The Barna Research Group, Ltd. is an independent marketing research company located in southern California. Since 1984, it has been studying cultural trends related to values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. If you would like to receive regular e-mailings of a brief overview of each new bi-weekly update on the latest research findings from the Barna Research Group, you may subscribe to this free service at the Barna Research web site (www.barna.org).

All of the interviews were conducted from the Barna Research Group telephone interviewing facility. Households were selected randomly through a random-digit dialing procedure (RDD), and the household screened for the presence of one or more teenagers. In homes with a teen, only one teenager was interviewed. Quotas were also deployed to ensure accurate regional distribution and minor statistical weighting was used to ensure that the sample reflects national demographic norms. Multiple callbacks were used to increase the probability of selecting a representative sample of households and teenagers.

Definitions

“Born again Christians” were defined in these surveys as people

who said they have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today and
who also indicated they believe that when they die they will go to Heaven because they had confessed their sins and had accepted Jesus Christ as their savior (out of 7 options with regard to life after death).

Respondents were not asked to describe themselves as “born again.”

“Evangelicals” are a subset of born again Christians in Barna surveys. In addition to meeting the born again criteria, evangelicals also meet seven other conditions. Those include:

saying the Bible is accurate in all that it teaches;
saying their faith is very important in their life today;
believing they have a personal responsibility to share their religious beliefs about Christ with non-Christians;
believing that Satan exists;
believing that eternal salvation is possible only through grace, not works;
believing that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth; and
describing God as the all-knowing, all-powerful, perfect deity who created the universe and still rules it today.

Being classified as an evangelical has no relationship to church attendance or the denominational affiliation of the church they attend. Respondents were not asked to describe themselves as “evangelical.”

“Non-evangelical born again Christians” are those adults who are born again, based on the definition above, but do not meet all of the evangelical criteria as described.

Baby Busters were born from 1965-1983. Baby Boomers were born from 1946-1964. Builders were born from 1927-1945. Mosaics were born from 1984-2002.

“Notional” Christians are defined as individuals who consider themselves to be Christian but either do not have a “personal commitment to Jesus Christ” or do not believe that they will experience eternal favor with God based solely on His grace and mercy. Consequently they do not fit the “evangelical” or “born again” classifications.

“Unchurched” people were those who had not attended a church service, other than a special event such as a holiday service or a special event like a wedding or funeral, during the past six months.

“Theolographics” refers to the spiritual practices, beliefs and self-identification of individuals.

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Pastors Reveal Major Influencers on Churches (050114)

(Ventura, CA) - Billy Graham may not be as active or as publicly visible as he once was, but he remains the most trusted spokesman for the Christian faith in the U.S. His ministry peers also regard him as the person who has the greatest influence on American churches and church leaders. That is the assessment of a national sample of pastors of Protestant churches in a survey conducted by The Barna Group (Ventura, California). The survey also discovered that the ranking of the most influential and the most trusted spokespersons varied among different groups of pastors – with the exception of Mr. Graham topping both lists among every segment of the clergy.

Greatest Influence On Churches

The 614 Senior Pastors interviewed were asked to identify up to three individuals whom they believe have the greatest influence on churches and church leaders in the U.S. Pastors named more than 300 different individuals, but only 10 of those leaders were listed by 4% or more of the clergy. Billy Graham was chosen by 34% of the pastors, with Rick Warren (pastor of Saddleback Church and author of the multimillion-selling book, The Purpose-Driven Life) second with 26%. The only other individuals listed by at least 10% were President George Bush (14%) and radio broadcaster and family advocate James Dobson (11%).

Other influencers who were among the ten most frequently listed were Bill Hybels, pastor of Willow Creek Community Church (9%); Bishop T.D. Jakes of The Potter’s House (7%); author and motivational speaker John Maxwell (6%); researcher and author George Barna (5%); Pope John Paul II (5%); and author and speaker Max Lucado (4%).

Most Trusted Spokesperson

Billy Graham also led the pack as the most trusted spokesperson for Christianity, garnering the support of six out of ten pastors (58%). James Dobson was a distant second, with 20% naming him, followed by the 14% who identified Rick Warren. T.D. Jakes placed fourth (7%), followed by veteran pastors Charles Swindoll and Jerry Falwell, each at 6%; and by Bill Hybels and author and prison ministry pioneer Charles Colson (5%). Pastor D. James Kennedy, President Bush, broadcaster Pat Robertson, and author Max Lucado rounded out the top ten individuals, each mentioned by 4% of the clergy.

Evangelicals Head the List

Although evangelical Christians are only 7% of the nation’s adult population, evangelical leaders were three out of every five names (59%) listed by pastors as the greatest influence on churches. In contrast, only 6% of the top influencers were associated with mainline Protestant denominations and 5% were Catholic.

The analysis also found that an equal percentage of the influencers listed were from parachurch ministries (40%) and local churches (39%). One out of nine (11%) were political figures, 6% were educators and 4% were predominantly media ministers.

Among the most trusted spokespersons mentioned, evangelicals were again the dominant segment, representing three out of every five leaders mentioned (59%). Mainline Protestants were offered by 6% of the pastors interviewed and Catholics were named by 2%.

Occupationally, parachurch leaders were by far the most likely to be cited as trusted ambassadors of Christianity. Half of those listed (50%) serve through a parachurch ministry, compared to one-third (36%) who serve in a church, 6% who are educators, 5% in the media and 3% in the political realm.

Different Segments Prefer Different Leaders

Denominational background affected pastor’s choice of leaders who influence churches. For instance, pastors from mainline churches added Professor Martin Marty and newly-elected Methodist Bishop William Willimon to their list. Baptist pastors included two of their own – Jerry Falwell and Adrian Rogers – along with John MacArthur. In addition to Bishop Jakes, Pentecostal pastors included five other Pentecostals among the top-ten influencers. They included Bishop G.E. Patterson, evangelist-healer Benny Hinn, Pat Robertson, Bible teacher Joyce Meyer, and broadcaster Paul Crouch in their top ten.

Ethnicity was also a factor in people’s perspectives. Non-whites not only elevated Bishop Jakes from sixth place to third in the ranking, but also included five leaders who were not deemed to be as influential by white pastors. Those five were Bishop Patterson, Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyer, Bishop Eddie Long, and Paul Crouch.

Pastors who describe themselves as theologically liberal also provided a different understanding of who influences churches. Within their top-ten, they included three unique names: evangelist Franklin Graham, and pastors William Shaw and Rod Parsley.

Similarly, there were variances across categories in regard to the most trusted spokespersons. Pastors aligned with a mainline church identified Robert Schuller, Martin Marty, and Wil Willimon in their “top ten” list. Pastors associated with a Pentecostal congregation mentioned Patterson, Robertson, Kennedy, and John Hagee among their top-ten. Liberals added activist Jim Wallis, Bishop Patterson, and televangelist Kenneth Copeland to the mix.

The Findings Signal A New Era

Change comes slowly when related to the development of influence. However, the ranking of the most influential leaders affecting church life in America struck researcher George Barna as a demonstration of the shift in authority within the ranks of American church leaders.

“Billy Graham has been a consistent presence in the minds and hearts of church leaders and the public at-large for many years. However, many of the other leading influencers in the Christian Church are relative newcomers to such widespread impact. Names like Rick Warren, T.D. Jakes, Franklin Graham, John Maxwell, Joyce Meyer and Will Willimon would not have appeared on the list a decade ago. It is also interesting, though, how relatively few names – less than two dozen – show up on the two lists, across multiple segments of the pastoral community. That suggests that the influence of these leaders is both broad and deep.“

Barna noted that being deemed a trustworthy spokesperson for the Church seems to be fostered by longevity. A majority of the individuals on the spokesperson list are 60 or older. That is in contrast to the list of those who influence churches, which contains only a few men who are in their sixties or beyond. Also, parachurch individuals are much more likely to be among the greatest influencers of churches and church leaders than are pastors: eight of the ten highest-ranked church influencers are not exerting their influence from a pastorate.

The research also showed that pastors tend to value the leadership from the people who are most similar to themselves. “There was a noteworthy correlation between a pastor’s theological traditions and theological bent and that of the people chosen as the most influential,” Barna explained. “Nationally, just one of the top ten leaders influencing churches is charismatic, but charismatic pastors listed six Pentecostals among the top-ten influencers. Only two Baptists appear in the national top-ten list, but twice as many were listed in the top-ten by Baptist pastors. President Bush is the only mainline Protestant in the national top-ten, but mainline pastors included two others in their ranking. T.D. Jakes was the only black leader in the national top-ten, but African-American pastors have three black leaders in their top-ten.

“Pastors tend to list the people they know best and with whom they feel most comfortable, whether the individual has a national audience or not. It’s natural for pastors to assume that whoever influences them also influences other people to a similar degree. However, this research indicates otherwise.”

Greatest Influence On Churches

--top ten names listed by pastors from these church segments, in descending order of rank--

(Source: The Barna Group, Ventura, CA)

all pastors	mainline	Baptist	Pentecostal
Graham	Graham	Graham	Graham
Warren	Warren	Warren	Bush
Bush	Bush	Bush	Jakes
Dobson	Dobson	Dobson	Warren
Hybels	The Pope	Hybels	Dobson
Jakes	Hybels	Barna	Patterson
Maxwell	Marty	Falwell	Hinn
Barna	Falwell	Maxwell	Robertson
The Pope	Willimon	Rogers	Meyer
Lucado	Maxwell	MacArthur	Crouch

Most Trusted Spokesperson for Christianity

--top ten names listed by pastors from these church segments, in descending order of rank--

(Source: The Barna Group, Ventura, CA)

all pastors	mainline	Baptist	Pentecostal
Graham	Graham	Graham	Graham
Dobson	Warren	Dobson	Jakes
Warren	Dobson	Warren	Dobson
Jakes	Schuller	Falwell	Patterson
Swindoll	Hybels	Swindoll	Robertson
Falwell	Marty	MacArthur	Kennedy
Hybels	Willimon	Bush	Warren
Colson	Lucado	Jakes	Swindoll
Kennedy, Bush, Robertson, Lucado	The Pope	Lucado	Falwell
Kennedy, Bush, Robertson, Lucado	Bush	Colson	Hagee

*indicates tied for final position on the list

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Survey Shows How Christians Share Their Faith (050131)

(Ventura, CA) - The United States may have more born again Christians than any other nation in the world, with nearly 100 million children, teens and adults saying they are assured of eternal salvation solely because they have confessed their sins and accepted Jesus Christ as their savior.

This information, drawn from national surveys by The Barna Group, begs the question: how are Americans drawn to faith in Jesus Christ? The Barna Group survey data are not based on self-classification as “born again;” this status is based upon people actively inviting Jesus Christ to save them from the consequences of their sins by praying for forgiveness and a changed life. New survey data from The Barna Group examine how born again adults attempt to enable those who are not born again to have faith in Christ.

Most Born Again Adults Proselytize

One of the key findings of the research was that a slight majority of born again adults – 55% – claimed to have shared their faith in Christ with a non-Christian during the prior 12 months. That figure has remained relatively constant during the past decade.

Some groups within the born again population were more likely than others to have engaged in outreach efforts. For instance, two-thirds of evangelicals (66%) had shared their faith, compared to just two-fifths (41%) of those who are associated with mainline churches. While six out of ten Protestants had shared their faith (61%), less than four out of ten born again Catholics (37%) had done so.

There were also some surprising regional disparities. By far the lowest rate of evangelistic activity occurred among Midwestern born again adults: just 41% of them shared their faith. Unexpectedly, the most prolific evangelizers were in the western states, where two-thirds (65%) had engaged in personal outreach efforts. The South and Northeast – often assumed to be the bright and dark spots, respectively, in regard to evangelistic efforts – feel in-between the extremes (58% of northeastern and 59% of southern Christians shared their faith).

Another major difference related to race. Whites were less likely to share their faith than were people from the two largest racial groups. While half of all born again whites (49%) evangelized in the past year, almost two-thirds of born again blacks (63%) had done so and three-quarters of born again Hispanics (76%) were active in spreading their faith views.

Crisis Prayer Tops Methods

The Barna survey explored nine specific approaches to sharing faith in Christ with non-believers. The most prolific method was to “offer to pray with a non-Christian who was in need of encouragement or support.” Eight out of ten Christians (78%) said they had done so in the past year. Nearly as common was an approach widely known as “lifestyle evangelism,” which was described in the survey as living in ways that would impress non-Christians and cause them to raise questions about that lifestyle. Three out of every four born again adults (74%) tried this means of outreach.

Another popular approach was to “start a discussion with a non-Christian in which you intentionally asked what they believe concerning a particular moral or spiritual matter, and continued to ask questions about their views without telling them they are wrong, but continuing to nicely challenge them to explain their thinking and its implications.” Known as “Socratic evangelism” because of its dialogical nature, seven out of ten believers (69%) said they had engaged in this approach.

About half of all believers utilized each of three alternative means of outreach. Among them was a form of moral confrontation (i.e., to “tell a non-Christian a specific behavior was inappropriate and then describe the biblical basis for your view and an alternative approach”). This moral confrontation approach had been used by 50% of born again adults during the prior year. The other means were event-oriented strategies: bringing a non-Christian friend to a church service (49%) or bringing them to an outreach event (45%).

The least widely used methods were giving evangelistic literature to people (undertaken by 35%); sending evangelistic letters or e-mails to non-Christian acquaintances (21%); and preaching on the street or in other public places (11%).

Methods Varied By Segments

The preferred outreach methods varied by people groups. For instance, adults under the age of 40 (i.e., Baby Busters) were by far the most likely to practice Socratic evangelism (81% had done so) than were Baby Boomers (64%) or older adults (62%). In fact, it was the most popular of all outreach approaches among Busters. Lifestyle evangelism was much less widely utilized by Busters than by older adults. Young adults were also the most likely to evangelize via e-mail and other personal notes, but they were the least likely to rely upon giving others evangelistic literature (e.g., tracts, brochures, booklets, etc.).

Geographically, Christians living in the West were the most likely to use a Socratic approach while those residing in the South and Midwest were the least likely to do so. On the religious continuum, that dialogical method was a favorite of evangelicals but was considerably less common among Catholics and mainline Protestants. As might be expected, this approach was also more popular among college graduates than among those without a college degree.

Event-based evangelism was more likely to be used by women than men. Those with limited levels of education also favored it.

