Church facing challenges in 2011

By Cameron Crabtree

       As usual, the year began with the cycle of reflecting on events that have passed and anticipating opportunities ahead. If a 2010 analysis by a prominent research firm is believed, the church in North America has work to do on both fronts.
       The Barna Research Group reviewed studies over the past year and came away with not-so-surprising but nonetheless unsettling findings — it terms them “megathemes” — about what is happening and not happening in America’s Protestant churches. Together, the themes reveal a challenge the church may not have faced in generations.
       Log onto www.barna.org for the full report.
       The group’s assessment that the church as a whole across the nation is becoming less theologically literate comes as no surprise. Trends have been pointing in that direction for years, despite the massive amount of resources constantly poured into preaching, teaching, discipleship efforts and other Christian education ministries.
       The review lists several examples of this trend, including the fact that few adults surveyed believe their faith is “meant to be a focal point in life or integrated into every aspect of their existence.” For a movement that views such a belief as fundamental, that’s bad news. Barna suggests a “theological free-for-all” could ensue as “Busters” and “Mosaics,” those born 1965-2002, step with their suspect levels of theological literacy into leadership roles of many of the nation’s congregations.
       The research group also believes Christians are focusing inward rather than becoming more outreach-oriented. Despite continual advances in communication technologies and prompts for engagement with the world ringing constantly in the ears of believers, the group noted an increasing number of Christians is becoming “more spiritually isolated from non-Christians” than a decade ago.
       Again, Barna’s firm pointed to examples as evidence of its finding, such as less than one-third of born again Christians planning to invite anyone to join them for church events during the Easter season or teenagers less inclined to discuss Christianity with their friends than in the past. The group suggested a growing “absence of faith talk” may lead to diminishing prospects of young adults seeking a Christian church in the future.
       Ironically, this is taking place even as a third, positive theme emerges: escalating interest in community action. Led in this area mostly by young adults, the group reported Christian are “more open to and more involved in community service activities” than in recent years.
       While this could be a boon to churches aiming for greater impact in their respective communities, the group warns churches could see such interest wane without rooting it in a strong spiritual basis. “Simply doing good works because it's the socially esteemed choice of the moment will not produce much staying power,” the group predicted.
       In a fourth arena, according to the group, people are becoming more interested in pragmatic solutions for life than in spiritual principles. When teenagers were asked about life’s priorities, faith takes a back seat to other priorities and is “not necessarily perceived to affect their ability to achieve their dreams.”
       The trend isn’t much better among adults, who “consider survival in the present to be much more significant than eternal” matters. The Barna group makes an important observation: “Because we continue to separate our spirituality from other dimensions of life through compartmentalization, a relatively superficial approach to faith has become a central means of optimizing our life experience.”
       The group noted in a fifth theme the broader culture’s insistence on tolerance is “winning over the Christian church.” The group suggested a mix of issues has severely weakened churches’ influence in areas of morality: biblical illiteracy and lack of spiritual confidence, fear of being labeled as judgmental, limited accountability within the body of Christ and Christians believing churches should be dogmatic about fewer and fewer things.
       We serve the Lord here in the Northwest at a crucial cultural moment. Certainly, we remain confident in Christ’s ultimate triumph in the world. But to serve the Lord faithfully — when many of the cultural advantages his church in our nation once enjoyed have disappeared — we may need to consider what it means to demonstrate his love in new ways effectively. With the page of a new year’s calendar now turned, it seems a good time to think it through and take some risks.