Shocking Barna Statistic

*A new study shows that 100% of Barna statistics are skewed to lend credibility to his anti-church bias. 

I had a friend the other day quote me a Barna statistic.  My response was the above sentence.  I am not doubting that we can gain some benefit from Barna research and that some of it is actually legit and could be helpful.  However, I have become very leery of accepting anything that Barna throws at us.  First, because some of his findings have been shown to be off.  Secondly, because from what I have read of Barna he seems to be promoting a churchless Christianity.  

Bad Numbers

As Frank Turk has pointed out, there are a few secular studies—especially this one from The Wall Street Journal—that pulls the rug out from under Barna’s research.  Reputable statisticians from Baylor have shown that young people are not living the church in droves as Barna has reported and there is not statistical evidence that women are fleeing the church like lemurs on holiday.  

Further evidence is found in a book written by Bradley Wright entitled Christians Are Hate-Filled Hypocrites…and Other Lies You’ve Been Told: A Sociologist Shatters Myths From the Secular and Christian Media.  Wright shows how many of the scare pollsters (like Barna) have bad numbers.  It seems that when those that are actually “born-again”, instead of those just claiming to be, are polled the numbers change dramatically. Continue at Mike Leake

Six Anti-Church Evangelical Trends

As I mentioned a few weeks back, this is a great book: Set Apart by R. Kent Hughes (and it’s less than $10!).  I liked his section where he gave six anti-church trends among American evangelicals (found in chapter 10).  Here they are.

1) Hitchhiker Christians:  These peole say, “You go to the meetings and serve on the boards and committees, you grapple with the issues and do the work of the church and pay the bills – and I’ll come along for the ride.  But if things do not suit me, I’ll criticize and complain and probably bail out.  My thumb is always out for a better ride.”

2) Consumer Christians:  These are “ecclesiastical shoppers [that] attend one church for the preaching, send their children to a second church for its youth program, and go to a third church’s small group.  Their motto is to ask, ‘What’s in it for me?’”  The consumer mentality “encouraged those who have been influenced by it to think naturally in terms of receiving rather than contributing.” Keep Reading>>>