The survey results indicate that evangelizers have several preferred methods they rely upon. For instance, Christians who engage in moral confrontations and in passing out evangelistic literature are also more likely than other evangelizers to be involved in street preaching. Individuals who invite non-Christian friends to church services or to outreach events are also more likely to utilize evangelistic literature.

By the same token, some outreach efforts have a negative correlation with the use of other methods. People who bring friends to church with them are much less likely than the norm to also enter into Socratic evangelism – that is, to engage the friend in a multi-episode conversation about issues or perspectives designed to cause the non-Christian to think more deeply about matters of truth and faith. Similarly, Christians who rely upon events for outreach impact are notably less likely to also interact with their non-Christian friends in the more “in your face” approaches, such as moral confrontation or crisis prayer.

Changes in Strategy

George Barna, whose company conducted the research, noted that there is a significant change in evangelistic approaches taking place in the U.S.

“Young adults are much more likely to share their faith through ongoing discussions with friends and through e-mail and instant message conversations than are middle-aged and older adults,” Barna explained. “They are less likely to engage in means that their generation finds offensive, such as street preaching or moral confrontation. The early signs suggest that the emerging generation – the Mosaics, who presently are in their early twenties down through early childhood – will continue along this vein. Ministries seeking to prepare people to effectively share their faith in today’s society would advance the process by enabling young adults to carry on knowledgeable conversations about the substance of the Christian faith and how it affects all dimensions of a person’s life. The ability to relate biblical principles to current issues and personal struggles – that is, to interact beyond the level of simply ‘getting saved’ – will be crucial for the future of effective outreach efforts.”

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Church Priorities for 2005 Vary Considerably (050214)

(Ventura, CA) - Church analysts have noted that most congregations operate independently of the ideas and efforts of other churches. That absence of consensus emerged in the data from a new study conducted by The Barna Group (Ventura, California) regarding the ministry priorities of Protestant churches. When a nationally representative sample of 614 Senior Pastors was asked to identify the top three ministry priorities for their church in the coming year, not a single ministry emphasis was listed by even half of the church leaders.

Three-Stage Ranking

Overall, twelve different ministry emphases were listed by at least 3% of the pastors, aligned in three distinct levels of priority.

The most frequently mentioned priorities were discipleship and spiritual development (47%); evangelism and outreach (46%); and preaching (35%).

The second level of priorities included congregational care efforts, such as visitation and counseling (24%); worship (19%); ministry to teenagers and young adults (17%); missions (15%); community service (15%); ministry to children (13%); and congregational fellowship (11%).

The lowest priorities among the dozen ministries described by pastors were ministry to families (4%) and prayer (3%).

Priorities Varied by Church Types

The survey data revealed that different types of churches had different rankings regarding their priorities.

The most obvious differences were between white and black churches. Half of all white churches (50%) listed discipleship as their dominant priority, followed by evangelism (41%) and preaching (36%). Black churches, however, placed evangelism as their undisputed highest priority (67%), trailed by discipleship (35%), congregational care (24%) and preaching (24%). One-quarter of white churches (23%) said worship was a high priority, placing fifth in the ranking. However, just 3% of black churches listed worship as a top priority, ranking it 11th on their list. White churches placed ministry to children as their seventh highest priority (15%), while black congregations were less focused on children, rating it ninth (listed by 6%).

Baptist churches were distinguished by placing evangelism at the top of their ranking: 56% included it among their top priorities. (The figure was even higher among Southern Baptist churches: 60% rated it in their three highest priorities.) Baptist churches were also those most likely to name preaching as a priority. In contrast, mainline churches led the pack in citing discipleship ministries as their highest priority (54%). Pentecostal churches were substantially less likely than either Baptist or mainline pastors to mention discipleship (36%).

Male and female pastors had a few substantial disparities in perspective. Less than half of male pastors (46%) offered discipleship as a top priority compared to two-thirds of female pastors (65%). Female pastors were also twice as likely as their male counterparts to list community service as a high priority (29% versus 14%, respectively). Even though relatively few of the male pastors listed prayer as a major emphasis (4%), not a single female pastor identified prayer.

Also of interest was the fact that the largest churches studied were far more likely than smaller congregations to prioritize evangelism and outreach – which may explain their growth. However, larger churches were also those least likely to mention congregational care ministries as a priority.

Some Ministries Are Favored By Divergent Groups

Several of the ministry emphases that fell within the second and third tiers had notable champions within the church world.

For instance, worship was a relatively higher priority for mainline pastors (37%) than for Baptist (12%) or Pentecostal (13%) pastors. It was also less frequently cited by pastors of small churches (16% of those at churches with 100 or fewer adults) than by their colleagues pastoring larger congregations (23%).

Ministry to teenagers was most likely to be promoted in Pentecostal congregations (25%) and churches in the South (21%).

Missions gained the highest proportion of support from pastors of Baptist churches (22%) and theologically liberal congregations (23%). The least support for missions was expressed among pastors under the age of 40 (10% listed missions).

Besides the disparity listed between black and white congregations regarding ministry to children, pastors under 40 were twice as likely as older pastors to prioritize children (22% versus 11%, respectively). Churches in the Northeast and Midwest were also somewhat less likely to prioritize children’s ministry (9%) than were pastors from churches in the South and West (15%).

Reactions to the Results

Some of the survey outcomes surprised George Barna, who directed the research. “The magnitude of the differences between black and white congregations is very significant,” explained the author of the recent book describing faith in the lives of African-Americans, entitled High Impact African-American Churches. “Compared to white pastors, few black pastors identified worship and preaching as top priorities, in spite of the fact that our surveys among church-goers show that African-Americans are much more likely than white congregants to be satisfied with their worship experience and to feel they have been in God’s presence at their worship services. This may reflect the fact that black pastors are attempting to broaden the faith experience and depth of their people by shifting their focus onto other dimensions of spiritual growth.”

Barna also mentioned that even though no specific types of ministries were prioritized by a majority of pastors, the distribution of priorities across the various church segments was strikingly similar. “While there are certainly distinctions worthy of note,” the researcher commented, “what really stands out is the consistency of the profile of priorities among pastors of vastly different church backgrounds and perspectives. Church size, regional location, doctrinal leaning, pastoral age and even pastoral gender produced surprisingly few major differences. This may reflect the similar emphasis that most pastors receive in their pastoral training. At the same time, it also suggests that it would be quite unlikely to see a significant shift in ministry priorities among the nation’s churches. What we have in place today is likely to remain relatively static for the foreseeable future, unless a confluence of leadership, events and resources emerges to alter the prevailing perspectives and habits of our Protestant churches.”

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Parents Describe How They Raise Their Children (050228)

(Ventura, CA) Parenting is a controversial and complicated issue. Bookstores are filled with volumes written about the most effective methods of raising children, and millions of adults attend parenting courses and conferences each year. A new nationwide survey of parents, conducted by The Barna Group, offers some surprising insights into the outcomes parents are most eager to achieve in their children, the qualities they believe are most important for parents to have in order to be effective, and some of the critical choices and tradeoffs they make in their child-rearing efforts.

What Makes A Parent Successful?

Each of two qualities was listed by one-third of all parents as contributing significantly to effectively raising children. Thirty-six percent said having patience is necessary to be effective, while 32% indicated that demonstrating love was indispensable.

The next most frequently cited attributes of effective parenting were enforcing discipline and being understanding. Each of these qualities was named by 22% of parents.

Having a significant faith commitment and an identifiable set of religious beliefs was mentioned by just one out of every five parents as an ingredient required for parental success.

Several other qualities were named by at least one out of every ten parents. Those included having good communication skills (17%), being compassionate (14%), knowing how to listen (12%), and being intelligent (11%).

Characteristics that were stated by at least 5% of all parents were being an encouraging person (9%), having substantial emotional strength (8%), making consistent choices (8%), having a clear philosophy of parenting (7%), and knowing how to plan and set goals (6%).

Smaller numbers of parents listed elements such as being a praying person (4%) or having integrity or good character (1%) as significant characteristics.

Most Desirable Outcomes for Kids

Parents described what they feel are the most important outcomes they are devoted to helping their children experience. By far the top-rated outcome was getting a good education. Four out of every ten parents (39%) listed that as a critical outcome they were committed to facilitating.

Helping the child to feel loved was the second most frequently mentioned outcome (24%), followed by enabling them to have a meaningful relationship with Jesus Christ (22%).

The only other outcomes cited by at least one out of ten parents were fostering a sense of security (16%), helping them to feel affirmed and encouraged (14%), providing a firm spiritual foundation (13%), and delivering basic necessities such as shelter (12%) and food (10%). Ten percent also said it was crucial to help their children feel happy (10%).

Among the less common building blocks parents mentioned were having a sense of belonging or connection (9%), being and feeling safe (8%), and helping to establish appropriate moral values (4%).

Trade-Offs Parents Make

One of the most eye-opening portions of the research related to the choices that parents make in various situations. Four specific conditions were evaluated.

In the first, parents were asked if they were more likely to battle their children over every issue that emerged, in order to establish control and appropriate choices, or to instead limit those battles to particular issues the parent deemed to be significant. Three out of every four parents (77%) took the “pick your fights” approach, while one out of eight (13%) felt it was important to interact on every issue.

A second situation was whether the parent tells the child that the Bible teaches moral absolutes that must always be obeyed, no matter what the situation is, or instead teaches that there are no moral absolutes, so the child must be prepared to make good choices in every situation without any absolute guidelines. Parents were evenly divided on this matter: 43% said they teach there are some moral absolutes and 45% said they teach that there are no such absolutes.

Another tradeoff posed was related to the child’s media exposure. A majority of parents (56%) said they gave their youngsters general guidelines about the amount and quality of media they were allowed to access and then let the children regulate their media intake by themselves. One-third of all parents (36%) strictly limited the amount and quality of TV, music and other media the children were allowed to access.

How do parents determine whether they have been successful in raising their children? By more than a two-to-one margin (62% to 28%), they define success as having done the best they could, regardless of the outcomes. Less than three out of ten parents say the fruit of their efforts is the defining factor.

Surprising Insights Into Parenting

In studying the findings, George Barna, who directed the research, noted that the faith commitment of parents made surprisingly little difference in how children were raised.

“You might expect that parents who are born again Christians would take a different approach to raising their children than did parents who have not committed their life to Christ – but that was rarely the case,” Barna explained. “For instance, we found that the qualities born again parents say an effective parent must possess, the outcomes they hope to facilitate in the lives of their children, and the media monitoring process in the household was indistinguishable from the approach taken by parents who are not born again.”

The California-based researcher pointed out that there was one substantial distinction. “Born again parents were twice as likely as others to teach their children that there are certain moral absolutes they should obey. However, even on that matter, less than six out of ten born again parents took such a position.”

One of the most startling observations, according to Barna, was how few born again parents indicated that one of the most important outcomes parents needed to help their children grasp was salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. “Only three out of ten born again parents included the salvation of their child in the list of critical parental emphases,” he noted. “Parents cannot force or ensure that their kids become followers of Christ. But for that emphasis to not be on the radar screen of most Christian parents is a significant reason why most Americans never embrace Jesus Christ as their savior. We know that parents still have a huge influence on the choices their children make, and we also know that most people either accept Christ when they are young or not at all. The fact that most Christian parents overlook this critical responsibility is one of the biggest challenges to the Christian Church.”

The author of the best-selling book, Transforming Children Into Spiritual Champions, Barna offered his thoughts on the significance of the research. “For years we have reported research findings showing that born again adults think and behave very much like everyone else. It often seems that their faith makes very little difference in their life. This new study helps explain why that is: believers do not train their children to think or act any differently. When our kids are exposed to the same influences, without much supervision, and are generally not guided to interpret their circumstances and opportunities in light of biblical principles, it’s no wonder that they grow up to be just as involved in gambling, adultery, divorce, cohabitation, excessive drinking and other unbiblical behaviors as everyone else. What we build into a child’s life prior to the age of 13 represents the moral and spiritual foundation that defines them as individuals and directs their choices for the remainder of their life. Garbage in, garbage out; there’s no magic that suddenly changes the young person from what they were trained to be in their formative years into a model Christian once they get older.”

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More People Use Christian Media Than Attend Church (050314)

(Ventura, CA) The reshaping of Americans’ lives is evident in various facets of their life, including the spiritual dimension. A new nationwide survey conducted by The Barna Group indicates that while 56% of adults attend church services in a typical month, a much larger percentage is exposed to religious information and experiences through various forms of media. Radio and television are the most popular Christian media, but faith-related Internet sites as well as religious magazines, newspapers and books also enjoy significant exposure. Although these religious media are a supplement to a church experience for most people, millions of individuals rely upon one or more of these media as their primary source of spiritual input.

Christian Radio Has Declined

Nearly half of all adults – 46% – listen to a Christian radio broadcast in a typical month. The survey found that one out of every six U.S. adults (16%) listens to Christian radio on a daily basis, which is more than double the percentage of adults who use any other Christian medium that regularly. Overall, just as many adults (46%) said they never listen to Christian radio as said they listen at least once a month.

Born again Christians comprise the vast majority of the Christian radio audience. However, a large share of the audience is not born again: 28% of non-Christians adults listen each month.

The area of the country most likely to tune in such programming is the South, where 56% listen each month. The region with the least likely listeners is the Northeast, where only one-third (35%) does so. Christian radio broadcasts reach nearly nine out of ten evangelicals each month (86%), and about three-quarters of all born again Christians. Other groups that listen more often than the norm are African-Americans, women and people attending large Protestant churches. The people least likely to tune in include Asian-Americans, Catholics and mainline Protestants.

Besides reaching a large non-born again audience, Christian radio also reaches many adults who do not attend church. One-quarter of all unchurched Americans (23%) listen to Christian radio in a typical month. That represents a nationwide audience of 17 million adults who do not attend a church.

The total audience for Christian radio, however, has declined from 56% of the adult population in 1992 to its current 46%. While population growth has muted the effect of that decline, the bottom line is a net loss in listeners over the past 13 years. The research shows that the loss has been mostly among the non-Christian audience, which has dropped from 42% of the listening base in 1992 to just 28% today.

Christian Television Remains Stable

The percentage of adults who watch Christian television programming has remained unchanged since 1992, with an estimated 45% tuning in to a Christian program during a typical month. Relatively few adults (7%) watch Christian television on a daily basis. About four out of ten adults (41%) never watch such programming.

