Posted on 09/30/2002 9:19:01 AM PDT by PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain
VENTURA, Calif. -- Pollster George Barna, known these days as the bearer of bad tidings about the state of Christianity in America, arrived in his office a few minutes late for a 10 a.m. appointment.
His hair was ruffled; his eyes puffy. Shoulders slouched. Being the George Gallup of the conservative evangelical world is a heavy burden for Barna, who often works into the early morning, deciphering numbers generated by his surveys to find church trends.
The 48-year-old author of 30 books, who describes himself as a raging introvert, is a popular national speaker. And he produces enough in-your-face statistics and blunt talk to irritate pastors, cost him business and earn a reputation for having, as one magazine put it, "the gift of discouragement."
His data undercut some of the core beliefs that should, by definition, set evangelicals apart from their more liberal brethren. Findings of his polls show, for example, that:
• The divorce rate is no different for born-again Christians than for those who do not consider themselves religious.
• Only a minority of born-again adults (44 percent) and a tiny proportion of born-again teenagers (9 percent) are certain that absolute moral truth exists.
• Most Christians' votes are influenced more by economic self-interest than by spiritual and moral values.
• Desiring to have a close, personal relationship with God ranks sixth among the 21 life goals tested among born-agains, trailing such desires as "living a comfortable lifestyle."
'Are people's lives being transformed" by Christianity? Barna has asked. "We can't find evidence of a transformation."
Even Barna's toughest critics concede that Barna Research Group's polls carry considerable weight because of his first-rate surveying techniques and his 17-year-long record of tracking church and cultural trends.
His work has been used by major companies (Ford Motor Co. and Walt Disney, for example) and religious organizations such as the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and World Vision.
"He is the accepted authority on church trends," said Bob Cavin, director of the Texas Baptist Leadership Center. "He gives pastors insight, not only into the effectiveness of the church, but with trends in society that help the pastors with their strategic planning."
Because of his influence, many are watching with interest as Barna branches out from his usual business. He has been preoccupied with quantifying contemporary Christian beliefs, attitudes and practices; comparing them with biblical truths; and delivering the results to pastors, Christian leaders and laity. He said that he once hoped his analyses would be used as building blocks for more relevant churches.
But he decided this year to take a more active role by helping to identify and develop new and better church leaders who will boldly go where their predecessors haven't gone before: to radically revamp the church. He said he believes the process will take decades -- generations -- to complete.
"One of our challenges is to revisit the structures and means through which people experience Christ," Barna said. "People have been talking about developing the 'new church' for the past several decades, but nothing new has been forthcoming."
According to Barna, pastors are great teachers, but not necessarily adept at leadership. To back up his claim, he cited one of his own polls: It showed that only 12 percent of senior pastors say they have the spiritual gift of leadership and 8 percent say they have the gift of evangelism. In contrast, two-thirds say they have the gift of teaching or preaching.
"We, not God, have created a system that doesn't work and that we're reluctant to change."
Barna also is in the early stages of establishing a genuine and appealing Christian presence in secular entities: film, music, media and politics. He has identified these as the institutions that hold the most influence over Americans.
What's needed are "skilled professionals who love Christ and model his ways through their thoughts, words and behavior in enviable and biblically consistent ways," he said.
For Barna, the need for better leadership and better Christian role models in the secular world was underscored by a poll he released this month.
9/11 opportunity lost
The survey showed that the Sept. 11 attacks had virtually no lasting effects on America's faith, despite a 20 percent rise in church attendance during the first few weeks afterward.
"We missed a huge opportunity," he said, adding that, because of their own shallow faith, church regulars needed so much reassurance themselves that they couldn't minister to newcomers.
This kind of comment bothers evangelical Christians.
Mike Regele, author of "The Death of the Church," is one of many who believe the Barna Research Group's statistical work is excellent, but the conclusions drawn by the company's founder are too harsh.
The hypocrisy of Christians, Regele said, "has been a part of the church, probably since the day of Pentecost" and doesn't indicate its collapse.
"It sounds like he's very, very angry at the church," said Regele, a church critic himself who is ultimately an optimist. "There are reasons to be disappointed, but scripture never said we'd be perfect. We shouldn't view the whole institution as a failure."
With each new Barna poll or book, the attacks begin again: He's too negative; he has it in for pastors; he's arrogant.
The criticism "would affect any human being," said Barna, a husband and father of two. "We all want to be loved and accepted by others, but we also have a higher calling to which we each must be true."
Barna said he has learned painfully that giving advice on how to revitalize churches in America is a hugely complex proposition that doesn't fit well into sound bites. He has learned to be more guarded.
Although his statistics often show self-described Christians living lives no different from those of atheists, Barna's faith never has wavered.
"The issue isn't whether Jesus or Christianity is real," he said. "The issue is, are Americans willing to put Christ first in their lives?
Amen!
Well put.
Christ takes our place and pays the price we should have paid.
This is imputation and the example of it is found in Philm.18
If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on my account
Yeah, sure. But angelo's interpretation of history also voids the idea of the Virgin Birth.
He is asking us Christians to reconcile the two together. It is no problem to believe in the Virgin Birth. And it is no problem to believe Jesus is descended from David through Joseph. The "conflict," as he sees it is when both ideas are brought together.
SD
Nice alliteration.
And, of course, if you have differences of opinion with RnMomof7, or drstevej, or PayNoAttention, or Elsie, no doubt their doctrine is deadly, too.
"Everybody's going to hell, except me."
A popular doctrine, that.
Vast difference between a diffirence in opinion and difference in doctrine. I fully expect to see Mom, Steve, Elsie, PNA, and P-Marlowe in heaven. I unfortunately can't say that about you with what you believe.
Perhaps I'm being dense here, but why would you think this? Jeconiah's was not the only line. I don't think the Jews since Jeconiah have thrown in the towel and said, "oh well, no messiah, can't happen".
Jesus fulfilled the legal requirements
Nope.
Perhaps you should put the stones down and stop mischarecterizing what PE said. He made no such claim and no amount of your failing to understand what he is saying will make it so.
SD
Jesus may have been of the line of David through Jeconiah. I will make no claim as to the accuracy of the genealogies listed in the gospels.
You asked for me to show how Jesus is the fruit of the patriarch David's body. Well, according to your own intrepretation of the Bible, He is.
If he is of the line of Jeconiah, then he is excluded from contention.
I'm just here to inform you that, in addition to haveing a few things wrong about your intrepretation,
Such as?
this Man Jesus is sitting on the throne of David right now.
Really? Where is he?
Why do I have this sudden, irresistable urge to ping vmatt? ;o)
What about him? Has anyone claimed that he was a Levite or Kohein?
Oh, well...
What a gross misrepresentation of what he/she said. Are you familiar with the commandment against bearing false witness?
You know, I was thinking the same thing. It's unorthodox and nothing like I'd ever heard of. But God can operate outside of time, so it's not like it's impossible. And it certainly would answer your objection rather well.
Let me submit it to the prefect and see what he says. ;-)
SD
No they have not, which is exactly the point. God will choose whomever He will to be a priest to Him. Since Melchizanek preceeded all your Levites and Kohanim, his order of the priesthood takes precedence, and as Christians we believe that Christ is our great high priest after the order of Melchizadek. Christ's spirit, which is the spirit of God, takes precedence over his earthly birth, whatever his line of descent is.
If mischarecterizing others is called "thinking in black and white" then color me blue.
SD
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