• Downward Trends In U.s. Christianity

  Contributed by Sermon Central on May 15, 2012 (message contributor)

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  Scripture:  Ephesians 4:11-16

  Tags:  Church Practices

DOWNWARD TRENDS IN U.S. CHRISTIANITY

In George Barna's new book on U.S. Christians called Futurecast, he tracks annual changes from 1991 to 2011 and shows that all the major trend lines of religious belief and behavior ran downward except two: More people claim they have accepted Jesus as their Savior and expect to go to heaven, and more say they haven't been to church in the past six months except for special occasions. In 1991, 24% were "unchurched." Today, it's 37%. Barna lamented: "People say: 'I believe in God. I believe the Bible is a good book. And then I believe whatever I want...We are a designer society. We want everything customized to our personal needs -- our clothing, our food, our education...Now it's our religion."

(USA Today, 9/14/11. From a sermon by Brian Bill, Just Do It, 9/18/2011)