment, we're seeing very little of either form of review related to a person's spiritual condition.
"Our studies this year among pastors showed that almost nine out of ten senior pastors of Protestant churches asserted that spiritual immaturity is one of the most serious problems facing the Church. Yet relatively few of those pastors believe that such immaturity is reflected in their church. ... Overall, less than one out of every ten pastors said they were completely satisfied with how they assess the spiritual condition of their congregation.
"The situation is similar among Christian individuals. Americans have an almost insatiable curiosity about themselves and how they stack up against others. Yet, in the spiritual realm, that same level of curiosity is much less apparent. Perhaps it is because of the lack of tools for such measurement or even the absence of motivation to grow or to deepen their relationship with God.
"It may well be that spiritual evaluation is so uncommon because people fear that the results might suggest the need for different growth strategies or for more aggressive engagement in the growth process. No matter what the underlying reason is, the bottom line among both the clergy and the laity was indifference toward their acknowledged lack of evaluation."
https://www.barna.org/barna-update/faith-spirituality/325-barna-studies-the-research-offers-a-year-in-review-perspective#.UqxF7Rpuk5t
Our insistent preoccupation with self and mixing the holy with unholy is not only hurting the God we claim to love with all our hearts, but we are increasingly ineffective in making disciples and unwittingly putting ourselves and our children in harm's way. What will it take to wake us up? No matter how much we try to justify ourselves, we serve a God who is not indifferent. Neither is He amused.
"6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing that thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
7 As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I change their glory into shame." Hosea 4:6-7
