In the Nov. 7 issue of World magazine, Joel Belz shared some new and rather interesting statistics from the Barna Group on how those in the 16-29 age group perceive evangelicals. Those surveyed were classified as either "Non-Christians" or "Churchgoers." Here's a chart summarizing the results:
What are we to make of these statistics? Well, first of all, we need to define the term "evangelicals." First, Barna considers evangelicals to be "born again Christians" which may be defined as
What are we to make of these statistics? Well, first of all, we need to define the term "evangelicals." First, Barna considers evangelicals to be "born again Christians" which may be defined aspeople who said they have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today and who also indicated that they believe that when they die they will go to Heaven because they had confessed their sins and had accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior.
In addition to meeting the born again criteria (described above), evangelicals also meet seven additional conditions, which include:
- saying that their faith is very important in their life today;
- believing they have a personal responsibility to share their religious beliefs about Christ with non-Christians;
- believing that Satan exists;
- believing that eternal salvation is possible only through grace, not works;
- believing that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth;
- asserting that the Bible is accurate in all that it teaches;
- describing God as the all-knowing, all-powerful, perfect deity who created the universe and still rules it today.
It should also be mentioned that, according to Barna, being classified as an evangelical is not dependent upon church attendance or the denominational affiliation of the church attended. Also, respondents were not asked to describe themselves as "evangelical."
So keeping all the above criteria in mind, what do you make of the above chart? How do you read these numbers? Are you surprised, pleased, angered, saddened or confused? As we sift through and try to make sense of these statistics, here are - according to Joel Belz - two related questions that thoughtful evangelicals should consider:
When is it that our own clumsiness and klutziness leaves people alienated from the truth that we think should be so attractive? And when is it that the very essence of God's truth drives people away?
As I think through these questions in light of the above statistics, I am reminded of a quote I heard years ago from C. Sumner Wemp, while I was a Bible college student:
If the Gospel is an offense, praise God.
If I'm an offense, that's sin.
So what, in your opinion, are evangelicals in general doing right? What are we doing wrong? Where do we go from here? Please share your thoughts.