Christian television draws its strength from people in their 60s and older, females, residents of the South, African-Americans, people with limited education and income, and born again Christians. Two-thirds of the born again population views Christian programming each month, which is more than double the proportion of non-born again adults (30%) who follow that pattern. The segments of the public least likely to watch Christian TV include mainline Protestants, Catholics, unchurched people, Asian-Americans and college graduates.

More unchurched people watch Christian television than listen to Christian radio, although the margin of difference is small. Slightly more than one-fourth of the unchurched – about 20 million adults – tune in to these shows each month.

Faith-Related Websites

A decade ago, faith-related websites were not on the radar screen of Americans. That is changing in hurry, however. Today, one out of every six adults (16%) spends some time visiting faith-oriented websites during a typical month. This is especially common among evangelicals: 41% visit such sites, compared to 18% of all other born again Christians and 10% of non-born again Americans.

Not surprisingly, the research found that the younger a person is, the more likely they are to visit faith-oriented sites. Residents of the western states and African-Americans stood out as the groups most likely to check out these resources. The same people groups that resisted faith-based radio and television – mainline Protestants, Catholics, Asian-Americans, and the unchurched – were also the least likely visitors to these locations on the worldwide web.

Publications Retain A Consistent Audience Share

The percentage of adults who read Christian magazines in a typical month has remained stable since 1992. One out of three adults (35%) reads such a periodical during a typical month. Among born again Christians, however, half read such a magazine, while just half that proportion (25%) do so among non-born again adults. Approximately 13 million unchurched adults read Christian magazines each month.

The proportion of the adult population that reads Christian books, other than the Bible, during a typical month has also gone unchanged since 1992. Overall, one-third of all adults read a Christian book, a group that is composed of half of all born again adults and one-fifth of the non-born again public.

Trends Within the Audience Size Data

George Barna, who has conducted these national research studies since the mid-1980s, listed several patterns that emerged from the survey data.

# About one out of five adults absorb one or more of these Christian media on a daily basis. Approximately half rely on these media for spiritual input during a typical week. The proportion rises to some two-thirds over the course of a month.

# Christian radio has lost one-third of its non-Christian audience in the past 13 years.

# The Internet is the only mass medium among those tested whose audience share has grown during the past decade. The proportion of the population using the Internet for faith purposes has increased by two-thirds since 1998.

# People under 40 years of age show limited interest in Christian media of any type. Much of the stagnation or decline evident in the audience share statistics is attributable to the relative growth of the Baby Bust and Mosaic generations within the national population.

# More than two-thirds of the born again public – and well over 90% of evangelicals – have exposure to Christian media each month. Nearly half of all non-born again adults use Christian media during a typical month. Even a significant share of the unchurched market – more than one-third – utilizes these resources.

# The growth of the ethnic population in the U.S. suggests that Christian radio and publications, in particular, may be challenged to maintain their current levels of exposure.

“Our studies continue to show that people are using the Christian media to provide elements of ministry that are not adequately provided to them by their local church,” Barna explained. “For some people, these media complement their church experience. For others, a combination of these media forms a significant portion of their faith experience. As the Busters and Mosaics become the dominant population groups in the religious marketplace, combined with the continuing growth of ethnic populations as well, we anticipate more changes in which of these media dominate the religious market, how frequently they are utilized and how they are integrated into the person’s spiritual life.”

The California-based researcher and author also noted that the Christian media represent the most consistent means of evangelistic outreach by the Christian community. “With our studies showing that about half of all born again adults do not share their faith with any non-believers during the year, and that those who do share their faith talk about it with few non-Christians, the faith-oriented media have become the primary means through which the gospel message is presented to non-Christians on a regular basis.”

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One in Three Adults Is Unchurched (050328)

(Ventura, CA)Despite widespread efforts to increase church attendance across the nation, the annual survey of church attendance conducted by The Barna Group shows that one-third of all adults (34%) remain “unchurched.” That proportion has changed little during the past five years. However, because of the nation’s population continuing growth, the number of unchurched adults continues to grow by nearly a million people annually.

Religious Activity

The research confirms that millions of unchurched people are spiritually active. For instance, one out of every five reads the Bible in a typical week; six out of ten pray to God each week; and during the past year 5% have shared their faith in Jesus Christ with people who are not professing Christians. In fact, nearly one million unchurched adults tithe their income – that is, donate at least 10% of their annual household revenue to non-profit entities. While these tithers are not giving their money to a church, they are giving to a variety of parachurch ministries that serve people throughout the world.

During a typical month, six out of ten unchurched adults worship God (but not via church services); three out of ten study the Bible; and one out of every seven has times of prayer and Bible reading with family members. The religious media play a part in their spiritual life, too, with four out of ten absorbing Christian content through television, radio, magazines or faith-based websites during a typical month. In addition, one-quarter of them have conversations with one or more friends who held them accountable for carrying out their faith principles.

One explanation for this significant degree of religious involvement is that only one-quarter of this group (24%) are atheists and agnostics. One-fifth (20%) are adults who are aligned with a non-Christian faith. The remaining 56% are people who consider themselves to be Christian. In fact, 15% of the unchurched are born again Christians: they have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that they deem important in their life, and believe they will go to Heaven after death because of their confession of sin and acceptance of Jesus Christ as their savior.

Religious Beliefs

The belief profile of unchurched Americans veers from mirroring the beliefs of most Americans to differing substantially. The unchurched are similar regarding their contention that Satan is a symbol of evil but not a living entity (67% believe this); that if people are good enough they can earn their way into Heaven (61%); and that Jesus committed sins during His time on earth (51%).

However, the unchurched adults significantly stray from the national norm on other questions. They are only half as likely to firmly believe that the Bible is accurate in all that it teaches (25% agree with that notion); are less likely to possess a biblical view of God (only 46% see Him as the “perfect, all-knowing, all-powerful Creator of the universe” who still rules His creation today); and are less likely to believe that the most important purpose of life is to “love God with all your heart, mind, strength and soul” (63% agree).

When compared to past studies in which the unchurched were asked identical questions about their beliefs, the current research shows that there has been little change in the spiritual perspectives of the unchurched in the past decade.

Emerging Patterns

There have been some discernible shifts in the characteristics of the unchurched population over the past decade. The church dropout rate among people who define themselves as being somewhere middle-of-the-road on political issues is escalating faster than among those who are either conservative or liberal. And the Northeast continues to harbor the largest percentage of unchurched adults of any other region in the country. Currently, 42% of adults in the Northeast have no church involvement.

Another surprise is that Catholics, whose doctrine defines absence from weekly church services to be a sin, are more likely than Protestants to stray from church events. Some of that gap is attributable to the above average percentage of Hispanics who have dropped out of the local church (41% of them are unchurched).

Young adults are more resistant to church life than are people from older generations. In fact, an analysis of church attendance data covering the past two decades indicates that the two younger generations are more resistant to church life than the Baby Boomers were at a similar point in their development.

Surprisingly, “downscale” individuals (i.e., no college degree, below average household income) also are much more likely than their “upscale” counterparts (i.e., college graduates with above-average household income levels) to stay away from local churches.

A Perspective On The Unchurched

Having studied church attendance patterns for more than twenty years, researcher George Barna suggested that the consistent resistance to church life in recent years is indicative of a historic shift in the nation’s spiritual vision. “To view the plateaued level of the unchurched population as simply an indication of stagnation in religious behavior is naive. There are, indeed, millions of unchurched people who want nothing to do with organized religion or spiritual development. The more important trend, however, is that a large and growing number of Americans who avoid congregational contact are not rejecting Christianity as much as they are shifting how they interact with God and people in a strategic effort to have a more fulfilling spiritual life. This data, combined with other studies we have recently been conducting, suggests that we are on the precipice of a new era of spiritual experience and expression.”

Barna expects the percentage of adults who are unchurched to grow during the coming decade. “For the past few years the percentage has leveled off,” he explained. “However, the emergence of a national body of spiritual leaders who are assisting unchurched people in their quest for spiritual depth through means and relationships that are outside the usual institutional vehicles is significant. We anticipate substantial growth in the number of people who are not connected to a congregational church but who are committed to growing spiritually. It would not be surprising to witness a larger slice of the born again population shift from the ‘churched’ to ‘unchurched’ column of the ledger over the next ten years. What’s amazing about the coming transition is that it is likely to occur without any real decline in activities such as Bible reading, prayer, tithing, family faith activity or service to the needy. The people involved will be altering the locus of their activity without diminishing the intensity of their commitment to God and to their faith.”

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Annual Barna Group Survey Describes Changes in America’s Religious Beliefs and Practices (050411)

(Ventura, CA) – More than nine out of ten American adults engage in some type of faith-related practice during a typical week. This is one of the numerous findings revealed in a new report by researcher and author George Barna, drawn from the national survey of religious beliefs and practices that his company has been conducting every January since 1991. The report provides information concerning 45 different faith-related beliefs, behaviors and perspectives.

The data for 2005 were generated from a study in January by The Barna Group based on a nationwide survey of a random sample of 1003 adults. That survey asked the same questions about religious practices and perspectives that his company has been tracking in national surveys each January for the last fifteen years. With the release of the report, entitled The State of the Church: 2005, Barna revealed several of the outcomes described in greater detail in the research.

Bible Reading Increases

One outcome described is the small but noteworthy increase in Bible reading. Currently, 45% of adults read the Bible during a typical week, not including when they are at church. That figure represents a minimal increase over the past few years, but a significant rise from the 31% measured in 1995, the lowest level of Bible reading recorded by Barna in the past 15 years. The current statistic is still below the levels achieved in 1980s and early 1990s, but the report shows that the trend is upward.

The rise in Bible reading is largely attributable to increases in this behavior among Baby Busters and residents of the western states. In the early Nineties, about three out of ten Busters read the Bible in a given week; today that ratio stands at four out ten. Meanwhile, just one-third of people in the West read the Bible in the early and mid-Nineties, whereas close to half of them do so these days (47%). Not surprisingly, born again adults have led the return to God’s Word since 1990. After hitting a low of just 54% in 1997, the percentage of born again individuals who have read from the Bible in the past seven days has returned to a full two-thirds of that group (67%).

The group whose people are most likely to read the Bible during the week are evangelicals. Nearly nine out of ten (88%) explore God’s Word during a typical week.

Evangelical and Born Again Christians

Despite the media frenzy surrounding the influence of evangelical Christians during the 2004 presidential election, the new study indicates that evangelicals remain just 7% of the adult population. That number has not changed since the Barna Group began measuring the size of the evangelical public in 1994.

Barna surveys do not ask people to define themselves as “evangelical” but instead categorize people as such based on their beliefs. In this approach, evangelicals a subset of born again Christians. In addition to meeting the born again criteria (described below) evangelicals also meet seven other conditions. Those include saying their faith is very important in their life today; contending that they have a personal responsibility to share their religious beliefs about Christ with non-Christians; stating that Satan exists; maintaining that eternal salvation is possible only through grace, not by being good or doing good deeds; asserting that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth; saying that the Bible is totally accurate in all it teaches; and describing God as the all-knowing, all-powerful, perfect deity who created the universe and still rules it today. In this framework, being classified as “evangelical” is not dependent upon any kind of church or denominational affiliation or involvement.

Several segments of the population are more likely than average to be found within evangelical circles. The vast majority of evangelicals are Protestant; less than 1% of Catholics fit the description. Similarly, adults who describe themselves as conservative on social and political matters are much more likely to fit the definition than are those who say they are liberal in their thinking on such matters (17% versus 1%, respectively). The largest concentration of evangelicals lives within the South; the most limited number resides in the Northeast. Even though all evangelicals are born again Christians, less than one out of five born again adults (18%) meet the evangelical criteria.

The report also illustrates the comparatively enormous size of the born again constituency. As with the term “evangelical”, the phrase “born again Christian” is not assigned to those people who call themselves by that name. Barna’s surveys categorize people as born again if they say they “have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in my life today” and also contend that after they die they will “go to Heaven because I have confessed my sins and have accepted Jesus Christ as my savior.” Four out of ten adults fit this definition.

When all of the atheists, agnostics and adults associated with non-Christian faith groups are combined, they are only half as numerous as the born again segment (21% compared to 40% respectively). The remaining body of people – 39% of the nation’s adult population – is what Barna categorizes as “notional Christians” – people who consider themselves to be Christian but are not born again. For more than a decade, the sizes of the born again and notional segments have been roughly equivalent.

Other Measures

Among the nearly four-dozen religious measures reported in The State of the Church: 2005 are church attendance, the percentage of unchurched people, prayer, donating to churches, use of Christian media, accountability relationships, core beliefs, perceived purpose of life, the highest priority in life, and perception of self as a full-time servant of God and being deeply spiritual.

George Barna, who has overseen the measurement of these factors since the tracking process began in 1991, noted that religious change generally occurs at a glacial pace. “The meter hasn’t budged for most of the trends we have been following over these 15 years,” the researcher noted. “The only discernible increases have been in the number of unchurched adults, those who are participating in small groups or cell groups, and the percentage of born again Christians who share their faith with non-Christians. The decreases relate to church attendance, Sunday school involvement, the percentage of people who align with Catholicism, and the number who have a biblical view of God’s character. In general, predicting next year’s religious statistics is safer than foretelling whether the Cubs will win the World Series.”

The report on faith in America is Barna’s first published overview of the state of the nation’s faith since 2002. It not only shows the general trends related to the various measures of faith but also describes the demographics underlying each measure. In the final section of the report Barna provides a series of reflections on the meaning of the information.

“You cannot make good strategic decisions without reliable information about the people or situations you hope to change,” the California-based researcher explained. “This document is designed to help leaders within the faith community reconsider the strategies they have been pursuing toward introducing significant spiritual change. The long-term absence of real change on key measures of religious belief and behavior screams for a change of direction and a more radical approach to spiritual growth amidst a population that clearly has settled into comfortable spiritual routines and perspectives.

“Bringing about genuine and lasting religious transformation,” the author continued, “requires leadership that is more aggressive than simply constructing bigger buildings, replacing the overhead projector with a big-screen projection system, and introducing a few new programs. Our era is noted for distractions, stress, technology, choice, busyness, information overload and mistrust. Effective leaders must spearhead a thoroughly conceived and highly targeted plan that runs a significant level of risk and promises attractive returns on people’s investment of themselves. Merely tinkering with the existing system is a recipe for irrelevance and abandonment.”

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Americans Donate Billions to Charity, But Giving to Churches Has Declined (050425)

(Ventura, CA) – Americans give away enormous sums of money every year. The annual survey of religious behavior conducted by The Barna Group shows that Americans continued that pattern of generosity in 2004, but that even though their giving to non-profit organizations and churches is significant, it is not increasing.

