George Barna just released another interesting survey results. This time he was checking Biblical knowledge of American adults. His survey asked about 14 statements of Biblical truth to 1002 randomly selected adults, and 3 (.3%) of those surveyed were consistent in their answers for all 14 statements. For example, one statement is about Biblical accuracy and another on whether or not Jesus rose from the dead and of course, if you believe the Bible accurate, then to be consistent you must believe that Jesus died and rose.

The statements (agreed/disagreed percentages next to them, the "don't know"s account for the rest. Where provided, born again numbers are relayed (born again defined by Barna as those who have a personal committment to Jesus Christ that is important to them and that they will be in heaven because Jesus is their Saviour):

The Bible is totally accurate in its teachings (60/33)

You, personally, have a responsibility to tell other people your religious beliefs (48/50)

the devil, or Satan, is not a living being but is a symbol of evil (58/36 47% of born agains agree)

if a person is generally good, or does enough good things for others during their life, they will earn a place in Heaven (51/42 31% of born agains agree)

when he lived on earth, Jesus was human and committed sins (39/52, 24% of born agains agree)

it doesn't matter what religious faith you follow because they all teach the same lessons (44/53)

The Holy Spirit is a symbol of God's presence or power but is not a living entity (61/33 53 of born agains agree)

the Bible teaches that God helps those who help themselves (75!/21 -- 68 of born agains agree)

After He was crucified and died, Jesus Christ did not return to life physically (40/52, 30% of born agains agree)

all people will experience the same outcome after death, regardless of their religious beliefs (41/52)

there are some crimes, sins or other things which people might do which cannot be forgiven by God (30/65)

angels exist and influence people's lives (81/15)

the universe was created by God (87/9)

the whole idea of sin is outdated (13/83)

-- Anonymous, July 13, 2000

Answers

Mark....

Thanks for verifying what I have been saying for years.

It has been my contention for the majority of my 19 years in the ministry that we have stressed evangelism to the exlusion of the other part of the Great Commission, i.e., TEACH!!!!

Ours is by far the most biblically illiterate pew of any generation. I blame a lot of this on the fact that we have left most of any biblical education to "the Bible college."

This is not to deemphasize that there is a need for the Bible college. However, year after it year it has become increasingly difficult for them to receive students who know less and less and then turn out a good finished product. Many are doing it.....but the job is not easy.

One of my professors in college stated, "It ought to be the goal of every preacher to turn the local congregation into a mini-Bible college."

Think about it.....not only would this provide for a well grounded pew.....but the quality of students we are sending to Bible college would vastly improve.

For the last 5 years I have worked with Summit Theological Seminary to offer Bible College level classes at the congreational level that they can then receive credit through Summit for. I would be glad to talk to you about how you can do it too....if interested.

The result.....at last count....2 Elders who are now in ministry....and another young man who was able to finish his degree and get into full time ministry. Let alone the countless number who have benefited from such level of teaching.

Currently, in my congreation we have 16 people taking college level classes for credit and another 30-40 auditing the class.

I say all this to simply say.....it doesn't have to be the way Barna describes it. But Evangelist need to take seriously their teaching role....as well as the evangelizing role.

Maybe it's time to think less about "Church Growth" and more about "Personal Growth." If the latter, it is my conviction the former will naturally follow.

My humble opinion.

-- Anonymous, July 13, 2000

And John....

How shall they care to hear....if Preachers don't get out of their comfort zone and realize that a big part of their job is putting their jobs on the line.....and CONFRONTING idleness??

"No Fear" needs to apply to more pulpits. My motto is..."I was looking for a job when I came here!":)

-- Anonymous, July 14, 2000

And people wonder why there are so many cults? Why Benny Hinn and Kenneth Copeland go unchallenged? Why 15% of Christian Church pastors would accept a Mormon into their fellowship?

The average dog has more of an understanding of Christianity than the average Christian. *Sigh*

-- Anonymous, July 13, 2000

I just posted this piece on my online column, "According to John." It was basically a reaction to all the people who just come to church, sit in the pews and think "that's it."

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"JUST WHAT DOES GOD WANT FROM US, ANYWAY?"

When I was growing up, my Sunday school teachers had a little mnemonic they used to teach us the steps of entry into the Church. I believe Alexander Campbell originally invented it in the 19th century. It was called the "Five Finger Exercise" because there were five points to it: Hear, Believe, Repent, Confess and be Baptized. Unfortunately, this clever little device didn't teach what God expects of us after we have been saved, and too many people in churches these days really have no idea what they are doing there. They basically are going through the motions, asking themselves (and God), "What do I do now? God, what do You want from me?"

