Little comment is needed here. The article says it all. Is it any wonder why America is as sick spiritually as it is? When the head is sick, the whole body is sick. Or to put it another way, as goes the church house, so goes the state house, the courthouse and all the way up to the White House. Judgment begins first at the house of Elohim, as Scripture tells us.
Michael Foust | ChristianHeadlines.com Contributor | Friday, May 13, 2022
A majority of Christian pastors in the United States do not hold a biblical worldview, according to surprising new research from pollster George Barna, who says the data shows a spiritual awakening is “needed just as desperately in our pulpits as in the pews.”
The survey, released Thursday by the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University, shows that only 37 percent of pastors in the U.S. hold a biblical worldview.
Among senior/lead pastors, 41 percent possess a biblical worldview – the highest percentage within the sub-groups of pastors. Less than one-third of associate/assistant pastors (28 percent), teaching pastors (13 percent) and children’s/youth pastors (12 percent) hold a biblical worldview, the data found.
An accompanying report labeled the findings “shocking.”
“This is another strong piece of evidence that the culture is influencing the American church more than Christian churches are influencing the culture,” said Barna, director of research at the university’s Cultural Research Center.
The survey’s findings were based on 54 questions in eight categories related to a biblical worldview. Within those eight categories, the only one where a majority of pastors affirm a biblical worldview is related to the purpose and calling of life (57 percent). A minority of pastors hold a biblical worldview in the other seven categories: family and the value of life (47 percent); God, creation and history (44 percent); personal faith practices (43 percent); sin, salvation and one’s relationship to God (43 percent); human character and human nature (40 percent); lifestyle, personal behavior and relationships (40 percent); and beliefs and behaviors related to the Bible, truth and morality.
The data on children’s pastors and youth pastors, Barna said, is particularly discouraging.
“Keep in mind,” Barna said, “a person’s worldview primarily develops before the age of 13, then goes through a period of refinement during their teens and twenties. From a worldview perspective, a church’s most important ministers are the children’s pastor and the youth pastor. Discovering that seven out of every eight of those pastors lack a biblical worldview helps to explain why so few people in the nation’s youngest generations are developing a heart and mind for biblical principles and ways of life, and why our society seems to have run wild over the last decade, in particular.”
Despite the gloomy data, Barna offered a glimmer of hope by noting that “you cannot fix something unless you know it’s broken.”
“God is in the transformation business,” he said. “Pastors who are willing to allow Him to transform their thinking and behavior can emerge from that process as a powerful example of what can happen when one’s heart, mind and soul are surrendered to God. It certainly seems that if America is going to experience a spiritual revival, that awakening is needed just as desperately in our pulpits as in the pews.”
Natan…This is one of the saddest things I’ve ever read, and unfortunately…It explains a lot. drb
Is there a list somewhere of the questions used please?
I don’t have access to that info. I only copied and pasted the article. You’ll have to ask George Barna. All I can say is that he has an excellent reputation and is tops in his field for many decades.
I used to attend a spirit filled Xtian church. the pastor was replaced by another man who did not believe in the Holy Spirit-that church fell apart-and so will we without him!
Shalom Natan & All
When Yeshua saved me I read the Bible and thought I must be part of an assembly….worst teaching I ever received!
Taught to genuflect by a congregational elder. Wondered but thought I was just a newbie and it was to Christ but had doubts. Eventually after perservering for a time, I had to give it away and seek God myself because nothing was making sense & I was so uncomfortable.
It was what you guys call episcoplian and gives such unbiblical teaching.
Never could see scripture for what is there but always had a doctrine to make it work in the world view that requires us to become humanists in our fleshly love.
That denomination split on the homosexual issue….because of forgetting the instructions and denying that those who are involved and supporting those things are of depraved mind. How can you help someone escape sin if you are in agreement with the sin being “true love”. So sickening at every level. Deception to some degree is Abba sifting us to see who is going to fall through as too light and not substantial or who is too hard and not willing to allow the Word to refine them.
Blessings to All.