Part I ended with Os Guinness’ words which call for individual Christians and the church “…to regain the courage of “prophetic untimeliness” and develop the art of “resistance thinking” and so become followers of Jesus who have the courage to become “untimely people” despite the mesmerizing lure of the present age and its fixation with the future.”[1] But resistance must be preceded by an accurate assessment of the condition of the church, recognition of the nature of the mesmerizing lure of the spirit of the age, and how that spirit has wheedled its way into the church.
The evangelical church in America and much of Western civilization is in a deplorable state and declining. George Barna[2] and the American Culture and Faith Institute (ACFI)[3] recently surveyed the religious trends in America, and the results were shocking. The first survey was a nationwide random sample of one thousand adult respondents 18 or older whose demographic profile reflects that of the United States. The second was a national public opinion survey of a sample of five hundred clergy who are part of ACFI’s panel of theologically conservative pastors. Both surveys were conducted in February 2017, and the results revealed the following trends:
• Church attendance is down.
• Professions of faith are at low levels compared to the past.
• As a result the decline of professions of faith, there also is a declining percentage of born-again Christians.
• The number of people who label themselves Christians is falling.
• Participation in small groups has dropped by half in less than a decade.
• There is the same pattern of decline in adult Sunday School involvement.
• Bible reading is less common.
• The number of adults who pray to God has decreased significantly in recent years.[4]
Barna states that the likely reason for the above trends is that Christians, including many Bible-believing pastors, do not share the fundamental elements of their faith with non-believers. This lack of witness has occurred because the level of their faith and relationship with Jesus Christ is not sufficiently exciting to cause them to do so.[5]
The trends in the American church shown above are confirmed by a summary of the raw data from the surveys in the areas of (1) a Christian’s personal responsibility to share the gospel, (2) the Christian’s level of engagement in evangelism, and (3) the message shared with non-Christians.
Do Christians have a personal responsibility to share their faith in Christ with others who believe differently?
Only two of every ten adults surveyed (20%) believe they have a personal responsibility to share their faith with others who believe differently. This result is for all adults surveyed, not just Christians. But what was surprising, only 25% of those surveyed who call themselves Christian believe they have that responsibility. Within this sub-group of people who identify themselves as Christians, 31% of Protestants and 17% of Catholics believe they have the personal responsibility to share their faith.[6]
In a parallel survey among a national sample of theologically conservative Protestant pastors, 73% believe they have a personal responsibility to share their faith with others who believe differently.” The results of the survey of these pastors revealed some variations based on denomination: Baptist church pastors (90%), Pentecostal (69%), and Holiness (76%).[7]
Engagement in evangelism
The low percentage of Christians that believe they have a responsibility to share their faith with others who believe differently is consistent with the low percentage of those who actually engage in evangelism. Only 23% shared their personal faith on a monthly basis. However, many of those sharing their faith were not Christians or professed to be Christians but shared a distorted gospel message not consistent with the Bible. The survey found that 71% of theologically conservative Protestant pastors shared the gospel at least once a month with others who believed differently.[8]
What message is given by those who share the gospel?
Based on the results of the survey, ACFI found that less than 10% of those who actually shared a message about their faith with other people at least once a month during the previous year actually presented a biblically accurate proclamation of the Gospel. In other words, only one in ten American adults has a biblical worldview.
Those who presented a faulty presentation of the gospel do not have a basic understanding of Christianity including the purpose and implications of Christ’s death and resurrection. The survey lists several divergent ideas about Christianity that were shared with unbelievers.
• People are basically good.
• Having faith is more important than the substance of that faith.
• God exists and is omnipotent and omniscient but that humankind has evolved from other life forms.
• God is aware of what happens in the universe and is involved with our lives.
• There is absolute moral truth but it is located in various places.
• Eternal security can be assured either through the sacrificial death and resurrection of Christ or by doing enough good deeds to earn God’s favor.
• A person’s life can be considered “successful” based upon the personal goals accomplished.
• The Bible is the reliable Word of God.
• Jesus understands our struggle because He sinned while on earth.
• Sin is real but Satan and the Holy Spirit are not.[9]
While 23% of those who shared their faith at least once a month, less than 10% presented a biblically accurate version of the gospel.[10]
Barna summarized the impact of the revelations of these surveys.
