Sermon Illustrations

State Of The Church: “The fact that there has not been any measurable increase in church involvement or personal spiritual depth in the past decade challenges the widespread notion that the U.S. is as spiritually healthy and focused as ever. This has been an intriguing year regarding the spiritual character of the nation,” explains George Barna, whose firm conducted various studies relating faith and culture. “The news was filled with stories that directly and indirectly related to faith and morality, including such high profile events as the war in Iraq, further allegations of physical abuse by Catholic priests, legal changes regarding the definition of family, pending splits over moral issues within several major Protestant denominations, questions about the Islamic faith and even challenges to the President’s policies in relation to his faith. Many of these incidents have pushed Americans to reconsider the content and the implications of their faith. Our research clearly indicates that Americans are aware of and, to some extent, connected to their spiritual side. One of the greatest challenges of ‘04 will be to upgrade the priority of personal and communal spiritual development so that positive transformation may continue.” (Barna Online 12/22/03)

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