Some might answer that God wants us to go to church. And He most certainly does, otherwise the writer of the book of Hebrews would not have said, through the agency of the Holy Spirit, "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing!" Indeed, there are too many people calling themselves "Christian" who have done just that: gotten into the habit of not going to church, and shame on them! Acts 2:42 says the new Christians devoted themselves to fellowshipping with each other, and we should also! Unfortunately, I think there are just as many Christians, perhaps more, who are going faithfully to church every Sunday but think that somehow that is all that is required of them: to sit in a pew for an hour, listen to a sermon, and call it time spent. They consider it an obligation much like going to a VFW post meeting. But I feel that many of them still sit in that pew, week after week, feeling unfulfilled and still asking God, "What do You want from me?"

Well, I believe that God wants exactly out of us what He wanted when we first came to Him, and more of it. He wants those same five things: Hearing, Believing, Repenting, Confessing, and Baptism. What do I mean by this? Are we supposed to start over? Well, let me explain, point by point, finger by finger.

-- Anonymous, July 13, 2000

(For some reason the bboard isn't accepting my full post, and I am having to break it up ... sorry)

HEAR. God wants us to continue to be hearers of the Word. In Acts chapter 2 we find that the new converts devoted themselves to several things, the first of them being the apostle's teaching (v.42). They were devoted to learning about Christ from the apostles. They were teachable. God wants us to hear His Word (not just listen!), read His Word, and study His Word (2 Timothy 2:15). And then we are to not merely hear it, but do what it says! (James 1:22)

BELIEVE. Christians are called to be BELIEVERS. That means far more than just intellectual assent, it means DOING what the Bible says, taking the risk that it speaks the truth. Too often we are instead DOUBTERS. When you go on an airplane trip to a far-away destination, you can say all you want that you believe in the airplane's ability to fly, but you will never get to your destination until you have the courage to GET ON THAT PLANE! Similarly, we will never get anywhere in our Christian walk until we have the courage to get on board and believe what the Bible says. For example, when it says "bring the whole tithe into the storehouse  and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it" (Malachi 3:10)  do we actually believe this? Or do we hold back from God because we lack the faith that He will provide our needs if we dare to do it? We Christians are called to a life of faith, but how many of us would hear these words if Christ were actually here: "Oh ye of little faith!"

REPENT. The Greek word translated "repent" in our Bibles is metanoia, and it means to change your mind. When you repent you make a mental decision not to live for yourself, not to sin, but rather to turn toward God and live a holy life. In the last few centuries it has taken an added connotation of humility and grievous sorrow. While that is not a necessary part of "repentance," I don't necessarily think it is wrong, either. In fact, I think a healthy dose of humility before the living God would do us all a world of good. But as Christians, God actually wants us to go beyond repentance. He wants us not to just change our mind, but renew our mind (Romans 12:2). That means actually changing the way we think to be more Christlike. And that takes study and practice. As Yoda says to Luke in The Empire Strikes Back, "You must unlearn what you have learned."

-- Anonymous, July 13, 2000

(For some reason the bboard isn't accepting my full post, and I am having to break it up ... sorry)

CONFESS. The Gospels end with the Great Commission: "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28:19). Christians have a mandate to share our faith with others. Paul told Philemon (v.6), "I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ." He wrote to the Romans (10:17) that "faith comes from hearing the message," but asked the very pointed question, "how can they hear about him if no one tells them about him?" (v.14) We, as Christians, each one of us, are given that responsibility, to publicly confess and proclaim His message, as His ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:10). Are we doing our jobs?

BE BAPTIZED. Now, at this point, many of you are probably going to ask me, like Nicodemus asked Jesus, how can this be? I am not saying we need to continually be dunked for every sin we commit, as some false teachers have said in the past. But what we as Christians do need to do is be continually immersed fully into Christ. We need to make our baptism a daily reality. We need to, as Paul put it in 1 Corinthians 5:21, die daily to ourselves and live instead for Christ. We need to identify with Christ's sacrifice and start making sacrifices of our own. He died for us, we need to live for Him, and not for ourselves. Time and time again in Paul's writings this theme is played out. "We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?" (Romans 6:2). "And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again." (2 Corinthians 5:15).