A Large Majority Gives Away Money

In 2004, nearly four out of every five adults – 83% - donated money to one or more non-profit organizations. That is similar to the percentage that has donated funds throughout the past decade. Barna’s national study found that the people least likely to donate any money at all were those under the age of 25, people who never attended college, residents of the Northeast, atheists and agnostics, Asians and Hispanics. A quarter or more of the people from each of those segments failed to give away any money in 2004.

The average amount of money donated per person was $1232. That suggests that the typical individual gave away about 3% of their income.

Church Donations Are Substantial

Churches receive the largest share of the money donated each year. In 2004, two-thirds of all adults (65%) donated some money to a church or other place of worship.

The people most likely to have given money to a religious center in the past year were Protestants (76%), upscale adults (77%), political conservatives (80%), born again Christians (85%), and evangelical Christians (97%). Those least likely to support church work included atheists and agnostics (18%), residents of the Northeast (55%) and Asian-Americans (43%).

The average amount of money donated to churches was $895 per donor in 2004. On the face of it, that sum appears healthy: it is substantially more than the average amounts over each of the past several years. However, when inflation is factored in, the current dollar average is actually less than the amount that houses of worship received in the late 1990s. From 1999 through 2004, cumulative annual giving to churches increased by $89 per donor, representing an 11% rise since before the turn of the millennium. After factoring in inflation, however, churches are actually getting about 2% less than the current value of the money contributed in 1999.

Protestants continue to give more generously to their churches than do Catholics. Protestant adults gave an average of $1304 to churches in 2004, compared to $547 given by the typical Catholic. The most generous donors of all, however, were evangelicals, who averaged $3250 in church giving.

Tithing Is Uncommon

For a number of years, The Barna Group has also been following the practice of “tithing,” which is donating at least ten percent of one’s income. While Christians dispute whether tithing refers to giving the entire ten percent to churches or whether that sum may include money donated to churches and other non-profit entities, the survey data reveal that no matter how it is defined, very few Americans tithed in 2004. Only 4% gave such an amount to churches alone; just 6% gave to either churches or to a combination of churches and parachurch ministries.

Although generosity, stewardship and tithing are higher profile issues among born again Christians than to other people, relatively few born again adults – only 9% – tithed to churches in 2004. That behavior was most common among evangelicals (23%), and much smaller among non-evangelical born again Christians (7%), notional Christians (less than 1%), people of other faiths (1%) and atheists and agnostics (none). Overall, 7% of Protestants tithed to churches – divided into 5% among people associated with mainline churches and 8% of those affiliated with other Protestant congregations. Tracking data show that tithing among all born again adults (i.e., evangelical and non-evangelical, combined) has stayed within a range of 6% to 14% throughout the past decade, varying by a few percentage points since 1999.

Several people groups stood out as particularly tightfisted when it comes to financially supporting churches. Less than 2% of adults under the age of 40, Catholics and Asians tithed in 2004.

A different way of considering “tithing” is by measuring whether the individual donated at least one-tenth of their income to non-profit organizations, including but not limited to churches and other houses of worship. If the data are evaluated from that vantage point, the percentage of adults who tithe is 6%. Again, the most prolific givers are those whose contributions flow primarily to churches. More than one-quarter of evangelicals (27%) fit this criteria for tithing, compared to 10% among non-evangelical born again Christians, 1% of notional Christians, 2% of adults aligned with non-Christian faith groups, and 3% of atheists and agnostics.

Why People Do Not Give More

Related studies by The Barna Group offer additional insights into why Americans do not give more money to churches. “There are five significant barriers to more generous giving,” according to the study’s director, George Barna. “Some people lack the motivation to give away their hard-earned money because the church has failed to provide a compelling vision for how the money will make a difference in the world. These are donors who can find other uses for their money and are not excited about simply handing money over to a church. The second group,” he continued, “are those who see their giving as leverage on the future. They withhold money from the church because they do not see a sufficient return on their investment. The third segment is comprised of people who do not realize the church needs their money to be effective. Their church has done an inadequate job of asking for money, so people remain oblivious to the church’s expectations and potential. The fourth group is composed of those who are ignorant of what the Bible teaches about our responsibility to apply God’s resources in ways that affect lives. The final category contains those who are just selfish. They figure they worked hard for their money and it’s theirs to use as they please. Their priorities revolve around their personal needs and desires.”

Barna indicated that often people fit within two or more of those categories, making it even more challenging for churches to encourage generosity. “It helps when church leaders recognize the underlying issue related to each of these barriers,” the best-selling author continued. “The absence of a compelling vision to motivate generosity is a leadership issue. The perception that donations do not produce significant outcomes is usually an efficiency or productivity issue, sometimes compounded by poor communications. Churches that struggle because they do not ask strategically have a process issue. When the problem is people’s ignorance of scriptural principles regarding stewardship, there is a theological or educational issue. And cases where people focus on themselves rather than other people reflect a heart issue. The reality is that Americans are willing to give more generously than they typically do, but it takes a purposeful and well-executed approach to facilitate that generosity.”

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What Is A Purpose-Driven Life to Americans? (050517)

(Ventura, CA) – Religious books have become a publishing phenomenon in the past decade, and no religious book (other than the Bible) has generated more attention – or sales – than Rick Warren’s bestseller, The Purpose-Driven Life. More than 20 million copies of the book have been sold, and millions of people have been exposed to Purpose-Driven church programs, classes and resources. After all the reading, teaching, and conversation on the topic, exactly what do Americans perceive their purpose in life to be?

That was the question posed to a random national sample of 1003 adults surveyed by The Barna Group. One particular response was provided by nearly half of the population, and only two other options were mentioned by at least one out of every ten people.

Family First

More than four out of every ten adults – 44% – said their top priority in life is having a satisfying family life. This was nearly three times as popular as the second-most common response and more than four times as prolific as the third-most popular reply.

Women were much more likely than men to list family as their top priority (48% versus 39%, respectively) even though family was the top ranked priority among men by a three-to-one margin. The presence of children in the home was also a big differentiator: 58% of the adults with a child under 18 in the home listed family, compared to only 35% of those without children in their household. There was also a regional distinction, as a majority of adults in the Midwest listed family (52%), while about four out of ten adults elsewhere did so. Economics were related to people’s views, too: 55% of adults with a college degree and annual earnings exceeding $60,000 put family in first place, compared to 44% of those in the middle socioeconomic ranges and only 36% of those in the downscale bracket (i.e., no college degree and a household income below $20,000).

Religious leanings were a factor in people’s choice. While a majority of Catholics (58%) and mainline Protestants (51%) placed family at the top of their list, only 19% of evangelicals did so.

Interestingly, almost half of the adults (47%) who have been divorced indicated that a fulfilling family life was currently their highest priority.

Faith Foremost

The second-most common life priority, listed by 18% of all adults, was that of understanding and carrying out the principles of their faith. Again, women were more likely than men to list this emphasis (22% versus 14%). Adults in the 40 to 70 age group were much more likely than younger adults to prioritize faith (21% versus 14%). Not surprisingly, residents of southern states were more likely to list faithful living on top, but residents of the western states were equally likely to do so (19%) while people in the Northeast and Midwest lagged (15% in each region). African-Americans were the ethnic group most prone to prioritizing their faith focus (24%), while Asian-Americans were the least likely (12%).

Evangelical Christians, who comprise just 7% of the adult public, were the one of the few population segments to place a faith-based lifestyle at the top of the list. Almost six out of ten evangelicals (59%) did so, which was double the percentage of non-evangelical born again Christians who followed suit (27%). Just 12% of the Americans aligned with a faith other than Christianity said living their faith principles was their highest priority. About one-quarter of Protestants chose this pursuit (26%), which was nearly four times the percentage of Catholics who did so (7%).

Other Interests

The only other priority named by at least one out of every ten adults was having good friends. That commitment characterized the desire of 10% of the public. It was particularly common among people 60 or older (16%), downscale adults (18%), men (13%, versus 7% among women), and single adults (mentioned three times as often as it was among married adults).

Less common priorities included earning a comfortable living (8%), consistently having significant influence on other people’s lives (7%), achieving success (6%), and enjoying leisure experiences (2%). Although respondents mentioned a variety of other options, none of those was listed by at least 2% of the population.

Priorities Across Faith Segments

There were substantial differences in the priorities of people according to their faith commitments. For instance, evangelicals were the only faith segment to place personal consistency with their faith principles as their highest priority. In comparison, non-evangelical born again adults were 52% more likely to list family life than spiritual consistency. Notional Christians – i.e., people who describe themselves as Christian but are not born again – were seven times more likely to list family life than spiritual life as their emphasis. Notional Christians represent nearly half of the adults attending churches on a typical Sunday, but only 7% said their spiritual life took precedence over all else. Similarly, people aligned with non-Christian faith groups were four times more likely to list family as to list spiritual consistency.

Catholic adults were nine times more likely to name family life as they were to identify spiritual consistency as their top priority. In fact, living in harmony with their spiritual principles ranked a distant fifth among Catholics, trailing the development of good friendships, achieving success and leading a comfortable lifestyle, as well as family satisfaction.

The only group besides evangelicals for whom faith rated first was those who have an “active faith”: that is, they attend church, read the Bible and pray during a typical week. Overall, 39% of the active faith adults said their faith commitment was tops, compared to 35% of this segment who listed family first.

The survey also showed that the size of the church congregation a person is associated with had no bearing on people’s likelihood of placing faith at the top of the list. About one out of every five church-goers cited living in concert with their faith as their utmost desire. However, the larger a congregation is, the more likely a person is to identify having a satisfying family life as their supreme purpose. Adults who attend small congregations (i.e., 100 or fewer people) stood out as being much more likely than people from larger congregations to seek significant influence in other people’s lives.

People who do not attend church at all were considerably less likely than average to cite faith-based living as a priority (6%) and were more likely than average to mention a desire to earn a comfortable living or to have good friends.

Interestingly, adults who regularly have times of prayer and Bible study with their family were more likely to prioritize carrying out their faith principles than to prioritize have a satisfying family life. It appears that part of the satisfaction gleaned from their family life may be through their shared faith experiences.

Challenges for Religious Leaders

The survey data raise some important red flags for religious leaders, according to researcher George Barna. “It’s wonderful that family and faith were the top ranked priorities listed by Americans. The survey results raise some questions, however, about the faith commitment of many church-going and born again adults. One must wonder,” he continued, “if the struggles evident in so many marriages and parent-child relationships are connected to the fact that people are generally more interested in pursuing a fulfilling family life than in understanding the principles for meaningful living that may help shape such a family experience.”

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Survey Reveals The Books and Authors That Have Most Influenced Pastors (050530)

(Ventura, CA) – Books sales and book influence are two different factors. While bestseller lists identify the books that generate the greatest revenue, a new survey by The Barna Group, conducted among a nationwide, representative sample of Protestant pastors, shows that the most influential books often fail to reach the bestseller lists. That’s one of several key findings drawn from the list of books that pastors say have influenced them the most in the past three years. The survey also found that a relative handful of authors have the most consistent influence on pastors, and that a dozen or so books have had the most widespread impact during that time frame.

When pastors were asked to identify the three books that had been most helpful to them as a ministry leader during the past three years, more than two hundred different books were listed. However, only nine books were listed by at least 2% of all pastors; just ten authors were identified by at least 2% of pastors, and just three categories of books were named by at least 10% of the church leaders interviewed.

Most Helpful Books

Two books emerged as the most helpful of all: The Purpose Driven Life and The Purpose Driven Church, both written by Rick Warren. Purpose Driven Life topped the list, with one out of every five Senior Pastors (21%) naming it as one of the most helpful books they have read in the last three years. The larger a pastor’s church was, the more likely the pastor was to include this book among their top three. Demographically, the book had twice the appeal among pastors born during the Baby Boom generation as among pastors from the Baby Bust cohort.

Not far behind was The Purpose Driven Church, an earlier volume by Pastor Warren that was listed by 15%. Its appeal was pretty consistent across all pastoral segments except Baby Bust pastors, among whom only 3% included this book among their top picks.

The rest of the list of invaluable books was a broad selection of more than 200 other titles. Only seven additional books gained recognition from at least 2% of pastors – and each of those seven publications was chosen by 2%. Those books were What’s So Amazing About Grace? by Phillip Yancey; Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala; Wild At Heart by John Eldredge; Courageous Leadership by Bill Hybels; Spiritual Leadership by Henry Blackaby; Next Generation Leader by Andy Stanley; and the 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John Maxwell.

Most Influential Authors

Although the numerous books cited by pastors were authored by dozens of writers, there were only ten authors who were listed by at least 2% of the pastors interviewed. Not surprisingly, Rick Warren was king-of-the-hill in this listing, as his books were mentioned by 30% of the pastors. John Maxwell was the runner-up, with books listed as among the most helpful by 5% of pastors. Five writers were mentioned by 3% of the nation’s church leaders: Henry Blackaby, Jim Cymbala, Bill Hybels, Andy Stanley, and Phil Yancey. The other influential authors were George Barna, John Eldredge and John Piper, each of whom was mentioned by 2%.

Another outcome of the research concerned the authors who had the greatest number of influential books listed by pastors. Six authors stood out as having multiple volumes that have helped large numbers of pastors. Researcher George Barna, who had ten influential books identified by pastors, headed the list. Following him were Max Lucado and John Maxwell, with nine books each; Charles Swindoll and John MacArthur, each with six books; and Phillip Yancey, with four acclaimed books.

Most Useful Types of Books

When the books designated as the most helpful were categorized, there were three types of books that pastors found to be most profitable. A majority of pastors (54%) listed at least one book regarding discipleship or personal spiritual growth. Books about church growth, congregational health or ministry dynamics were the next most prolific, listed by 23% of pastors. Leadership books were equally valued, identified by 22%. No other category was cited by at least 10% of the sample.

Less influential types of books included those about theology (9%), evangelism and outreach (6%), pastoring (6%), and prayer (5%). Books regarding charismatic perspectives (5%), trends and cultural conditions (4%), and preaching (3%) also generated noteworthy interest.

Different Segments Like Divergent Books

The size of the congregation led by a pastor was related to the types of books mentioned. Pastors of small congregations not only read fewer books than did pastors of larger churches, but also had more restricted categorical tastes. Discipleship books were their clear favorite, listed by half of the small church pastors, but no other category of books was mentioned by even one out of every five of those leaders. Specific leadership books were identified as among the most helpful by four out of ten pastors of large churches and by three out of ten mid-sized church leaders, but by only one out of every eight pastors of small congregations. In fact, small-church pastors were only half as likely as those from large congregations to include The Purpose Driven Life among their influential books.

