Study Finds Little Change in State of the Church
	VENTURA, CALIF. (EP) - There's an old saying: "The more things change, the more they stay the same." That's true when it comes to the nation's faith and religious practices, according to a study by the Barna Research Group. While Americans remain interested in faith and consider themselves to be religious people, little has changed in relation to the religious practices of Americans in recent years.     According to the study, in the past 12 months, 12 of the 13 factors tracked by the researchers have experienced no change. The one behavioral change identified was a four-percentage-point drop in adults who said they had spent time by themselves during the past week praying and reading the Bible or devotional literature (i.e. a "quiet time").     There was surprisingly little difference in the 10 measures that have been tracked in the past five years. Among those behaviors, eight remained stable while just two showed a significant shift. Specifically, since 1995 there has been a five-point increase in the percentage of adults who say they are "absolutely committed" to the Christian faith, and a five-point drop in the proportion who had attended church in the past seven days.     When the current statistics are compared to those of a decade ago, a greater number of changes are evident. Five of the seven measures that were examined in 1991 have experienced statistically significant change. Those included an increase in the percentage of adults who are classified as "born again," rising from 35 percent in 1991 to 41 percent in 2001. The four behaviors that declined in frequency - each measured in terms of participation in the previous week - were Bible reading (down from 45 percent to 37 percent); church attendance (down from 49 percent to 42 percent); volunteering at church (down from 27 percent to 20 percent); and adult Sunday school attendance (down from 23 percent to 19 percent).     While Christians were more likely than non-Christians to engage in spiritual practices, the study found significant room for growth among persons whose beliefs categorize them as born again Christians. For instance, four out of 10 born again Christians do not attend church or read the Bible in a typical week, three out of 10 say they are not "absolutely committed to the Christian faith" and seven out of 10 are not involved in a small group that meets for spiritual purposes. The study also suggested that there are more than 10 million born again Christians who are unchurched.     Comparing Catholics to Protestants, the study found that while church attendance and prayer patterns are similar, Protestants are significantly more likely than Catholics to read the Bible (47 percent versus 25 percent), attend a Sunday school class (28 percent versus 3 percent), participate in a small group (22 percent vs. 9 percent), have a quiet time (58 percent versus 46 percent), and volunteer at their church (25 percent versus 15 percent) during a typical week.     Ethnicity also generated some considerable distinctions. Blacks were much more likely than either whites or Hispanics to read the Bible, pray to God, attend Sunday school, participate in a small group, and have a quiet time during a typical week.     Women proved to be much more spiritually inclined than men in relation to most of the religious measures examined. Females were more likely to say they were absolutely committed to Christianity (10 percentage points higher), read the Bible (10 points higher), attend church (11 points higher), pray to God (13 points higher), participate in a small group (seven points higher), and have a quiet time (14 points higher). Women were also more likely than men to be born again by a 45 percent-to-36 percent margin.     The annual survey produced some other noteworthy insights, according to George Barna, president of the company that conducts the survey. "In a typical week, 41 percent of the adults attending Christian churches are not born again. Although the figures are substantially higher in Catholic churches, more than one-third of the Protestant church-goers are not born again. Most of those people have been attending Christian churches for years and years, without really understanding the foundations of the Christian faith and its personal implications. You have to wonder if we are sufficiently connected to the people attending our churches to know where they stand spiritually, and sufficiently concerned about their spiritual condition to share the fundamental truths and principles of Christianity in ways they can understand and embrace."     Barna suggested that the nation seems mired in spiritual complacency. "America certainly did not experience the spiritual revival that many Christians hoped would emerge as the new millennium began. In fact, Americans seem to have become almost inoculated to spiritual events, outreach efforts and the quest for personal spiritual development. There are magnificent exceptions throughout the country, but overall, Christian ministry is stuck in a deep rut. Our research continues to point out the need for behavioral modeling, strategic ministry and a more urgent reliance upon God to change people's lives. Like the churches of Laodicea and Sardis, described in the Bible as distasteful to God because of their complacency and spiritual deadness, too many Christians and churches in America have traded in spiritual passion for empty rituals, clever methods and mindless practices. The challenge to today's Church is not methodological. It is a challenge to resuscitate the spiritual passion and fervor of the nation's Christians."     Data for this study came from telephone interviews with a nationwide random sample of 1005 adults; the study has a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points. "Born again Christians" were defined in these surveys as people who said they have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today and who also indicated 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.
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