May 1, 2006 Silver Spring, Maryland, United States …. [Taashi Rowe/ANN]
The manual is very simple. It even has dozens and dozens of examples of how to go about having a fulfilling Christian life. The manual — the number one bestseller of all time — is of course the Bible. Any self-respecting, professed Christian takes his or her or their cue on how to go about living the Christian life straight from this book.
The manual contains the famous 10 commandments; the dramatic ups and downs of the children of Israel; the faithful examples of the early Christians as depicted in the New Testament; and of course Jesus’ own sterling example laid out from four different angles in the Gospels all coming to the same conclusion: Being a Christian means spending time with God and His people.
Yet today’s Christians — those in America, that is — don’t seem to follow the message. This at least according to a study done by the Barna Group, a Christian research organization, which sampled 1,003 Christians in January.
The study, which was released April 18, found that more than seven out of 10 Americans (72 percent) claim they have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is important in their life today. However, “only 17 percent of adults said that ‘a person’s faith is meant to be developed mainly by involvement in a local church'” and “a slight majority of Americans (54 percent) said they are so committed to having a deeper connection with God that they would ‘do whatever it takes to get and maintain that deeper relationship.'”
“These figures emphasize how soft people’s commitment to God is,” researcher George Barna wrote in a report summarizing the findings. “Americans are willing to expend some energy in religious activities such as attending church and reading the Bible, and they are willing to throw some money in the offering basket. Because of such activities, they convince themselves that they are people of genuine faith. But when it comes time to truly establishing their priorities and making a tangible commitment to knowing and loving God, and to allowing Him to change their character and lifestyle, most people stop short. We want to be ‘spiritual’ and we want to have God’s favor, but we’re not sure we want Him taking control of our lives and messing with the image and outcomes we’ve worked so hard to produce.”
In a similar study of its congregations worldwide, the Seventh-day Adventist Church looked at some of those elements the Barna study explored. The survey, the first of its kind for the church, would help its leaders determine: quality of personal and church life, unity in the world church, and growth of the church. The Adventist study was named “Objectives of the Five-Year Strategic Plan: A World Survey” and was presented to church leaders at its autumn meeting in 2002.
Understanding church members’ attendance and personal relationships with God was not the only purpose of the study, said Dr. Roger Dudley, director of the Institute of Church Ministry at the Seventh-day Adventist Seminary in Berrien Springs, Michigan. Dudley authored the Adventist study. “It’s a baseline to see where we are and from that make plans to address where the church should be focusing its mission work.”
For a church that advocates a spiritual life that includes daily Bible study and prayer, the research found an average of about 57 percent of Adventists attended church weekly and 51 percent attended a weekly Bible study.
Compared to the Barna results — which sampled a range of American Christendom — it would seem those results are very good. However, in the church’s vision for the next five years, spiritual growth is a major focus. That vision, called Tell The World, directs the world church to improve in several areas: spiritual growth, community involvement, personal witness, city outreach, church planting, evangelistic programming and media ministry.
Increasing spiritual growth according to church leaders means increasing the percentage of church members spending time in daily Bible study and prayer from 50 percent to at least 65 percent.
“It isn’t just about how many people come to church; it’s also about the people who come to church but don’t do any personal Bible study,” says Dudley. “They just depend upon the church. Is that enough for the Christian?”
Dudley says the church is planning a five-year follow up on that original report.
So can the average American call herself a Christian without doing the basic “maintenance” of Bible study, prayer and church attendance?
“Can you be a committed husband without going home?” asks Alan DeSilva, senior pastor of the Takoma Park Seventh-day Adventist Church near Washington, D.C. “People who think they don’t have to go to church to be committed Christians are those who don’t have a relationship to the Lord.”
A committed Christian life contains commitment, trust and communication, he says. “These are the same ingredients for a happy marriage life. Bible study and prayer are the two main vehicles of communication to God. And living a committed life is based on trust.”
Jonas Arrais, an Adventist pastor and associate secretary of the world church’s Ministerial Association, the resource and support organization for Adventist leaders, agrees: “I believe a healthy spiritual life starts with an accurate understanding about who is God and the plans He has for my life. Next comes the challenge of living a balanced life as a Christian that’s motivated by a close daily relationship with Him and by living a life of service on behalf of others.”
Interviews with several Adventist pastors found this belief is common. So why then do some think these hallmarks of a Christian life are somewhat outdated?
Nikolaus Satelmajer, associate secretary for the church’s Ministerial Association and editor of Ministry magazine, an international journal for pastors, said thinking of certain religious traditions as optional is reflective of American society: “Society now places an emphasis on the individual and that is reflected in decreasing church attendance. It’s ‘I choose to be a member of a church if it moves me or pleases me.'”
Could the postmodernist viewpoint of secular Europe be making an impact on American Christians? A recent Adventist News Network story spoke of a book written by Reinder Bruinsma, president of the Adventist Church in the Netherlands. The book, “Faith Step by Step, Finding God and Yourself,” discusses the gap between postmodernists and the traditional Christian mindset.
People are asking more of the basic questions of faith, Bruinsma says. “And they’re definitely less interested in doctrinal fine print. They’re more interested in what it does for you — the experience. It also has a lot to do with the attitude toward the institution of the church.”
This thinking may be why some feel they don’t need to go to church to be Christian. They may believe that instead of going to church they can go out and do something positive in the community, and that can be their “religious activity” for the week.
DeSilva says he applauds those who are involved in community service. “I appreciate Christian service but I don’t want to get that mixed up with Christian communion or fellowship. They are two different things. Christian service gives [a] level of satisfaction but doesn’t replace communion. Christian fellowship is a very, very key ingredient in basic faith and doing work is also important for development and maturation, but cannot replace fellowship. It complements it.”
Satelmajer says despite this move toward individual spirituality, people are at the core extremely lonely. And that is one area where churches can be attractive to them.
Churches have cut back on activities and opportunities for church members to socialize outside of the weekly church service, Satelmajer says. Churches have caused a disconnect by thinking when small numbers show up for an activity it is a failure, he says. “Our churches still need to provide an atmosphere of getting together and not be worried about who shows up.”
But what about those people who just don’t find church services interesting?
DeSilva says too often people look at church as an opportunity for entertainment. “Worship is not a show I put on. Worship is meeting with other people and the Lord. So when you leave a worship service saying ‘I didn’t get anything out of it,’ you didn’t bring anything to it. Bring a heart of commitment and trust in the Lord.”
DeSilva adds while pastors can’t follow church members home and put the Bible in their hands or force them to their knees, they are still responsible to an extent for their members’ personal spiritual lives.
“The pastor is a motivator,” he says. “The day he stops motivating is the day he needs to quit ministry.”
Arrais says both the pastor and each church member have a responsibility in pursuing a relationship with God: “Members [must] go to church willing to understand God’s desire. They want to be spiritually nurtured. They desire to strengthen their faith, grow in love for God, and to be changed by the truth. They also want to be challenged — to be involved in the mission of the church. When the message does not include these ingredients, they feel frustrated and [it] ultimately lowers their religions’ expectation.”
Copyright (c) 2006 by Adventist News Network. web site: news.adventist.org.
