ByKim Riddlebarger
According to a recent article from Agape Press (Click here: News from Agape Press), the evangelical church in America continues to manifest more "spirituality" and less "Christianity."
Some highlights (or low-points) from the article (italics), along with a brief commentary:
Barna reported that 45% of all adults claimed to be born again -- up from 31% in 1983. "The current figure represents the largest single-year increase since 1991-1992," the group said. When the subject turns to the narrower category of evangelicals, the percentage is smaller: 9% of all adults fit into that category. Moreover, the notion that America is awash in non-Christian religions, pagan faiths and hordes of atheists does not appear to be true. "Adults who are aligned with faiths other than Christianity, and those who consider themselves to be atheist or agnostic, each comprise less than 10% of the population," Barna said.
Like Paul in Athens, we can conclude, "people of America! I see that in every way you are religious" (Acts 17:22). But the faith of most Americans is tied to a subjective religious conversion experience and a so-called "personal commitment" to Jesus, apart from any confession as to just who that Jesus is, and what he has done to save them. Lets hope these numbers are true, but I have reason to doubt them.
Generally speaking then, the American people still seem interested in the Christian faith. George Barna said research reveals "that people's faith is not at all deep, but at least more people are becoming attuned to the importance of the life, death, resurrection and message of Jesus Christ."
Again, let's hope this is the case. But a faith that is not very deep, might not be genuine faith at all--see below.
In 2006, 47% of adults said they read the Bible during a typical week, up dramatically from 1995, when the number hit a 20-year low of just 31%. Increases were also registered in four more areas: church attendance, involvement in small groups that meet for Bible reading and other spiritual practices, church volunteerism, and Sunday School attendance.
The only two areas out of the seven that did not see an increase were prayer and evangelism. In the survey, 84% said they had prayed during the preceding week -- a high percentage that has not changed since 1993, when Barna said it first began tracking the practice of prayer. As for personal evangelism, 60% of born again Christians said they had shared their faith with someone they knew was not a Christian. As with prayer, this was a percentage that had not changed during the last decade, Barna said.
People read their Bibles and participate in church activities in significant numbers--that's for sure. At the same time they don't know much about what they believe or why they believe it. This begs the question, "what are they doing at church, if it is not being entertained?" Apparently, church attendees are not learning much about Christian theology or Holy Scripture.
Despite these hopeful signs, however, research reveals the rumblings of a possible radical shift in the way many Americans think about religion and the Christian life. More and more adults -- even Christians -- believe that church involvement is unnecessary for an individual's spiritual development.
"Only 17% of adults said that 'a person's faith is meant to be developed mainly by involvement in a local church,'" said a Barna report. "Even the most devoted church-going groups -- such as evangelicals and born again Christians -- generally dismiss that notion: only one-third of all evangelicals and one out of five non-evangelical born again adults endorsed the concept."
In a 2005 Newsweek cover story, writer Jerry Adler found "a flowering of spirituality" in America that seemed to be occurring outside church walls. "Whatever is going on here, it's not an explosion of people going to church," Adler said.
So, can you have genuine Christianity apart from what happens at a local church? The Reformers didn't think so--since hearing the word preached and receiving the sacraments lies at the heart of the Christian life, since these create and strengthen faith. Of course, you can be a Christian and not be a member of a church--but this is the exception, not the rule. The New Testament has no category for someone who professes faith in Christ, but who is not also a member of a local church. The emphasis upon a personal faith apart from involvement in a local church is a sign of serious trouble, not the sign of a vital faith.
"Spirituality," or "the impulse to seek communion with the Divine," he observed, "is thriving." Adler cited a Newsweek/Beliefnet Poll which found that "more Americans, especially younger than 60, described themselves as 'spiritual' (79%) than 'religious' (64%)."
In the wake of America's rich heritage of political, economic and, over the last 40 years, sexual freedom, a spirit of religious individualism seems to be flourishing.
A personal spirituality in communion with the "Divine" is not Christianity! God has revealed himself in Christ in the pages of Holy Scripture, not through some form of subjective encounter with the "Divine" (whatever that means). Furthermore, sexual freedom is not a hallmark of sanctification--it is a sign that people don't connect their communion with the Divine to their daily lives. In other words, what they experience with God has no effect upon how they live. Their sexual practices come from the culture, not from Scripture, nor their "personal faith." And so they live like pagans.
Harvey Cox, professor at Harvard Divinity School, wrote in Foreign Policy: "More and more people view the world's religious traditions as a buffet from which they can pick and choose."
So, for many of these people, Christianity is just an entree on the menu--the flavor of the day.
What's going on? George Barna thinks many people are looking for an authenticity, passion and sense of community they find lacking in many churches.
"Americans remain unconvinced of the necessity of the collective faith experience," he said. "This is partially because the typical church model esteems attendance rather than interaction and immersion, partially due to the superficial experiences most believers have had in cell groups or Christian education classes, and partially attributable to our cultural bias toward independence and fluid relationships."
But again, this begs the question, "why go to church?" If it is because of the "worship experience," the programs these churches offer, or to be entertained by some "dynamic speaker," then why do we need to go to church at all? We can get this on TV. We can go to church when we feel like it, and we don't go when we don't feel like it--which is when we truly need church the most.
Biblically speaking, we go to church because that is where we hear (or we should hear) the words of life, so that we can learn more about God and his Christ, and be reminded of all that God has done in Christ to save us from our sins. Not to mention the fellowship of other believers, to care for widows and orphans, and to use the spiritual gifts that God has given each of us (among other things).
It's not all bad news. Barna said a significant number of people appear to be leaving the organized church flock, but not for pagan or otherwise non-Christian religious pastures. Instead, they appear to be opting for a more informal pursuit of the Christian life through home churches.
In the last decade, according to Barna, the percentage of adults who attend a house church during a typical week grew from just 1% to 9%. If monthly attendance is considered, Barna said "one out of five adults attends a house church at least once a month."
If extrapolated to the national population, Barna's figures mean that more than 20 million adults in the U.S. attend a house church during the week, while 43 million do so once a month. And that does not even include the number of regular, traditional church goers who also participate in small group meetings.
It's a trend Barna thinks will accelerate. He believes that "by 2025 the local church will lose roughly half of its current 'market share' and that alternative forms of faith experience and expression will pick up the slack," home churches among them.
So, says Barna, attendance at churches (presumably the mega-Churches) will drop by 50% because of new competing trends--house churches or other alternate forms of Christianity. Maybe that's not a bad thing. As James Boice used to say, if you build your church on a fad, you'll lose your members just as soon as the next fad comes along.
All in all, this is more bad news about the state of the American Church. There is a lot of religious talk and activity, but very few signs of a historic and vital Christianity. There's a lot more to say, but then this is a blog and not a book.
Looks like we have our work cut out for us! The mission field of modern America is obviously ripe for the harvest. And that mission field may just include much of the so-called evangelical church.
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