Pastors of mainline churches were more than twice as likely as their colleagues from non-mainline Protestant churches to cite specific theology books while being less than half as likely to list a volume related to evangelism or outreach. Mainline pastors were also less than half as likely to mention any books regarding leadership thinking or practices.

Pastors who lead charismatic or Pentecostal congregations were by far the least likely to include books on theology among their chosen titles: only 2% did so.

The age of the pastor had a clear impact on the books they regarded most highly. Pastors in their mid-fifties or older were only one-third as likely as their younger colleagues to mention any leadership books. The oldest pastors also showed a preference for authors from their own generation, including men such as Dallas Willard, Charles Stanley and Warren Wiersbe among their favorites, although those writers did not make the national list.

Pastors under the age of 40, meanwhile, were more than twice as likely to mention books on prayer; only half as likely to include The Purpose Driven Life; and just one-sixth as likely to place The Purpose Driven Church in their top-ranked volumes. In fact, while one-third of all pastors over 40 mentioned at least one book by Rick Warren, just 14% of those under 40 did so.

The under-40 pastors championed several authors who were not ranked highly by older church leaders. Those authors included business consultant James Collins, seminary professor Thom Rainer, nineteenth century Seventh-Day Adventist icon Ellen White, and pastor John Ortberg.

Male and female pastors share many views, but there were some differences. Male pastors were twice as likely to include leadership books among their favorites, twice as likely to include theology volumes, and three times more likely to name books about evangelism and outreach. The list of most influential authors among female pastors took on a different shape, incorporating Henri Nouwen, Tommy Tenney and Leonard Sweet along with Barna, Cymbala, Lucado, Stanley, Yancey and Warren. However, Blackaby, Eldredge, Hybels and Maxwell were not included in the female rankings.

The Role of Books in Leadership

“One of the most interesting outcomes is the different taste of younger pastors,” pointed out research director George Barna, “Given the divergent points of view that they consider most helpful and influential, it seems likely we will continue to see new forms and strategies emerge in their churches. They lean toward books and authors that extol adventure, shared experiences, visionary leadership, supernatural guidance and relational connections. If their choices in reading are any indication, they seem less obsessed with church size and more interested in encounters with the living God. They are also less prone to identifying the most popular books in favor of those that are known for their passionate tone. The fact that less than half as many young pastors considered the Purpose Driven books to be influential in their ministry suggests that the new legion of young pastors may be primed to introduce new ways of thinking about Christianity and church life.”

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Christians Say They Do Best At Relationships, Worst In Bible Knowledge (050614)

(Ventura, CA) – Nine out of ten adults contend that their faith is very important in their life, and three out of every four adults who consider themselves to be Christian say there are aspects of their faith life they would like to improve. A new national survey by The Barna Group discovered that there are two faith dimensions in which people are most likely to desire such improvement, but that few people believe that they are immature in any of seven aspects of faith practice.

Spiritual Maturity Ratings

Each adult surveyed was asked to rate their maturity in relation to seven dimensions of their spiritual life. Overall, people were most likely to see themselves as possessing average maturity in those areas, with none of the seven dimensions showing even half of the respondents describing themselves as “completely” or “highly developed” in that dimension, but not even one-fourth of the sample admitting to being “not too” or “not at all developed” in any of those areas.

The dimension in which the largest proportion of people considered themselves to be above average in spiritual maturity was “maintaining healthy relationships.” Among adults who deem themselves to be Christian, almost half (48%) rated themselves above average in their ability to develop and maintain such relationships, compared to only 5% who rated themselves below average.

People were nearly as likely to describe their involvement in serving other people as “highly” or “completely developed.” Overall, four out of ten adults (41%) felt they were above the norm in this aspect of their faith, while only 8% felt they were below average. The other half of the respondents said they were about average in this regard.

By a five-to-one margin, adults were more likely to portray themselves as doing an above average job of “consistently living your faith principles” than to say they were below average on this factor. About one-third of adults (36%) said they were above average in this regard, while a majority (55%) rated themselves as average. Only 7% of adults claim to be below average at consistently carrying out the principles of their faith.

One-third of adults (36%) stated that they are completely or highly developed in the area of worship, with just one out of seven (14%) saying they are below average in this faith domain. Almost identical ratings were provided in regard to providing spiritual leadership to their family (33% above average, 14% below average).

The two aspects of spiritual life that people were most likely to acknowledge struggling with were “sharing your faith with others” (23% above average, 23% below average, with 53% average) and “Bible knowledge” (21% above average, 25% below average, 53% average).

Faith Segments Respond Differently

Upon dividing the self-described Christian population into three different segments based upon their beliefs, the results look quite different. Evangelicals, who comprise 7% of the national population, are distinguished by their affirmation of salvation by grace and adherence to core biblical perspectives regarding the nature of God, the reality of Satan, and a deeper commitment to practicing biblical commands. (See the survey definitions of these three faith segments in the Methodology section of this report.) There were four faith dimensions for which a majority of evangelicals claimed to be more mature than average: worship (61%), living their faith principles (61%), maintaining healthy relationships (55%) and serving other people (55%). The only area in which more than one out of every ten evangelicals felt they were below average was in sharing their faith with non-Christians (14% said they were below average, while 32% claimed to be above average).

Born again Christians who were not evangelical painted a much different self-portrait. The only area for which at least half of the group said they were above average was in maintaining healthy relationships: 50% said they do well at this. There were no areas for which a greater percentage of non-evangelical born again people said they were below average than claimed to be above average, although three dimensions reached double-digits regarding below average performance (Bible knowledge, sharing faith and spiritual leadership of the family).

Notional Christians, defined as people who consider themselves to be Christian but who are not born again, have various issues to work through in their faith. There were two of the seven dimensions for which a larger percentage claimed to be below average than above average (Bible knowledge and sharing their faith), and two dimensions for which equal percentages of people in this group said they were below average as claimed to be above average (worship and leadership in family faith).

Other Segments Have Particular Struggles

The demographics related to people’s self-assessment of their faith maturity produced a few discernible patterns.

The most pronounced pattern was that adults involved in either a house church or in some type of marketplace ministry consistently rated themselves as more mature in each of the faith dimensions than did people associated with a typical church.

People who claim to hold liberal social and political views were more likely than those possessing moderate or conservative views to see themselves as below average in matters of faith maturity. Self-professed liberals were especially likely to rate themselves relatively low in worship, Bible knowledge, family faith leadership, maintaining healthy relationships and living their faith with consistency.

Adults who attend small churches – i.e., those averaging fewer than 100 adults on a typical weekend – were more likely than people attending larger congregations to admit to struggling with Bible knowledge and consistently practicing their faith principles.

Young adults – especially those under 30 years of age – were comparatively likely to describe themselves as missing the mark in relation to worship and Bible knowledge.

Those who attend mainline Protestant churches were more likely than people who attend other Protestant congregations to rate themselves below average in worship, sharing their faith, and Bible knowledge.

Areas of Desired Improvement

Each survey respondent was also asked to identify an aspect of their faith that they would most like to improve. No particular dimension dominated the list; the highest rated aspects were listed by less than one out of every five people. The most common responses were a desire to upgrade their personal commitment to their faith (13%) and to increase their knowledge of the Bible (12%). No other responses reached double figures.

Other answers mentioned by at least 3% of the public included enhancing their prayer life (7%), building healthier relationships (4%), serving other people (4%), understanding Christianity more completely (4%), sharing their faith (4%), attending church more consistently (3%), forgiving others (3%) and developing better character (3%). Three percent said there was nothing they needed to improve, and one-quarter of the sample (25%) said they had no idea what needed to improve.

Among the improvements listed by 1% or less of the population were loving people, accountability, financial generosity, living consistent with their faith principles, prioritizing their faith, enhancing the role of faith in their family, and having influence based on their faith.

Observations about the Research Findings

Asked how churches and Christian leaders might benefit from the information drawn from the survey, George Barna, who directed the research, identified several possibilities. “The data show that millions of people who are aligned with the Christian faith have not thought very much or very clearly about what spiritual maturity means. Perhaps the outcomes of the survey will encourage church leaders to help people not only prioritize their spiritual development, but also to consider what spiritual transformation looks like in practical terms. The old adage tells us that ‘you get what you measure’ and the survey revealed that most Christians don’t measure much of anything beyond church attendance when it comes to their spiritual maturity. This information could help leaders assist followers of Christ in connecting the dots regarding the meaning of and the route to spiritual growth.”

Barna also cautioned people regarding the interpretation of the results. “Keep in mind that people’s self-assessment was subjective. The same behavior that constituted ‘complete development’ to one respondent may have been described as ‘average development’ to another. That very confusion highlights the challenge in the Church: most people do not know what faith maturity looks like. Equipping people to be more sensitive to their spiritual development, and to become more specific and objective about their spiritual maturity, would be enormously helpful in guiding them to become more like Jesus Christ.”

How Americans Rate Their Faith Maturity

Faith Dimension	Completely or Highly Mature	Average Maturity	Not Too or Not At All Mature
worship	36%	48%	14%
sharing your faith with others	23%	53%	23%
Bible knowledge	21%	53%	25%
consistently living your faith principles	36%	55%	7%
serving people	41%	49%	8%
maintaining healthy relationships	48%	46%	5%
spiritually leading your family	33%	51%	14%

(Source: The Barna Group, Ventura, CA)

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Religious Books Attract A Diverse Audience Dominated by Women and Boomers (050628)

(Ventura, CA) – Nearly half of all Americans have read at least one religious book, other than the Bible, from cover to cover in the past two years. However, the route to bestseller status among such books can take various paths, according to a new survey by The Barna Group. Studying the reader base for each of seven national bestsellers dealing with religious topics in recent years, the survey showed that different segments of the religious marketplace have turned books as diverse in style and content as The DaVinci Code, The Purpose Driven Life, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Left Behind, The Prayer of Jabez , Tuesdays with Morrie and Your Best Life Now into nationwide favorites.

Americans Still Read Books

Despite the onslaught of new technologies such as the Internet and DVDs, most Americans still read books. In the past two years, three out of four adults (73%) claim to have read at least one book from cover to cover. The people most likely to do so include women, college graduates and evangelicals.

In total, 44% of all adults had read at least one book whose main theme was religious or spiritual in nature. Half of all women had done so, compared to just one-third of men. Similarly, half of college graduates had read such a book, while only one-third of those with a high diploma or less education had.

People’s religious background was related to their likelihood of having read books with spiritual themes. Adults who attend large churches (i.e., 500 or more adults in weekly attendance) were 61% more likely to do so than were people who attend small congregations (100 or fewer adults). Religious books had been read by more than four out of five evangelicals (81%), by half of all non-evangelical born again adults (50%) and individuals associated with non-Christian faith groups (49%), but by only one-third of notional Christians (35%) and just one out of six atheists and agnostics (17%). Catholics and Protestants were equally likely to have read such literature 47% and 49%, respectively), although Protestants associated with mainline churches were substantially less likely than other Protestants to engage in such reading (38%).

While reading has not succumbed to digital and visual technologies, the terrain has changed significantly. Americans read fewer books than they used to and, according to a study conducted several years ago by The Barna Group, people usually do not finish the books that they start to read.

Tracking the Religious Bestsellers

The three bestselling religious books in the past few years have been the books in the Left Behind series by Jerry Jenkins and Timothy LaHaye, The DaVinci Code by Daniel Brown, and The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. Not surprisingly, most of the adults who have read a religious-themed book in the past two years were aware of those books. The DaVinci Code was the best known, familiar to four out of five adults (78%). Warren’s book was known to almost two-thirds of the religious readers (63%), while about three out of five were aware of the Left Behind novels (58%).

Other religious bestsellers of recent vintage were somewhat less well-known to the primary market. Just less than half of the religious-book readers were aware of The Five People You Meet in Heaven , by Mitch Albom (48%) and Bruce Wilkinson’s The Prayer of Jabez (45%). Tuesdays With Morrie, also by Albom, was on the radar screen of 41%, while the most recent release, Your Best Life Now by Joel Osteen, was known to one out of four adults (27%).

Each book, however, has attracted different segments of the religious audience on its way to the top.

For instance, The DaVinci Code , a fictional thriller concerning an alleged cover-up by the Roman Catholic Church regarding the life of Christ, actually drew its most prolific fan base from the Catholic population. Despite protestations and an eventual ban by the Catholic church, 40% of American Catholics said they have read the book in its entirety, which was double the proportion among Protestants (18%). That book was by far the most widely read religious book among Catholics, with twice as many having read it as completed the next most popular book. The book also drew many readers from those who are aligned with a faith other than Christianity and from those who are atheists and agnostics. Self-described liberals were more than twice as likely as those who portray themselves as conservative to have read the book.

The Purpose Driven Life took a different pathway to fame. It is the most popular of the religious titles among evangelicals (60% of whom have read the whole book) and it also did well among non-evangelical born again Christians (25% penetration). Within those markets the book is a particular hit among upscale Baby Boomers. Conservatives were twice as likely as liberals to have read Warren’s tome.

The dozen books in the Left Behind series managed to attract a fairly broad base of readers. Although women were more likely to have read any of the books than were men, it was the second most read religious book among both Catholics and Protestants, and drew evenly among people associated with large, mid-sized and small churches. The books did, however, attract mainly conservatives and born again Christians.

The pair of books by Mitch Albom skewed heavily female, upscale, and ideologically middle-of-the-road. His books also cut evenly across age and geographic boundaries. Evangelicals remained at arms length from these books. In fact, Tuesdays with Morrie drew more than twice the percentage of mainline Protestants as evangelicals. Your Best Life Now was the only book for which more men than women were counted as readers, and the only book for which a larger percentage of people with a high school diploma than with a college degree were readers. Osteen’s bestseller was also the only book among those tested that demonstrated no appeal at all among people who do not consider themselves to be Christian.

Certain Segments Have Focused Interests

The survey data showed that several population segments have well-defined interests when it comes to religious reading. African-Americans, for instance, shied away from each of the seven titles examined except for The Prayer of Jabez and Your Best Life Now – the pair of books that have the greatest emphasis upon getting the most out of life. Young adults reflected an interest in religious novels, but limited interest in books regarding spiritual living. Residents of the Northeast were the least likely to read any of the bestselling religious titles, although they were no less likely than other Americans to read some type of religious book. Evangelicals, meanwhile, showed a particular proclivity to read books by their own kind (e.g., Rick Warren, Bruce Wilkinson and the Jenkins-LaHaye team).

