Passage (eg. John 3:16): Search word(s) (eg. saved): Powered by The Bible Gateway Powered by CrossSearch.com Excerpts Taken From The State of the American Church: An Assessment of the need for Spiritual Revival Promise Keepers Revival Summit George Barna December 2, 1998 I have been asked to describe the state of the Church. That could be done in many ways, but I want to relate the health of the Church in America to the presence of revival. To do so, let's evaluate the condition of the Church in relation to 12 signs of revival, as identified by Charles Finney and Tom Phillips. Those 12 signs are: Acceptance of the authority of Scripture Belief in the centrality of the death and resurrection of Christ Increased devotional life and a commitment to personal holiness Extensive and intensive evangelism and discipleship Cultural change is evident and is attributable to widespread individual spiritual transformation God sovereignly indicates that revival is near Wickedness grieves and humbles Christians There is a spirit of prayer for revival The attention of ministers is directed toward revival and spiritual awakening Christians confess their sins to each other Christians are making sacrifices to facilitate revival Christians accept spiritual awakening by whatever instruments God chooses An objective evaluation: 12 signs of America's preparedness for spiritual revival 1. Acceptance of the authority of Scripture Fewer than four out of ten adults even read the Bible during a typical week. This relatively unchanged in the past three years, and down considerably from levels earlier in the decade. Only two out of five adults strongly agree that the Bible is accurate in all that it teaches. Three-fourths of all adults say there is no such thing as absolute moral truth. This has been relatively stable for the past couple of years after a period of consistent growth in the percentage who reject absolute moral truth. Just 15% claim that the Bible is the most influential source of insight in their thinking about the existence of absolute moral truth. 2. Belief in the centrality of the death and resurrection of Christ A majority of adults say that eternal salvation, if they believe it exists, is based upon earning a reprieve from God. Half of all adults argue that a person's religious beliefs will make no difference to their eternal condition. One-third of all adults-including more than one out of five born again Christians-contends that when Jesus was on earth He committed sins. Four out of ten adults contend that Jesus was crucified and died, but that he never had a physical resurrection. Two out of three adults say it doesn't matter what faith you associate with because they all teach the same basic lessons. 3. Increased devotional life and a commitment to personal holiness Fewer than one out of four adults spend any time in bible reading, meditation and prayer during a typical week. When asked to describe their goals in life, less than 1% mentioned anything related to holiness, righteousness, or purity. Just three out of ten adults say that having a satisfying spiritual life is a top priority in their life today. Typical Christian does not confess his/her sins to God during an average week. Busy schedules and the absence of clear priorities have led most people to see spirituality as an addendum to, rather than the core of, their life. 4. Extensive and intensive evangelism and discipleship Few churches have any type of on going prayer for the souls of non-believers. More money is currently allocated for new buildings and renovation programs than for evangelism and outreach activities. Only one out of three adults (and just half of all born again Christians) strongly agree that they have a personal responsibility to share their faith with non-Christians. Fewer than one out of every five believers knows a non-Christian well enough to share their faith in a context of trust and credibility. A majority of the individuals who make a decision for Christ do not become devoted followers of Christ because the church does not engage in effective follow-up ministry. There has been no increase in the proportion of adults who are born again in 15 years-in spite of American churches devoting more than $500 billion to domestic ministry during that time. The average size of churches has actually decreased over the last 3 years, from 102 weekly attendees to 91. The largest accessible segment of the "mission field" sits in church pews on Sunday morning-49% of those who attend are not born again, and a majority of those people have been attending the same church for 10 years or more! In evangelistic events conducted by several evangelistic organizations we have studied, there has been virtually no follow-up by local churches with the people who made "decisions" in spite of pre-event agreements to do such follow-up. 5. Cultural change is evident and is attributable to widespread individual spiritual transformation The proportion of divorced adults is actually higher among believers than among non-believers (27% versus 23%) More than two-thirds of all adults define "success" in life as the acquisition of sufficient money, education, material possessions or career prestige; only 7% related "success" to their faith condition and its influence upon their life. National morals show no sign of improvement. We are increasingly comfortable with homosexuality as a lifestyle, divorce as a solution to troubled marriages, allowing personal choice regarding abortion, "white lies," instigating law suits, hoarding wealth, facilitating segregation, justifying co-habitation, etc. 6. God sovereignly indicates that revival is near Only one out of every seven church-going adult is able to clearly describe the meaning of "revival." Most pastors endorse revival but are personally focused on church survival and maintenance. Many religious leaders are misreading the situation, claiming that we are already in the midst of revival and thus diverting people's attention to other matters. A majority of senior pastors cite the need for their church to experience numerical growth without harboring a parallel concern for people's spiritual depth. 7. Wickedness grieves and humbles Christians Upon comparing Christian and non-Christians on 65 common non-religious behaviors and values, there were no instances in which Christians were substantially different. This ranged from getting divorce, getting drunk and engaging in adultery to gambling and intentionally lying. A majority of adults believe they are a "success" in life-and define their success according to material possessions or personal achievements; less than one out of 10 "successful" adults say their success relates to their spiritual condition. Christians are no more likely to help the homeless and poor than are non-Christians. Only 6 out of 10 people say that their religious beliefs affect their behavior. While God calls homosexuality "an abomination," Americans are more interested in tolerance than integrity. In fact, a growing percentage of adults (currently four out of ten) say Christian churches should accept gay adults as church leaders. 