RESEARCHER PREDICTS CHANGE IN AMERICA'S SPIRITUAL FABRIC


America is headed for anarchy or revival in 5 to 10 years, researcher George Barna predicted during a February 19 seminar in Nashville, Tenn. The church hasn't prevented a massive moral and ethical decline in America, he said. He cited statistics such as: a majority of people who marry this year will have cohabited with someone before getting married; one-third of Americans believe it is acceptable for two people to have an affair with each other; and half of the people marrying this year believe they will divorce. Also, 71 percent of American adults believe there is no such thing as absolute truth, a view shared by 64 percent of born-again Christians and 40 percent of evangelical Christians surveyed. Despite the growth of some churches, there has been no increase overall in people becoming Christians, Barna said, Rather, 70 to 80 percent of church growth is "transfer" growth, or movement of Christians from one church to another. (See a discussion of this problem in the October 1, 1995, Pentecostal Evangel feature, "Confessions of a Church Hopper.") Although 82 percent of Americans call themselves Christians, only 37 percent attended services in a given week, the Barna Research Group said. Church attendance has fallen to its lowest level in a decade. A survey showed that 31 percent of baby boomers--ages 31-50--had attended church in the past 7 days. The figure was 50 percent in 1981.


Researcher Predicts Change In America's Spiritual Fabric
Pentecostal Evangel, April 28, 1996
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