This research follows on the heels of a recent report from The Barna Group identifying the books that Protestant pastors say have influenced them the most in the past several years. The only book that corresponded to the titles tested among consumers was The Purpose Driven Life which pastors named as the most influential book by a wide margin.

Lessons to Draw

These statistics produced several trends identified by the director of the research, George Barna. “It is possible to reach millions of people with a religious book without penetrating the entire spiritual spectrum of the population – even within the Christian market. The consumer population for religious books is large enough to contain several unique segments, each of which is capable of spawning bestsellers while remaining distinct from other religious segments in the country.”

The research showed that there are different ways of helping people to grow spiritually through books. “Three-quarters or more of the people who read Purpose Driven Life, Your Best Life Now and Jabez said the book had been very helpful in advancing their personal spiritual growth or understanding. You might expect that reaction given the intent of the authors and the content of those books. However,” Barna continued, “one-fifth of those who read DaVinci Code also gave that book credit for furthering their spiritual maturity. Even cleverly developed fiction can affect the way that people think about God, faith and the church.”

The California-based researcher also pointed out that certain segments of the population are drawn to books in their desire to grow spiritually, while others are not. “Evangelicals are a small sector of the population – just 7% of all adults – but they are among the most voracious readers of any population group we have studied. On the other hand, other segments are not inclined to grow through reading, but rely instead upon other means of communication and intellectual challenge.”

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Sunday School is Changing in Under-the-Radar But Significant Ways (050711)

(Ventura, CA) – Americans have grown accustomed to change. But children who attend Sunday school these days have an experience similar to that which their grandparents would have had decades ago. In a culture saturated with change, one of the most stable aspects in the religious sphere has been Sunday school – the weekend educational efforts that Protestant churches offer to people outside of worship services.

However, a new study conducted by The Barna Group of Ventura, California shows that while many aspects of Sunday school remain constant, there are significant changes bubbling beneath the surface. Longitudinal research among Protestant pastors, commissioned since 1997 by Gospel Light, has explored how churches prioritize and engage in Sunday school, the usage of curriculum, midweek programming for children, and Vacation Bible School programs (often called VBS).

Things Stay the Same…And Things Change

Church reliance upon Sunday school has remained stable: 19 out of every 20 Protestant churches (95%) offer “a Sunday school in which people receive some form of planned or systematic Bible instruction in a class setting.” Nearly the same proportion of churches – 97% – offered Sunday school eight years ago, when the tracking research began. While churches are often divided along denominational, theological, and methodological lines, the research points out that Sunday school remains one of the most widely embraced ministry programs.

However, the fact that so many churches offer Sunday school may mask some of the changes taking place. The research identified three changes shaping up within Sunday school programs – and two additional shifts affecting other children’s programs. Those alterations related to Sunday school include a declining percentage of pastors who claim that Sunday school is their top priority; fewer churches offering Sunday school for children under age six or for junior-high or high-school students; and the increased customization of curriculum by churches. The other two changes affecting children’s ministry include a drop in the number of churches offering a VBS program and a decline in the prevalence of midweek programming for children.

A Declining Priority

In terms of Sunday school prioritization, the research showed that just 1 in every 7 Senior Pastors (15%) considers Sunday school to be their church’s highest priority. This represents a significant drop from previous years – 2002 was the high point, when 22% of pastors claimed that Sunday school was the top priority of their church.

What types of pastors were least likely to prioritize Sunday school? Those leading mainline churches (8%), pastors under 40 years of age (10%), and predominately white congregations (12%). On the other hand, those most likely to strongly emphasize Sunday school were African-American congregations (37%), Baptist churches (23%), pastors who have been leading their churches for 20 or more years (23%), charismatic churches (21%), and congregations with pastors age 59 or older (21%).

Cutting Out Those On the Edges

Another significant change is that fewer churches are offering Sunday school programs for the youngest and oldest children – including adolescents and teenagers. Churches are less likely to offer programming for children under the age of two, dropping six percentage points since 1997 (79% to 73%). They were also less likely to offer Sunday school programs for children ages two to five (declining 94% to 88%), as well as for junior high (dropping from 93% to 86%) and high school students (moving from 86% to 80%). These may not seem like substantial drops in terms of percentage points – after all, a large majority of churches continues to offer such programs – but, it represents about 20,000 fewer churches providing Sunday school for each age group.

One of the signs pointing to additional changes in the future is that pastors with the shortest tenure in ministry (one to five years) were less likely than more experienced pastors to offer five out of the six types of Sunday school programming (the only exception being junior high classes). While a majority of these young pastors continue to offer Sunday school, they are at the leading edge of experimenting without traditional Sunday school.

The most common Sunday school programming is offered for elementary age children (grades 1 through 6) and for adults. Currently, more than 9 out of every 10 churches offer Sunday school for elementary grades (92%) and adults (91%). These levels are statistically unchanged since 1997.

Customizing the Content

The fastest-moving shift within Sunday school programming is the move toward “customized” curriculum. Currently, 1 out of every 5 churches (18%) creates their own curriculum for elementary-age classes – nearly double the percentage measured in 2002 (10%).

The profile of churches most likely to create their own curriculum is revealing. The data show that Buster pastors (26%) and those in the West (25%) – often viewed as pace-setters for other regions – are among the most likely to customize, suggesting that the trend is likely to grow in prominence. The churches least likely to customize were Southern Baptist (4%) and African American (9%). Although the research did not define “customization” for pastors, the interviews suggest it ranges from simplistic efforts (e.g., piecing together lesson plans and coloring pages from previous years) to investing significant staff time and creative energy into crafting a complete curriculum from scratch.

Still, the most common type of elementary-aged Sunday school curriculum used among churches is that produced by their denomination. In total, 52% of all pastors report purchasing this type of curriculum. One in every four pastors (26%) indicated that their church buys curriculum from an independent publisher.

Other Programs

Another shift in children’s ministry since 1997 has been the 15% decline in the percentage of churches offering Vacation Bible School (or VBS) – from 81% to 69%. That represents about 38,000 fewer churches offering VBS than eight years ago. Those most likely to offer VBS were Southern Baptist and mainline churches, congregations with 250 or more adult attenders, and black congregations. Among those least likely to have VBS were charismatic or Pentecostal congregations, churches in the West, churches attracting fewer than 100 adult attenders, and churches whose pastor has been serving in full-time ministry for less than six years.

Why not offer VBS? A lack of teachers is still the most common reason (mentioned by 23% of pastors). Interestingly, pastors are becoming increasingly likely to mention that their church has “no time” for VBS (up from 5% in 2001 to 13% now) or that they “offer other activities” (up from less than 1% to 12% now).

The fifth shift identified by the Barna study was a 10% drop in the proportion of churches that have midweek programming for kids (slipping from 64% in 1997 to 58% in 2004). This represents a drop of nearly 20,000 churches. Midweek programming was most common among Southern Baptists, large churches, churches in the South and Midwest, and charismatic congregations, and least common among mainline churches, small churches, and those located in the West or Northeast. Pastors who have been at their current church for more than a decade were also more likely than were short-tenured pastors to offer midweek programming.

Perspective on the Changes

Anticipating that some people will infer that Sunday school is fading, David Kinnaman, the director of the study, explained that, “rumors of Sunday school’s imminent demise are greatly exaggerated. Every weekend more than 300,000 churches offer some type of systematic religious instruction in a classroom setting – and those programs are attended by nearly 45 million adults and more than 22 million youth and children. In fact, nearly 9 out of every 10 pastors said they consider Sunday school to be an important part of their church’s ministry. The changes facing Sunday school seem to be more about the form – not the function – of Sunday school. It appears as though churches are moving toward a ‘label-less’ future: they will offer summertime programs, but not necessarily VBS, and they will continue to prioritize Christian education, but not necessarily Sunday school.”

The Barna Group’s Vice President continued: “The most significant part of the changing landscape, however, is the new identity being carved out by Buster pastors and those relatively new in ministry. Where these young leaders will take Sunday school and VBS is anyone’s guess. Although many Buster pastors currently deploy Sunday school programs, they seem open to new methods and approaches and less driven by tradition or program loyalty. Many Buster pastors possess a means-to-an-end perspective about Sunday school and VBS, which suggests the churches they lead will be more apt to adopt innovations in spiritual training.”

“When it comes to ministry to children specifically, pastors are facing a bevy of pressures and demands that have precipitated many of these changes,” commented Kinnaman. “Many pastors are coming to realize that ministry to children must be one of – if not the – preeminent emphases of their church. Ministry to children is highly strategic. Young people are spiritual sponges whose most impressionable years are too important to pass up. In contrast, changing adults’ spiritual perspectives is a hit-or-miss proposition. Further, churches face increasingly complex demands to partner with and equip parents. There are pressures that Sunday school provide one-of-a-kind experiences and facilitate clearer and deeper outcomes in the lives of children. There are also increased expectations placed on churches for personal choice and for multimedia relevance. Without compromising the Gospel, Sunday school and other forms of Christian education must continue to adapt to be effective in this ever-changing environment.”

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Most Adults Feel Accepted by God, But Lack a Biblical Worldview (050809)

(Ventura, CA) – How people react to moral issues is a common challenge these days. The Supreme Court nomination of John Roberts, funding for stem cell research, the war in Iraq and against terrorism, sexual abuse by clergy, the Terri Schiavo case, gay marriage, and many other recent issues have brought people’s moral convictions into play. Yet, in spite of the fact that most Americans consider themselves to be Christian, very few adults base their moral decisions on the Bible, and surprisingly few believe that absolute moral truth exists. These are among the findings from a new national survey conducted by The Barna Group among a representative sample of 1002 adults.

The survey also revealed that most Americans say they are “deeply spiritual,” feel “accepted by God,” and believe they have a clear personal understanding of the meaning and purpose of their life.

Moral Choices

About half of all adults (54%) claim that they make their moral choices on the basis of specific principles or standards they believe in. Other common means of making moral choices include doing what feels right or comfortable (24%), doing whatever makes the most people happy or causes the least conflict (9%), and pursuing whatever produces the most positive outcomes for the person (7%).

Among those who claim to make moral decisions based on specific principles, a wide variety of sources were listed as the wellspring of that moral guidance. Three out of every ten people named the Bible as the sources of those principles. Overall, then, just one out of every six adults (16%) claim they make their moral choices based on the content of the Bible.

Different segments of the faith community address morality in divergent ways. For instance, six out of ten evangelicals (60%) rely on the principles contained in the Bible as their main source of moral counsel. In contrast, only two out of every ten non-evangelical born again adults (20%) do the same, while only one out of every sixteen notional Christians (6%) and one out of every fifty people aligned with non-Christian faiths (2%) do so. Protestants were three times as likely as Catholics to base their morals on Biblical teaching (23% versus 7%, respectively).

Absolute Moral Truth

When asked whether they believe moral truth is based on absolute standards or is relative to the circumstances, Americans are divided into roughly equal segments. About one-third (35%) contends that moral truth is absolute – that is, it is not dependent upon the circumstances. Another one-third (32%) says that morality is always determined by the situation. The remaining one-third (33%) indicates that they do not know if moral truth is absolute or relative.

Once again, people’s religious connections relate to their perspective on truth. A large majority of evangelicals (70%) report believing that moral truth is absolute. But a minority of non-evangelical born again adults (42%) holds that same view, and even fewer of the notional Christians (25%), people associated with non-Christian faiths (16%) and those who claim to be atheist or agnostic (27%) embrace moral absolutes.

Biblical Worldview

For several years, The Barna Group has been tracking how many people possess a “biblical worldview.” The organization defines such a life perspective on the basis of several questions about religious beliefs. The definition requires someone to believe that absolute moral truth exists; that the source of moral truth is the Bible; that the Bible is accurate in all of the principles it teaches; that eternal spiritual salvation cannot be earned; that Jesus lived a sinless life on earth; that every person has a responsibility to share their religious beliefs with others; that Satan is a living force, not just a symbol of evil; and that God is the all-knowing, all-powerful maker of the universe who still rules that creation today.

Using that framework, Barna discovered that the percentage of adults holding a biblical worldview has remained minimal and unchanged over the past three years, despite the widespread public debate about moral issues and the efforts of thousands of churches to enhance people’s moral convictions. Currently, only 5% of adults have a biblical worldview. The percentage varies among faith groups. About half of all evangelicals have such a perspective. Overall, 8% of Protestants possess that view, compared to less than one-half of one percent of Catholics.

George Barna, whose acclaimed book Think Like Jesus described the core elements of a biblical worldview in laymen’s terms, noted that the religious books of greatest influence in the past several years have not addressed people’s fundamental theological views. “Most of the bestsellers have focused on meaning, purpose, security and the end times,” the researcher pointed out. “While there have been theological views expressed in those books, very few popular books have helped people to think clearly and comprehensively about their core theology. Consequently, most born again Christians hold a confusing and inherently contradictory set of religious beliefs that go unchecked by the leaders and teachers of their faith community.”

Truth, Morals and Spiritual Connections

The Barna survey also showed that most Americans (62%) consider themselves to be deeply spiritual. That level has not changed in the past decade. However, people’s age substantially impacts such a self-description. The younger a respondent was the less likely he or she was to claim to be deeply spiritual. In fact, a minority of Mosaics (44%) made such a claim, about half of Busters did so (55%), two-thirds of Boomers claimed the label (65%) and 70% of Americans 60 or older embraced that characterization.

Currently, nine out of ten adults (88%) feel “accepted by God.” Barna listed a pair of interesting correlations related to that self-image. First, about one-third of the individuals who feel accepted by God do not consider themselves to be deeply spiritual. Second, people are twice as likely to feel accepted by God as they are to be born again – a condition that, many Protestant leaders argue, is a key reflection of God’s forgiveness and ultimate acceptance.

The study also highlighted the fact that four out of every five adults (82%) say they are “clear about the meaning and purpose” of their life.

The national norms regarding acceptance by God and clarity regarding meaning and purpose varied little across the various faith segments examined by Barna.

Other Trends Discerned

The research confirmed that the younger a person is, the less likely they are to trust the Bible as their source of moral guidance or to believe that absolute moral truth exists. For instance, 20% of adults 60 or older base their moral choices on the Bible and 18% of Baby Boomers do so, but only 13% of Baby Busters and a mere 9% of Mosaics follow suit. In the same manner, while four out of ten Boomers and Builders say moral truth is absolute, just 32% of Busters and 25% of Mosaics hold that view.