8. There is a spirit of prayer for revival Just four out of every ten adults who attend Christian churches state that their pastor has specifically asked the congregation to fast or pray for spiritual revival in America. Americans are several times more likely to pray for things they want than to pray for the needs of other people. Less than one out of ten Christians have fasted for some spiritual purpose within the past year. Among the people who say spiritual development is a priority in their life, less than four out of ten include prayer as one of the disciplines they rely upon for spiritual growth. 9. The attention of ministers is directed toward revival and spiritual awakening When pastors were asked to identify the most significant needs of their church, less than 1% listed revival. Revival is a "mom and apple pie" issue: nobody is against it, but few are passionately devoted to fulfilling their role in its emergence. Revival demands that the people of God be mobilized to seek revival; most pastors have not embraced such a role as being a personal responsibility. For revival to happen, God's people must be led in that direction; most pastors wholeheartedly endorse revival, but they are not consistently seeking revival activity within their church. There is a tremendous degree of skepticism regarding the "pockets of revival" that have been widely reported in the Christian media (e.g. Pensacola). 10. Christians confess their sins to each other The proportion of churches that incorporate a time of private or corporate confession into their worship events has declined substantially in the past 20 years. A majority of Christians believe in the act of confession, but do not regularly practice that behavior. A large percentage of Christians confess their sins when they accept Christ as their Savior, but rarely confess after that time. Fewer than one out of every five Christian husbands and wives pray and confess together-ever. 11. Christians are making sacrifices to facilitate revival There is no evidence of believers spending more time in Bible reading, prayer or personal ministry. Only 3% of church-going adults tithe their income. And the typical church-goer donates less than 3% of his/her household's aggregate income to churches. The amount of time people are donating to church-based ministry has declined since the start of the decade. 12. Christians accept spiritual awakening by whatever instruments God chooses There are still huge divisions between charismatics/pentecostals and non-charismatics, and between whites and blacks. The vocal resistance of prominent church leaders to the demonstrative revivals in selected places has portrayed the Church as internally divided. There has been no recognized effort to redefine what to look for in determining the existence of a contemporary revival. Conclusions: From this admittedly incomplete analysis, we can draw many conclusions. Among them are five that I feel are worth considering: The time is ripe for revival: people are spiritually seeking meaning, purpose, priorities, relevance, and significance to an unusually high degree. The Church is not in the midst of revival now. God's people in the U.S. are not fully engaged with, or sold out to, revival. The absence of revival may be God's way of sparing America because the Church wouldn't know what to do with revival even if it came. God needs a remnant of passionate believers committed to His cause. He does not need a majority, He does not need our money, He does not work on our timetable, and He does not force Himself upon a recalcitrant people. Further, if we are truly serious about revival, there are some significant issues we must resolve. These act as obstacles to the Spirit transforming America. Spiritual complacency among believers. Lifestyle comfort of non-believers. Widespread rejection of absolute moral truth-resulting in the rejection of authority, accountability and cooperative ministry. Lack of Christian credibility: there is little evidence of transformation. Lack of true leadership in the local and national Church: no strategy, plan or responsiveness. Beyond this, we may also note that recent efforts at facilitating revival, while well intentioned and biblically grounded, have produced little fruit. There may be some discernible reasons for this. Focusing upon the two primary efforts made to date-i.e. efforts centered on prayer and repentance-we may note the following concerns. 1. Prayer: a. We sometimes ask for the wrong reasons b. Many of our prayer partners simply do not believe God's promises c. Most believers do not passionately care about the unsaved d. Christians are not committed to seeking spiritual maturity e. We lose heart too quickly 2. Repentance: a. Having rejected Christ as the only way, most people won't rely on grace b. Having dismissed the significance of sin, most people have abandoned the need for, or value of, confession c. Having rejected absolute authority, people have not accepted accountability d. Having rejected absolute moral truth, sin is treated as an irrelevant concept In other words, focusing on revival-oriented prayer and repentance ignores the underlying sickness of the American Church. Our emphasis upon prayer and repentance may be masking the deeper issue. We may be investing in the symptom at the expense of the cause. Can a paralyzed body ignite a healthy renaissance? Must the Church first be renewed, so that it has something to give? Thus, if we wish to make progress toward revival, preparing the way for the Holy Spirit by removing overt obstacles to His blessing, we must provide God's people with the leadership they need and deserve. If we truly believe that the local Church is God's instrument for shaping His people in His own image, then we must tend to the health of the Church. If we believe that revival is God's will for America, then it will be realized and nurtured through the local church-and therefore the church must be prepared and fortified for the task. Therefore, we need visionary, strategic leadership to move us forward into a unique moral and spiritual revolution in the midst of unprecedented societal decay and decadence. I do not pretend to have the ultimate answer for our people. I simply ask that you consult God for guidance in considering these possibilities. And I present these perspectives with a plea for swift and certain action for time is of the essence. I feel a deep sense of urgency because the window of opportunity is rapidly closing upon us. In all likelihood we have only a couple of years to reap the great harvest that awaits us; the failure to do so will have long-lasting consequences for the Church in America. <--- Back to Funding The State Of The American Church Article: Intentional Christianity Vince D'Acchioli Biographical Information Board of Directors Declaration of 501(c) (3) status Back