FROM PASTOR TIM JOHNSON:
After church on Sunday, I had a couple people mention the Barna Report that I had referred to in my sermon. This particular report from one year ago is a fascinating dive into some rather unnerving statistics.
As I mentioned in the sermon, only 6% of self-proclaiming Christians have a truly biblical worldview. 6%!! If accurate, it helps explain why the American church is shrinking, less impactful in communities and more political than “evangelical”.
The report is a six-page document with the first page representing a summary of the report, and the last 4+ pages a fuller treatment of the data. It’s a fascinating read and one that I recommend you take the time to absorb.
Two other rather remarkable discoveries are; first, less than 20% of self- proclaiming “born-again” Christians hold a biblical worldview and second, only 2% of young adults in ages 18-29 hold to a biblical worldview. 2%!
In a nutshell, the percentage of self-professing Christians who actually hold to a biblical worldview has declined by 50% in the past 25 years. That’s just one generation of remarkable decline.
And the last 25 years has seen an abundance of Christian programs designed to shape people in a Christian mindset such as Awana, Home-Schooling, Youth Ministry, Christian Schools, Pastoral Conferences, Summer Bible Camps, etc.
Despite all of those efforts, and so many more, something is lacking. Guess what it is? In my view, it’s simply a lack of time spent in the Bible.
If we go to church three times a week, spend time in various Christian contexts, read Christian fiction, watch Christian movies, buy from Christian businesses, but fail to regularly study our Bibles, we will never develop a Biblical worldview.
There is simply no short-cut. Christian “culture” cannot replace a daily diet of reading our Bibles. All those things mentioned above can greatly contribute and supplement time in God’s Word, but none of them can replace it.
Talk is cheap, we need to study our Bibles. You can start by joining us this coming Sunday morning for Adult Education as we begin our Summer Series in 1 and 2 Thessalonians.
Coffee and doughnuts will be provided….and a diet of Biblical nourishment.