On the matter of possessing a biblical worldview, education substantially influenced people’s views. College graduates were twice as likely as other adults to have a biblical view of life (9% versus 4%, respectively). People who describe themselves as “mostly conservative” on social and political matters were twelve times more likely to have a biblical worldview than were people who said they are “mostly liberal” on such matters.

An intriguing discovery was that African-American adults, who generally emerge as the ethnic segment most deeply committed to the Christian faith, were substantially less likely than either whites or Hispanics to have a biblical worldview. In total, just 1% of black adults met the criteria, compared to 6% among whites and 8% among Hispanics. (Less than one-tenth of one percent of Asians possesses a biblical worldview.)

Down the Road

The survey outcomes compelled the survey’s director, George Barna, to remind Christian leaders to stay focused on the things that matter. “Our studies consistently show that churches base their sense of success on indicators such as attendance, congregant satisfaction, dollars raised and built-out square footage. None of those factors relates to the kind of radical shift in thinking and behavior that Jesus Christ died on the cross to facilitate. As long as we measure success on the basis of popularity and efficiency, we will continue to see a nation filled with people who can recite Bible stories but fail to live according to Bible principles.”

Asked for ideas as to how to remedy the widespread ignorance of biblical principles, Barna cited research he had completed regarding the limited impact of preaching. “We know that within two hours after leaving a church service, the typical individual cannot recall the theme of the sermon they heard. But if they have a discussion about a principle and its application to their life, or if they have a multi-sensory experience with those principles, they retain the information much longer and the probability that they will act on that information rises dramatically.”

Alluding to research that appeared in his book, Think Like Jesus , Barna encouraged ministry leaders to narrow the body of biblical principles they would like to see their people embrace as the foundation of their faith and create a long-term strategy for repeatedly driving those truths home in creative and practical ways. “Few people in churches have a biblical worldview because most preachers seem intent on teaching broadly rather than deeply. That’s emotionally and intellectually appealing, but until people have a mental framework through which they can process the numerous principles, ideas and stories provided in the Bible, preaching is typically an exercise in information overload. We have to prepare people to know what to do with the information. A biblical worldview gives them the filter they need to know how to categorize and implement the facts and ideals they receive.”

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Godless Hollywood? Bible Belt? New Research Exploring Faith in America’s Largest Markets Produces Surprises (050823)

(Ventura, CA) – Godless Hollywood? Lost Angeles? Bible Belt? Texas: God’s Country? These and many other stereotypes that blend faith and geography are put to the test thanks to statistics in a new report from The Barna Group, a research and media development organization located in southern California. Based on a nationally representative base of interviews with more than 24,000 adults, the report examines 28 faith factors among people in the 86 largest metropolitan areas and 27 most populous states. The results confirm some of the existing faith-and-geography perceptions while discrediting others, and show that the mobility of America’s population is producing significant changes related to location and faith.

Evangelicals In America

Seven percent of the adult population of the U.S. is evangelical. Those 15 million adults are not equally distributed across the country, but the report shows that their distribution forms a different pattern than many political and demographic analysts have suggested.

For instance, the market with the highest percentage of evangelicals is Little Rock, Arkansas, where better than one out of every five adults (22%) met the survey criteria for “evangelical Christian.” (That is not a self-defined category; it is based upon people’s responses to nine survey questions about their religious beliefs. See the Research Methodology section of this report for the description of those factors.) Of the 86 largest metropolitan areas in the nation, those with the lowest proportion of evangelicals were Salt Lake City, Utah; Hartford, Connecticut; and Providence, Rhode Island.

However, when determining which metropolitan area has the greatest number of evangelical adults, the outcome will shock many people: Los Angeles. The city that produces the media often criticized or boycotted by evangelicals is also home to nearly one million of those deeply devout Christians. In fact, there are more evangelical adults in the Los Angeles market than there are in the New York, Chicago and Boston metropolitan areas – combined! The Barna Group’s analysis showed that although the evangelicals living in the ten most populous markets account for only 6% of the adults in those markets, that group represents one out of every four evangelicals (24%) in the United States.

The report also explores the faith of residents in the 27 most populous states. The state with the highest percentage of adults who are evangelical is Alabama (at 13%, nearly double the national average). Its polar opposite – i.e., the state with the lowest incidence of evangelicals – is Connecticut.

Taking into account each state’s aggregate adult population, the area with the greatest number of evangelicals is California, which is home to nearly two million of them. Connecticut retains the bragging rights to having the fewest adults who are evangelical, with just 26,000 of them in a state of more than two and a half million adults.

The Presence of Born Again Christians

Nationally, four out of every ten adults is a born again Christian. (This measure is based on people’s beliefs, not a self-definition. The two questions that qualify people are described in this report’s Research Methodology section.) But there is a wide range of incidence levels related to the location of born again adults. For instance, the market with the largest percentage of its adults classified as born again – by a large margin – is Jackson, Mississippi, where 83% of adults meet the criteria. There are ten markets in which at least six out of every ten adults are born again – and each of them is located in the South.

There were also six out of the 86 markets studied that had fewer than 25% of the adult public satisfying the born again standard. The lowest of those were Boston (21%), Providence (21%) and New York (22%). Of the six lowest-ranked markets, five are in the Northeast.

The market with the greatest number of individuals who are born again was, once again, the City of Angels (Los Angeles) with 3.6 million born again believers in the metro area. Surprisingly, there are 20 metropolitan areas that have one million or more adults who are born again.

The statewide data showed that Alabama earned the top ranking for the percentage of residents who are born again: 67%. Overall, nine states had 50% or more of the adult population who were born again. Among the 27 most populous states, the one that emerged with the lowest percentage who are born again, by far, was Massachusetts (17%). The four states with the lowest percentages of adult Christians were all in the Northeast.

The Most – and Least – Christian Markets

One of the measures developed by George Barna for the Faith By Market report estimates how Christian-oriented a market’s population is, based upon a combination of faith factors. The top market was Jackson, Mississippi, whose indexed score was 46% higher than the national norm. Close behind were Little Rock and Birmingham. Barna noted that in relation to this composite rating, the 16 highest-rated markets were all located in the South.

The markets whose indexed score was at the bottom of the list were Boston and Providence, whose scores were 35% below the national norm.

In a similar manner, the state whose population generated the highest Christian-orientation score was Alabama.

Other Highlights From the Report

The Faith By Market report explores 40 different factors among the adults located in each of the markets and states studied. Those factors include a dozen religious beliefs, ten religious practices, various religious commitments and affiliations, and a dozen demographic attributes.

Among the many intriguing insights from the report are the following:

# Just 3 of the nation’s 25 largest metropolitan areas have a born again majority. However, 15 of the 27 mid-sized markets (adult population of a half-million up to one million) have a born again majority.

# The market with the highest percentage of adults who volunteer at a church during an average week is Salt Lake City. The market with the lowest rate of church volunteerism is Buffalo.

# Sunday school attendance among adults is most common in Salt Lake City, and least common in Portland, Maine.

# Involvement in an adult small group is most prolific in Shreveport, Louisiana. The three markets with the lowest rates of small group participation are Albany (NY), Boston and Providence.

# The market with the highest percentage of adults who consider themselves to be Baptist is Shreveport. The market with the highest percentage that claims allegiance to the Catholic church is Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The connection to the Methodist church is highest in Wichita, Kansas. Affiliation with a Lutheran church was greatest in Minneapolis-St. Paul.

# People are most likely to attend a large church in Houston. They are most likely to attend a church of less than 100 adults in Lexington, KY.

# Adults are most likely to claim they have a responsibility to share their religious beliefs with other people if they live in Birmingham, Alabama. That perspective is least common in Providence and Green Bay.

# The metro area in which adults are most likely to believe that Satan is a symbol of evil but not a living presence is the Brownsville-McAllen-Harlingen market in Texas.

# People are most likely to believe that they can earn their salvation if they live in Salt Lake City.

# The highest percentage of adults who believe that Jesus Christ sinned during his life on earth is in Des Moines, Iowa.

# Believing that God is “the all-knowing, all-powerful creator of the universe who still rules it today” is most common in Tulsa. It is least predominant in Boston and San Francisco.

# The state with the highest percentage of its residents attending large churches is Arizona. Such behavior is least common in Missouri.

# The states with the lowest proportion of born again residents having shared their faith in Christ with a non-believer in the past year were Massachusetts and Tennessee. Personal evangelism efforts were most common in Alabama and Louisiana.

# The largest percentage of adults who are “notional Christians” – that is, those who consider themselves to be Christian but are not born again – are found in Massachusetts and Wisconsin.

# One out of every six residents of Massachusetts, Connecticut and Washington are atheist or agnostic – nearly double the national average. Atheists and agnostics are hardest to locate in Louisiana and Missouri.

Commentary On the Findings

Asked to explain the utility of the study, author George Barna described its potential value for ministries and Christians seeking to understand the “faith factor” of different areas of the country. “Many Christian ministries say they want to be effective in ministry, but it’s difficult to maximize one’s impact without a realistic sense of the spiritual climate of an area. The implications of this information affect every dimension of ministry. Churches that wish to pray for or partner with other congregations might wish to target churches in areas that are spiritually struggling. Denominations seeking to plant churches to reach non-Christians could select areas more exactly by using such information. Parents who want their children in an environment in which Christian values are most accepted might find the data informative. Marketers of resources for ministry could gain a deeper understanding of how to allocate marketing budgets by seeing where their market is – and is not. There are dozens of potential applications for this kind of information.”

Noting the surprising emergence of Los Angeles as a market with so many born again and evangelical Christians, Barna cautioned readers to place matters in perspective. “Keep in mind that the metropolitan LA market is huge; it contains more than 10 million adults. Even though its percentage of Christians is below the national average, its population is so massive that it emerged has the largest accumulation of believers. However, looking at its aggregate score as a Christian place, LA is 13% below the national average. It is not exactly a Christian commune,” he laughed, “but like many metropolitan areas, Los Angeles has a significant remnant of believers who can exert tremendous, positive influence on their culture if they so choose.”

The Faith By Market report, analyzed and written by George Barna, will be available for purchase from The Barna Group on September 6, 2005. Advance orders are now being accepted. Further information can be obtained by contacting The Barna Group (805-639-0000; barna@barna.org). The cost of the report for orders received before October 14, 2005 is $3500 for the first copy, and $200 for each additional copy.

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Technology Use Is Growing Rapidly in Churches (050913)

(Ventura, CA) – Churches are not known for being trendsetters when it comes to embracing technology. However, a new study released by The Barna Group shows that during the past five years, Protestant churches have been incorporating technology into their ministry efforts at a brisk pace. The study indicated that serious double-digit growth has occurred in relation to the use of websites, large-screen projection systems, electronic fund transfer, satellite broadcasting technology, and the use of e-mail blasts for congregational communication. During the same period, a decreasing percentage of churches have used “pew Bibles” in their sanctuaries.

Church Websites

Nearly six out of every ten Protestant churches (57%) now have a website. That is up from just one-third of all Protestant churches in 2000, an increase of 68%.

Since 2000, the greatest increase in the use of church websites is evident among mainline Protestant churches (up 79%, to 70% of mainline congregations); ministries in the South (increased by 87%, up to 56%), and churches pastored by Baby Boomers (doubled, with websites now in 65% of the churches they pastor).

Interestingly, churches pastored by a Baby Buster were the ministries most likely to have a church website in 2000, but there has been no increase in the percentage of Buster-led churches that have a website in the last five years.

Among the churches most likely to have a website today are those located in the western states (62%), large churches (84%), and churches whose congregation is primarily white (62%).

Large-Screen Projection Systems

More than six out of every ten Protestant churches (62%) presently use a large-screen projection system in their communications. That is up 59% since 2000, when just 39% used this technology.

During the last five years, the influx of LCD projectors has increased twice as fast in mainline churches as in charismatic congregations. In 2000, charismatic churches were twice as likely to have projectors as were mainline churches. Today, LCD projectors are still more common in charismatic churches, but the 117% increase in projectors used among mainline ministries has closed the gap considerably.

There has also been an 85% increase in this equipment in Midwestern churches since 2000. The slowest growth among the regions has been in the West, but churches in that area remain the leader in the ownership of this technology.

Again, the pastors most likely to embrace LCD projectors during the past five years were Baby Boomers. There has been a 72% rise in the introduction of this technology in Boomer-pastored churches since the start of the decade.

The larger a church is, the more likely it is to use an LCD projection unit. In small churches, just 47% do so, compared to 70% of mid-sized churches and 81% of large congregations. Congregational ethnicity also influences this matter, as white-majority churches are 45% more likely than black-majority congregations to use large-screen projectors.

E-Mail Blasts

Surprisingly, a majority of churches sends e-mail blasts to their congregations. Such technology was relatively inaccessible to churches at the start of the millennium, but 56% now rely on the process for reaching their people. This tool is equally common in churches across all regions of the nation.

Most white-dominant congregations (58%) use digital blasts, but just 42% of black-dominated congregations do. Less than half of all small churches use this technology (44%) compared to two-thirds of all churches that attract more than 100 adults.

Electronic Funds Transfer

Once considered a “killer app,” EFT has expanded, but not at the rate many experts anticipated. In 2000, only 7% of churches offered EFT as a means of donating money to the church; in 2005, only 12% do so.

The growth has been primarily in the Northeast, where the rate of use has quadrupled in five years. Large churches are also friendlier to EFT: 28% of them have embraced this option.

The greatest resistance to utilizing EFT comes from small congregations (just 5% penetration) and charismatic churches (6%).

Satellite Dishes

Receiving communications via satellite broadcast has had the smallest growth of any of the technologies studied in this research, rising from a 7% share of the church market in 2000 to just 8% in 2005. Growth has been more significant in Northeast and, unexpectedly, most restrained in the technology-savvy West. Again, the size of the church is related to the likelihood of including this tool in the technology arsenal: only 3% of small churches have a satellite dish, compared to 10% of mid-sized churches and 17% of large congregations.

Video and Live Dramas

The novelty of using live drama and video segments in church services has clearly worn off. Today six out of ten Protestant churches (61%) integrate video content into their worship services. That is double the proportion of Protestant churches that did so just five years ago. Incorporating live drama into worship services is also typical these days, with 62% of churches using such presentations in those settings.