Jesus, in the Revelation to John, warned His church, "Repent and do the things you did at first" (2:5). In the Old Testament, the prophet Micah wrote, "What does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God" (6:8). How would God have us walk with Him today? Paul wrote, "Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him" (Colossians 2:6). Hopefully this handy mnemonic will help us [five- finger] exercise our faith with renewed purpose, and walk more closely with Him. After all, that's what God wants from us.

-- Anonymous, July 13, 2000

Equipping the saints to evangelize the world is where it's at. (My mother would frown at my using a preposition without an object at the end).

-- Anonymous, July 13, 2000

Look at the definition of 'born again' here:

"(born again defined by Barna as those who have a personal committment to Jesus Christ that is important to them and that they will be in heaven because Jesus is their Saviour): "

This doesn't sound like a narrow enough definition for 'born again' the way it is usually used to designate a religious group. This definition would include liberal mainline church members who might not like to be associated with the phrase 'born again' because it is associated with fundamnetalism. If this were a survey about 'mainline churches' the numbers wouldn't be so shocking. I wonder if the reason this survey is so surprising is that the author is interviewing a grou not usually considered to be 'born again.'

About Christian church pastors accepting a Mormon in their fellowship, did the statistics refer to accepting him as afunctioning, communion taking member without rebaptizing him? Or are they talking about allowing a Mormon to sit in a meeting, into the 'fellowship' as refring to the group? Or maybe these 'pastors' would accept a Mrmon who repented and was rebaptized. Need more info.

Btw, does 'Christian church' here include disciples of Christ? There was one of those in my town, I heard, that was into the New Age book 'A Course in Miracles' and had yoga practice int he building. Not that all of them are like that. Did the stats distinguish between the independants and the denominationals?

-- Anonymous, July 13, 2000

Link: The survey was done about 5 years ago by the Christian Standard, so I assume they only surveyed the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ (NACC) branch. And I believe the question was whether they would accept them into their fellowship as believers. There were several denominations listed, and Mormonism as well. I posted the figures in an earlier thread but don't recall which one; perhaps someone else remembers.

-- Anonymous, July 14, 2000

Danny ... thats exactly what I was trying to get at. We need to get people to see they need to continue on and grow in Christ, and not just sit there like bumps on logs. We have about 80 adults coming to Sunday morning services right now. Care to take a guess how many bother to come an hour earlier for Bible study? Last week I think we had 8. Paul asked how can they hear unless someone tells them. I ask, how can we tell them if they don't care to hear? (Pardon me if I seem to be venting a little frustration here.)

-- Anonymous, July 14, 2000

John,

Eight of Eighty, wow. Sad.

All,

A number of ideas suggested here and will be suggested here as solutions, but ultimately I think solutions lie in creating one on one opportunities for the mature to disciple the less mature. If we look at the New Testament model, this is how the "great" ones emerged. Jesus discipled the 12, spending extra time on three in particular. And which three of the 12 are recorded to have accomplished the most under the grace of God? Paul was mentored/discipled for awhile by Barnabbas, and Paul mentored/discipled a large number, including Timothy, Titus, and the author of the two longest books in the NT.

Our worldly mentality wants to crank out lots fast, but the NT pattern is to closely disciple a handful at a time. And, if you dig into it, there is great wisdom in this visible to even the worldly. If one teacher "disciples" 10 new disciples per year, in 10 years 100 have been discipled to some degree. If another teacher begins discipling one new disciple per year, encouraging that disciple to do for others as the teacher does for him, and if that disciple follows his teacher's pattern, and if that disciple's disciples do likewise etc, then in 10 years, 1023 are being discipled to some degree.

Things like adult Sunday morning Bible studies might help, but I believe the real solution is in restoring the pattern of one-to-one discipleship, where I disciple those currently less mature than I while a more mature disciple mentors me.

Mark

-- Anonymous, July 14, 2000

Rereading my post, I see where some sticklers for semantics may slam me. Of course, by things like "the disciple's disciple", I mean a disciple discipled by another disciple, with all disciples actually being disciples of Jesus Christ, not one disciple following another besides Jesus. Apologies for shorthanding a bit too much there.

-- Anonymous, July 14, 2000

Is not the Mission of the Lord's Church to: Evangelize the Neighborhood, and Edify the Brotherhood? If we are only doing one we are not doing both. Think about it. God help us one and all. Keep on studying, Bro. Jack

-- Anonymous, July 15, 2000

Yes, Jack,

At one time, our elders had placed over our exits:

YOU ARE ENTERING YOUR MISSION FIELD

It's a good reminder.

-- Anonymous, July 15, 2000