In a portrait of the "unchurched" in America, a new study found that most are willing to hear what people have to say about Christianity but a majority also sees the church as a place full of hypocrites.
"A full 72 percent of the people interviewed said they think the church ‘is full of hypocrites,’" said LifeWay Research director Ed Stetzer. "At the same time, however, 71 percent of the respondents said they believe Jesus ‘makes a positive difference in a person’s life’ and 78 percent said they would ‘be willing to listen’ to someone who wanted to share what they believed about Christianity."
LifeWay Research studied 1,402 adults who were unchurched - those who had not attended a religious service at a church, synagogue or mosque in the previous six months - last spring and summer.
Many unchurched adults don't have a biblical understanding about God and Jesus, according to the survey.
Study results, released this week, showed that while 64 percent of the respondents think "the Christian religion is a relevant and viable religion for today," 72 percent of unchurched adults said they believe God, a higher or supreme being actually exists. Only 48 percent agree there is only one God as described in the Bible and 61 percent believe the God of the Bible is no different from the gods or spiritual being depicted.
"If you went back 100 years in North America, there would have been a consensus that God is the God in the Bible. We can't assume this any longer," said Stetzer. "We no longer have a home-field advantage as Christians in this culture."
LifeWay Research Associate Director Scott McConnell isn't surprised that the unchurched population doesn't understand Bible basics.
"If you aren't going to church, you don’t have an opportunity to be informed about what the Bible teaches or what other faiths teach," he said. "It’s not surprising then that unchurched people lump world religions all together and consider the gods described in them as being the same."
Up from 17 percent in 2004, 22 percent of Americans say they never go to church - the highest ever recorded by the General Social Survey.
But the problem is compounded by a widespread notion of religious tolerance that says religious and spiritual truth is a matter of personal opinion, Stetzer said, according to the report.
"We found a real openness to hearing about matters of faith, but the study also clearly documents what I call the Oprah-ization of American Christianity," he said. "It’s very much a generic ‘big guy in the sky’ view of God and a ‘you believe what you believe, I believe what I believe’ viewpoint on theology. People say, ‘Who am I to judge?’
"We have seen this in the current political campaigns, in regard to Mormonism," Stetzer added. "Recently a Christian leader was asked whether Mormons are Christians, and he replied that no, Mormons are outside the standard definition of what an orthodox Christian is. The host was shocked somebody would say that. How dare we say someone else is or is not a Christian?" Continue >>
Comments
There are some very interesting comments on this article. My only comment is that once someone does accept Christ as their savior, it is between them and the Holy spirit how they develop as Chrisitans because they are now in a spiritual relationship with God. I believe the Holy Spirit is well able to work with people to bring them into a closer relationship with God.
It is easy to find reasons not to attend church services, but if a person sincerely wants to deepen their spiritual relationship with God, they only need to read the Bible and converse with Him.
Although I was saved 50 years ago, I didn't have a spiritual relationship with God. My life truly changed in every area once I understood that He is my Father and how much He loves me. I have a running spiritual conversation with Him daily. As a result, I am blessed in every area of my life. I do not depend on people or the church to make my life happy, healthy, or successful, and I an free from fear - I am free because I depend on my Father to guide me through my life. I recommend a personal relationship with God to everyone.
I also believe that along this walk of faith following Christ it should also be a form of what I call true worship. By that I mean "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" in a sense. As I spiritually mature I find that this earthly life has less and less meaning and I more and more seek to have the character of my Father. For many years I often wondered how it was that one could pray without ceasing, now I wonder how I lived for so many years without it. The company I work for was purchased by a much larger company this past Nov. Yesterday the new company informed us they are closing our location putting approx 200 out of work. When I told my wife her responce was, we should call and get so and so to pray. I said, why? I am walking the path God has chosen for me and having to get "prayed up" is not necessary, I stay that way because my Lord is all I can think of and I talk to him nearly all day. He controls and has in place my life so I am not worried about tomorrow.
Maranatha--Yes, that was yesterday's sermon in a nutshell. Faith is a life of commitment and growth.
Citizen: May I ask you, if I could prove to you beyond a reasonable doubt that God exists and loves you, would you believe it? Or would you, in the dialect of the legal profession, be a hung jury?
theotrek, I think we're in agreement that the Christian life is not about just making a profession of faith and then walking in a completely different way opposed to that. I've experienced churches and parachurch ministries which did indeed try to boil the Christian life down to a simple formula, but of course that's not the day-by-day reality of walking with the Lord and often leads to a 'works'-oriented lifestyle which is not based on daily fellowship with the Lord.
maranatha7593-- Engel's main conclusion was that many people get to the stage of showing interest, walk the aisle, say a prayer, then we forget about them and assume they became Christians while they were seeking information. They said, "sounds good" and we responded "you're in".