In total, eight out of every ten churches uses either drama or video in their services. About one out of every five (17%) uses video only, one out of five uses live drama only (19%) and about two out of five (43%) use both. More than one-quarter of the churches in the Northeast (27%) and West (26%) use video but do not perform live drama. More than one-quarter of mainline churches (26%) use only live drama. The churches most likely to use neither form of communication are those with less than 100 adults (28%), congregations with a black majority (26%), those pastored by a female (28%), and those whose pastor is a Baby Buster (25%). Among the megachurches studied (1000 or more people), more than nine out of ten used both video and dramas.

Pew Bibles

Traditionally, churches have made Bibles available for use during services by visitors and others who did not have a Bible with them. Known as “pew Bibles,” the necessity of providing such volumes has diminished with the advent of big screens that show biblical texts during the service. That helps to explain the reduction in the number of churches that provide pew Bibles, from 86% in 2000 to 80% today. The most substantial declines have been among charismatic churches (a 19% drop in five years) and churches pastored by a Baby Buster (down by 14%).

Technology Used in Churches	2000	2005
a website on the Internet	34%	57%
large-screen projectors to show slides and videos in services	39	62
a satellite dish to receive broadcasts via satellite	7	8
electronic funds transfer for donations to the church	7	12
pew Bibles or Bibles people can borrow during a worship service	86	80
live drama presentations in services and events	NA	62
live video segments shown during worship services	30	61
e-mail blasts used to communicate with church members	NA	56

# Sources: PastorPoll (R) W-00, The Barna Group, N = 610 Sr. Pastors of Protestant churches.

# Sources: PastorPoll (R) S-05, The Barna Group, N = 845 Sr. Pastors of Protestant churches.

Considering the Future

George Barna, who directed the study, noted that the wider acceptance of these technologies has triggered other ministry trends, such as multi-campus churches. “During the next half of this decade,” the researcher commented, “we expect increased broadband access, podcasting, and ubiquitous adoption of handheld mobile computing devices by consumers to further alter the way churches conduct ministry.”

The Barna Group, whose BarnaFilms division offers churches the largest selection of video clips, loops and still photos for use in ministry, has also found that church budgets for technology resources are increasing. “As church staff and congregational leaders become more comfortable with, and dependent upon new technologies for communication, they are expecting their church to stay relevant in its capacity to convey messages in ways that are common in our culture. Some seminaries are offering courses and even degrees in the use of media for ministry, and increasing numbers of churches are creating staff positions for technology specialists. The discovery that a majority of small churches have either a website or a big-screen projection system to facilitate their ministry shows that new technology applications are now considered to be required tools for effective ministry in the third millennium.”

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New Survey Shows Areas of Spiritual Life People Feel Most Confident About – and Those They Want Help With the Most (050927)

(Ventura, CA) – Three out of four adults who describe themselves as Christian are able to identify an aspect of their spiritual life that they would like to see improve. However, there is no particular aspect of spiritual growth that is listed by more than one out of every seven adults. Most people rate themselves as “average” in each of seven specific dimensions of spirituality evaluated in a new nationwide survey by The Barna Group, but there was a minimal relationship between people’s self-assessment and the aspect of their spiritual life in which they desired to grow the most.

How People Rate Themselves Regarding Spiritual Maturity

The Barna survey explored seven dimensions of spiritual development, asking survey respondents to rate themselves on a five-point scale that included being “completely developed” in the specified area of spirituality, “highly developed,” saying they were “about average” in their development in that area, or that they are “not too developed,” or “not at all developed” in the area in question.

Americans rated themselves most positively in the area of “maintaining healthy relationships.” Close to half of all self-identified Christian adults (48%) said they are “completely” or “highly” developed in that aspect, with 46% saying they are “about average” in this dimension, and just 6% claimed to be below average. An above average rating (i.e., either “completely developed” or “highly developed”) was more likely among people in the South and Midwest than among people living along the east or west coasts.

The second-most favorable rating was for serving other people. About four out of every ten self-described Christian adults (41%) said they are “completely” or “highly” developed in that aspect of their spiritual life, while half said they are about average in this area, and 8% said they are below average. Hispanics and people who attend a house church were the groups most likely to say they are above average (53% and 57%, respectively) when it comes to serving others.

Next came “consistently living out your faith principles,” for which 37% said they do an above average job, 55% claimed to be average, and only 8% admitted to being below average.

Similar scores emerged related to worshiping God and leading their family spiritually. About one-third (36%) said they were above average, half said they were average, and 13% rated themselves below average in terms of worship. Nearly identical statistics were gleaned regarding the spiritual leadership of the family by the individuals who have children under age 18 in their home (35% said they are above average, 51% average, and 14% below the norm).

The spiritual dimensions in which people were least likely to rank themselves above average were in sharing their faith with others (23% above average, 53% average, 24% below average) and knowing the content of the Bible (22% above average, 53% average, 26% below average).

Areas Selected for Improvement

Respondents were also asked to name the single aspect of their spiritual life they would most like to improve. There were two especially noticeable outcomes. The first was that many people have not thought about prioritizing a dimension of spiritual development, which commonly results in a lack of effort. The second outcome was that not even one out of every seven adults listed the top-rated dimension. People’s felt needs covered a broad range of emphases that defied a more compact categorization.

The most keenly felt spiritual needs were to increase their commitment to the Christian faith (identified by 13%) and to increase their Bible knowledge (12%). No other factors reached double figures.

Among the other needs expressed by respondents were a desire to improve their prayer life (7%), becoming a better servant to others (4%), developing better relationships (4%), understanding the Christian life better (4%), doing a better job of sharing their faith (4%), developing better character (3%), improving at forgiving others (3%), and becoming more spiritually mature overall (3%).

Patterns and Surprises

There were some noteworthy response patterns and surprising outcomes from the survey.

# A majority of adults consider themselves to be “average” in most of the seven areas of spiritual life that were studied.

# There were consistent and substantial differences between evangelicals, non-evangelical born again Christians and notional Christians. Evangelicals rated themselves much higher than did everyone else in relation to each of the seven areas of spiritual life. The difference was most sizable related to consistently living out one’s faith principles (25 percentage points higher than non-evangelicals born agains, 31 points higher than notionals), worship (22 points higher than non-evangelicals born agains, 37 points higher than notionals), and Bible knowledge (20 points higher than non-evangelical born agains, 31 points above the notionals).

# Adults who attend a house church as their primary form of “church life” are typically more likely to consider themselves to be spiritually well-developed than are adults who attend a more common congregational form of church. Overall, a larger percentage of house church participants rated themselves above average than did those involved in a congregational form of church in relation to all seven areas of faith. This gap was especially evident in the areas of worship, sharing their faith, and serving others.

# Protestants were more likely than were Catholics to rank themselves “above average” in five of the seven dimensions tested. The exceptions were in serving people and maintaining healthy relationships, where both groups were roughly the same.

# Residents of the Northeastern states were the least likely to rate themselves above average for five of the seven dimensions. The dimensions in which they were most similar to other people were those of serving others and maintaining healthy relationships.

# Men and women were generally similar in their self-assessment. The exceptions were that men were more likely to say they were above average regarding biblical knowledge and women were more likely to assume an above average rating when it came to serving other people.

# Adults under the age of 40 were less likely than older people to say they are above average regarding worship, consistently living out their faith principles, and leading their family spiritually. However, the differences were minimal – barely statistically significant.

# There was a weak connection between the areas in which people admitted to being below average and the likelihood of specifying one of those dimensions as a priority for spiritual improvement. The survey showed that people are more likely to ignore their areas of spiritual under-development in favor of continuing to focus on the areas in which they are most comfortable or feel most self-confident.

Reflections On the Findings

The survey results did not surprise George Barna, who directed the research, but he did consider the data to be insightful. “The fact that so few people have thought about how they could intentionally and strategically enhance their spiritual life reminds us that spiritual growth is not a priority to most people,” he explained. “Americans are generally satisfied with being ‘average’ in their spiritual maturity. That betrays the fact that we do not serve an ‘average’ God, or one who is honored by people who are lukewarm about their faith.”

“It is also quite striking that the aspect of church life that receives the greatest amounts of time, attention and energy – that of teaching people the content of the Bible – is one of the two areas in which people feel least well-developed. The recent trend toward the adoption of technology to help in the teaching of important biblical truths is a welcomed addition to the toolbox of our preachers and religious educators. The research suggests,” Barna noted, “that most people do not feel as if they are learning enough about God, the Christian faith, or their role in the world – and most of them don’t seem to care.”

The California-based researcher also cautioned people to remember that the survey relied upon people’s self-assessment of their spiritual maturity in the seven dimensions tested. “It would be useful for churches to create and utilize more specific measurements of people’s spiritual pulse, rather to rely upon how satisfied individuals are with their spiritual progress. A more well-defined and rigorous standard might well show that there is even more ground to be gained than the typical person believes.”

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Rapid Increase in Alternative Forms of The Church Are Changing the Religious Landscape (051024)

(Ventura, CA) – For a rapidly growing number of Americans, a local church is no longer the place to go as their primary religious meeting place. A new study by The Barna Group shows that new forms of religious experience and expression are growing in popularity, drawing millions of people closer to God but farther from involvement in a congregational church. New ways of experiencing and expressing faith, such as through house churches, marketplace ministries, and cyberchurches, are becoming the norm for millions of people.

The Growth of New Models

For most of the past century, the local congregational church was the go-to place for people interested in experiencing God and being part of a community of faith. The United States has more than 300,000 Protestant congregations and some 20,000 Catholic parishes that have been the primary gathering place for Americans. During the past decades, about two-thirds of the nation’s adults have been attached to one of those congregations, with roughly 40% of adults showing up for religious services and programs in any given week.

The new research shows that more than fifty million adults now practice their faith through a variety of divergent faith models.

A new book by George Barna, entitled Revolution, indicates that since the turn of the millennium there have been major changes occurring in how people experience and express their faith. Based on a regular series of national surveys conducted by his company during the past quarter century, Barna discovered that discontent with congregational churches, changes in lifestyles, and a burgeoning desire to get closer to God, have caused many people to seek new ways of being in relationship with God and other God-seeking people.

In 2000, most of the nation’s organized religious activity took place at or through local churches. Today, Barna’s research points out, the action is shifting to newer forms of corporate religious commitment. In a typical week, 9% of all adults participate in a house church. An even greater proportion – 22% - engages in spiritual encounters that take place in the marketplace (e.g., with groups of people while they are at their place of work or play, or in other typical daily contexts). The Internet serves as the foundation for interactive faith experiences for more than one out of every ten adults, although most of them currently use it in tandem with another form of corporate religious experience.

Juggling Multiple Faith Contexts

The survey data suggest that millions of Americans keep a foot in several doors for an extended period of time. “It is not uncommon to find people who attend an alternative church gathering regularly but maintain some loose connection with a congregational church,” Barna explained. “Often, that connection is retained to satisfy the needs or expectations of a family member. Sometimes it is a reflection of interest in a special event held by the congregation, or the desire to stay connected to some of the people who make the congregational church their primary spiritual home. In their minds, though, and certainly in terms of where they invest their mind, heart and resources, it is the alternative church that emerges as their dominant form of church.”

The research also confirmed that a substantial portion of those who turn to alternative forms of church participate in two or more of those alternative forms. Barna indicated that it has only been in the past two or three years that there has been significant growth in these less prolific church models.

The Profile of Alternative Churchgoers

The findings from several Barna Group surveys conducted during the past twelve months reveal the characteristics of this emerging population of people who want more of God in their life and have had to leave a congregational form of the local church to satisfy that need. Terming these individuals “Revolutionaries” who are intent upon “being the Church rather than merely going to church,” the California-based researcher stated that the magnitude of this movement into new forms of religious community will reshape the religious world within the next two decades.

Some of the more intriguing attributes of these Revolutionaries who seek to experience and express their faith in alternative ways are:

# Although the youngest two generations (Baby Busters and Mosaics) are widely involved, it is the Baby Boomers, who are largely responsible for megachurches redefining the church environment during the past quarter century, who are the most numerous in this shift.

# Adults involved in a marketplace ministry are more than twice as likely as those connected only to a congregational church to have a biblical worldview and more than twice as likely to identify the Bible as the source of truth in life. They are also one-third more likely to contend that absolute moral truth exists.

# About two-thirds of all adults engaged in a house church attend in any given week, with the remaining segment attending at least once a month. That is nearly identical to the attendance profile of people for whom a congregational church is their church home.

# Men and women are equally likely to participate in marketplace-based ministry activity, while men are slightly more likely to engage in house church options.

# The Midwest is the stronghold for congregational church connections, while the southern states have become the most fertile spawning grounds for marketplace ministry involvement, and participation in a house church is equally common everywhere outside of the Midwest.

# Evangelical Christians are those most likely to get involved in an alternative form of the Christian church – and also the group most likely to participate in both a traditional and alternative church form. More than four out of ten evangelical adults are involved in an alternative form of church on a regular basis.

# While whites dominate the national population, it is people of color who are leading the way in the alternative church world. Blacks, in particular, are drawn to house churches and marketplace gatherings. Compared to white adults, black adults are roughly twice as likely to be active in a house church (12% versus 6%) and are nearly twice as likely to engage in a marketplace-based ministry (36% compared to 19%). Hispanics adults are the ethnic group most likely to meet in a house church (16%). Asians are three times as likely to be involved in a marketplace gathering as a house church during a typical week, and are the least consistent in their participation in a house church.

# Downscale adults (i.e., those with below-average levels of education and household income) are almost twice as likely as upscale individuals (i.e., those with above-average levels of education and income) to be active in an alternative form of church.

# Many parents are involved in both a congregational and alternative church form – presumably to address the diverse interests of both the adults and children.

# One-third of the alternative church crowd engages God and other believers in a church form other than a house church – that is, they are involved in a marketplace ministry, the cyberchurch, or a series of faith-focused events that connect them with God and other Christ-followers.

Barna also pointed out that surveys of people’s religious activity often blur our understanding of church behavior because many people immersed in alternative church experiences are not sure whether to describe themselves to survey interviewers as “attending a church service” or not. “Some of these individuals are so comfortable with their alternative forms of church that they do not hesitate to say they ‘attend church.’ Others, however, have been so conditioned to think of ‘church’ as the activities taking place on the campus of a religious congregation that they are more likely to describe themselves as unchurched, even though they engage in worship, service, prayer, financial sharing, and discipleship activities through their alternative faith community.”

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