The Pew Forum On Religion In America
March 10th, 2008 · Posted in Christianity, Practical Christianity, Practical Ministry ·Many people have thought that America would become a secularized nation and that religion would not play a major role in the future of our country.
I disagree — and the findings of the Pew Forum Survey of the U. S. Religious Landscape shows this thought to not be the case.
I like the way George Bullard of The Columbia Partnership breaks down the findings. He finds that, despite predictions the United State would follow Europe’s path towards widespread secularization, the U.S. population remains highly religious in its beliefs and practices, and religion continues to play a prominent role in American public life. That being said, there are 2 points he brings up:
1. U.S. society will continue for the foreseeable future to remain at least nominally a churched culture, which means congregations can assume at least some knowledge of spiritual principles and practices in many preChristians and unchurched persons.
2. The spiritual principles and practices of people in American society will be increasingly less like what Protestant congregations have known in past decades, and will call for Protestant churches to re-education its membership to the principles and practices of spiritual travelers in the 21st century.
So — while religious practices will continue to play a major role in American life — they may not be the type of religious practices we are used to. We may have to look for new ways to present the gospel of Christ and the love of God — and new ways to worship.
I know this is not really “new material”, but for me it simply underlines a point that has been made for awhile. The question is — how do we respond?
I’ll cover more of Bullard’s interpretations of the Pew Forum’s findings, but for now I’d love to get some responses to how we can change the way we do things, remain true to our calling to be God’s people, and take the gospel of Christ to the world in a fresh way.
Post your comments!
You can read The Pew Forum’s findings here and George Bullard’s observations here.
March 12th, 2008 at 6:43 am
[...] As I posted about his observations Monday, these findings are not surprising, but they do point out a trend that churches need to address. The ideas that people will continue with the denomination they grew up in — or move and automatically look for a church that is exactly like the church they had been attending — are not accurate. People tend to look for churches that can meet their perceived needs, regardless of the denomination. [...]