A large majority of non-Christians in the US do not hear the gospel during a typical year. Worse, when they do have the Christian faith verbally presented to them, shockingly few hear a biblical form of the gospel. Because of this, it is inevitable that the most common metrics of church life and personal spiritual maturity reflect rapid declines. When the fundamental message of Christianity is rarely communicated, and then it is distorted in those infrequent situations when it is communicated, the outcome is not likely to be positive…You cannot give away what you do not possess, and clearly most Americans do not possess even a basic understanding of the Christian narrative as well as the purpose and implications of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection.[11]
Barna’s “You cannot give away what you do not possess” is a stinging indictment of a pervasive biblical illiteracy that is typical within most evangelical churches in America, and here once again we are reminded of the importance of a solid biblical worldview necessary to defend the faith from the infiltration of humanism into the church.
Worldview is important because it is the mental framework one uses to cope with and make sense of the world and identify truth or reality. These perceptions of truth or reality determines how they will decide what is right or wrong, good or evil, and distinguish the truth and the false.[12]
To determine worldview, the ACFI survey evaluated the respondent’s worldview by asking forty questions that dealt with their core spiritual beliefs and behavior. The questions did not deal with theological theories but centered on the respondents’ attitudes and behaviors regarding basic biblical concepts such as lying, cheating, stealing, pornography, nature of God, and the consequences of unresolved sin.[13]
The results of the survey revealed that although seven out of ten Americans claim to be Christian, only 46% of Americans claimed to have a biblical worldview. But, the results of the survey indicate that only about 10% of the general public were “integrated disciples” by which is meant that they had “a biblical worldview based on integrating their beliefs and behavior into a lifestyle that reflects foundational biblical principles.” Other results of the survey found that only 4% of the Millennials (18-29 years old) were “integrated disciples.” Almost one-third (32%) of all American adults claimed to be theologically conservative, but only one-fourth of that group qualified as “integrated disciples.”[14]
Barna states that if someone claims to be a Christian but their behavior does not reflect those beliefs, “it is doubtful that they believe what they really claim to believe.”[15] It would appear there are many reasons for this disconnection between beliefs and actions. One reason is that some people are “hereditary” Christians, e.g., “My mother was a Christian, so I identify myself as a Christian” or as many in other parts of the world assume, “You are an American. Therefore, you are a Christian.” A second group claims to be Christian because they are nominally members of a recognized church that for various reasons may not lead their adherents into becoming “integrated disciples.” Whatever the reasons for the disconnection between beliefs and actions, the American evangelical church as a whole has been woefully negligent in producing “integrated disciples” since the 1960s and which accounts for the declining trends in the health of the church including lack of biblical literacy among the congregants and the scarcity of “integrated disciples.”
Having recognized the damage caused by the mesmerizing lure of the present age that has significantly weakened the church, Part III will examine the causes that have led to the church’s powerlessness.
Larry G. Johnson
Sources:
[1] Os Guinness, Prophetic Untimeliness-A Challenge to the Idol of Relevance, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 2003), p. 20.
[2] George Barna, “National Surveys Describe the State of Christian Evangelism,” American Culture Review, American Culture and Faith Institute, March 22, 2017.
https://www.culturefaith.com/national-surveys-describe-the-state-christian-evangelism/ (accessed March 23, 2017).
[3] Ibid., The American Culture and Faith Institute is a division of United in Purpose, a non-partisan, non-profit organization. The mission of United in Purpose is to educate, motivate and activate conservative Christians to engage in cultural transformation in ways that are consistent with the gospel of Jesus Christ. The organization does not support or promote individual political candidates or parties.
[4] Barna, “National Surveys Describe the State of Christian Evangelism,” March 22, 2017.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Ibid.
[12] George Barna, “Groundbreaking ACFI Survey Reveals How Many Adults Have a Biblical Worldview,” American Culture and Faith Institute, February 27, 2017.
https://www.culturefaith.com/groundbreaking-survey-by-acfi-reveals-how-many-american-adults-have-a-biblical-worldview/ (accessed March 28, 2017).
[13] Ibid.
[14] Ibid.
[15] Ibid.
