Ministry News

The Perfect Storm for a New Church

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Tuesday, 09 June 2009 15:37

Been there, done that. That's the attitude most Americans have toward church today, according to the latest Barna study.

Half of those surveyed say an increasing number of people they are in relationship with "are tired of the usual church experience." More than 100 million adults (45 percent of the general population) are so dissatisfied with their present faith community that they'd be willing to try a new church. Another 64 percent admit to being "completely open to carrying out and pursuing [their] faith in an environment or structure that differs from that of a typical church." And three-fourths of those responding believe God is using "different types of experiences than in the past" to get people to stay connected with Him.

Is it a perfect storm for a new form of church as we know it? Most pastors would say it's a cultural storm that's been stirring for years. Yet for these leaders, the most disconcerting statistic to emerge from Barna's study may be this: A whopping 71 percent of Americans are opting to develop their spiritual beliefs on their own rather than "accept an entire set of beliefs that a particular church teaches."

"About 7 percent of adults attend a house church in a typical month, which is a sevenfold increase in the past decade," the study says. "In addition, about half as many people now rely upon marketplace ministries for spiritual experiences as attend a conventional church service during a given month, and millions of adults are becoming increasingly reliant upon faith-based media—such as television, radio, and the Internet—for religious experience and expression. Put together, this represents a massive realignment of religious behavior over the past decade." [barna.org, 6/8/09]