I don't particularly like boiling it down to a static concept of linear steps, either. He does make sense from a large-picture perspective. If I were to boil it down, Jesus most often said, "Follow me." That is a lifetime commitment through eternity.
maranatha: I'm not surprised, since your imagination and emotions are indeed always with you, and that's where your god resides: in your imagination. But we can imagine many things that are not objectively real, so that you can imagine a god and feel powerful emotions as a result does not make your god real. The superstitious, magical thinking part is when you take events that objectively need no god, and use them to imagine messages from your god.
Citizen, it is your opinion that faith in the Lord Jesus is 'superstitious magical thinking', but you must understand that is only your opinion. Those who have experienced the reality of the Spirit of God know that He is indeed real and that He is with us always, constantly. Those who have not experienced that (and I was there, at one time in my life) cannot comprehend what this dimension of life is like.
theotrek:
With all due respect (I did see some truth there), I am adverse to boiling down the Christian life, so to speak, in a series of steps. I have seen too many well-meaning leaders offer 'formulas' which people followed very zealously, only to find they were following someone's idea of the Christian life and not Jesus Himself.
Personally, based on Mark 3:14, I believe prayer is the foundational step to walking with the Lord once one has been born again of the Spirit of God. I believe Jesus made it clear in Mark 3:14 that "being with Him" is something we must all do FIRST, and then true ministry will follow. Matthew 6:33 seems to say the same thing. I DO believe all believers should be active in ministry (Acts 1:8), but note even there Jesus said prayer (and the infilling of the Holy Spirit) were essential to true ministry.
Well said Prophet.
xizwick,
So, you do not believe you can be saved without complete surrender? Most people who get saved do so in an attitude of surrender and conviction of the Holy Spirit. But there are those who do so, and then their zeal and "surrender" fades. And their relationship with God fades. They are still saved, though they have not surrendered all, but their life will be incomplete. The same goes for those who get saved just to escape the punishment of hell. They view Him as Savior, and that's it. They don't view Him as Lord.
But then I wonder about their salvation. Romans 10:9-10 says "If you will confess with your mouth the LORD Jesus Christ...." I haven't postulated an opinion on that yet. If our salvation hinges on complete surrender, then we are all doomed.
Slacker: I'm was attempting to demonstrate the difference between your faith in jesus, and my expectation that a light will go on when I flick a light switch. The first is superstitious magical thinking, the second is inductive reasoning based on verifiable and understood past events that I have seen, as well as known technology, all of which can be revised or probed in the event that a future event does not continue the pattern.
Maranatha--Engle posited a scale of evangelism similar to devleopment stages of psychologists like Erickson. He said we move along a whole series of steps in evangelism/discipleship. That fits with the concept of spiritual growth that begins at a point and continues dynamically:
-10 Awareness of the supernatural
-9 No effective knowledge of Christianity
-8 Initial Awareness of Christianity
-7 Interest in Christianity
-6 Awareness of basic facts of the Gospel
-5 Grasp of implications of the Gospel
-4 Positive attitude to the Gospel
-3 Awareness of personal need
-2 Challenge and decision to act
-1 Repentance and faith
0 A Disciple is Born!
+1 Evaluation of decision
+2 Initiation into the church
+3 Become part of the process of making other disciples
+4 Growth in understanding of the faith
+5 Growth in Christian character
+6 Discovery and use of gifts
+7 Christian life-style
+8 Stewardship of resources
+9 Prayer
+10 Openness to others/Effective sharing of faith and life
(I've not seen these last seven steps before, but this was the version I found quickly:
http://www.angelfire.com/bc/normanhousechurch/EngleScale.htm )
To clarify: I flagged my own post below. It was a double post from another webpage.
To Citizen:
"holito8: Except that in religion the assumptions never change. Suppose I flick a switch and nothing happens. If I'm you, I claim that the magical elves or "god" or any other supernatural thing you want has judged me unworthy to receive the light, and so I must repent. If I'm me, I check to see if there is a short circuit, or if the power is out, or if there is no light bulb."
Just because I have faith in the saving Grace of Jesus Christ, my lord and savior, doesn't mean i don't believe that the light bulb can blow out. Your trying to make things out of nothing...