Two days ago, a well-known research company called The Barna Group released a newsletter outlining six major trends in the Church. It should surprise no one here that things are changing, but it’s worth noting that our suspicions are confirmed by professional research and 5000 interviews conducted during 2010.
1. The Christian Church is becoming less theologically literate.
2. Christians are becoming more ingrown and less outreach-oriented.
3. Growing numbers of people are less interested in spiritual principles and more desirous of learning pragmatic solutions for life.
4. Among Christians, interest in participating in community action is escalating.
5. The postmodern insistence on tolerance is winning over the Christian Church.
6. The influence of Christianity on culture and individual lives is largely invisible.
Over the next couple weeks we’ll be talking about some of these on the Blackbird, perhaps all of them. So stay tuned. In the mean time, your really should read the original article, in which these points are fleshed out in a little more detail.
