Some startling statistics, based on International Census Data, Barna Research, and other research data have emerged on the beliefs and behaviour of born again Christians in the US. It remains to be seen how different are Australians.

Born again Christians - defined in the surveys as people who say they have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ and that He is still important in their life today and who also say they know they will go to Heaven after they die because they have confessed their sins and accepted Jesus Christ as their Saviour.

1) Nearly half of born again Christians (47%) agree that Satan is "not a living being but is a symbol of evil."

2) 31% of born agains also believe that if a person is good enough they can earn a place in Heaven.

3) 24% of born agains agree that "while he lived on earth, Jesus committed sins, like other people."

4) 15% of born again Christians claim that "after He was crucified and died, Jesus Christ did not return to life physically."

5) About one out of four (26%) born again Christians believe that it doesn't matter what faith you follow because they all teach the same lessons (e.g., Hindu, Buddhism, Islam, etc.).

6) Roughly 95% of all Christians never lead ONE person to Christ.

7) Although most believers say that serving the needy is important, just 34% gave any time and/or money to server the poor in the last year.

8) Born agains are more likely than are non-Christians to have experienced divorce (27% versus 24%).

9) One out of every six born again Christians (16%) gave no money to his/her church during 1999. The proportion who tithed to their church was just 8%.

10) Christians spend 7 times as much time on entertainment as they do on spiritual activities.

11) In a nationwide survey among born-again adults, none of the individuals interviewed said that the single, most important goal in their life was to be a committed follower of Jesus Christ.

12) 30% of born agains have watched an "R" rated movie in the last 7 days compared to 40% of non born again people.

The Great Commission has become the great omission for a majority of believers. Only one out of every three adults attending a Protestant church in the USA shared their faith with a nonbeliever last year. The study found that Pentecostal, Assemblies of God and Mormon church attendees are the most active in a variety of religious endeavours, such as prayer, Bible reading, witnessing and church attendance, while individuals who attend Catholic and Episcopal churches are generally the least involved.

Barna Research Group (BRG) president George Barna said: "The groups whose adherents are most likely to possess biblical perspectives are also those whost adherents are most actively pursuing spiritual experiences. The churches where people's beliefs have strayed farthest from the bible tend to be those in which the people are least involved in religious and spiritual pursuits."

BRG found that the most common religious practice among adults is prayer. Participation was highest among those who attend a Pentecostal church - 97 percent of whom said they had prayed in the last week. When it came to bible reading, Pentecostals (75 percent) were the most likely to study scripture. The least likely Bible readers were Catholics (23 percent), Episcopalians (30 percent) and Lutherans (32 percent). Although they are not considered to be a Christian church, Mormons (67 percent) were more likely to read the Bible during a typical week than Protestants were overall. Barna said the figure was surprising because most Mormons do not believe that the Bible is the authoritative word of God.

Overall, Barna said that the survery revealed "a nation that is comfortable with religion but not particularly committed to spiritual growth." He commented: "Most people who are aligned with a Christian church really make a rather minimal investment in the religious activity. Most people describe themselves as religious, describe their faith as being very important in their daily life, but make only a half-hearted effort to truly master the foundations of their chosen faith and live a life that is determined by faith."

Census time is a good time for us all to reflect on the level of our commitment to following Jesus.

John Davies
5 August 2001