A BRIEF LOOK AT OURSELVES
The Evangelical Alliance and Christian Research have recently published the results of a survey of the beliefs and habits of evangelical Christians entitled 21st Century Evangelicals. The survey is based on 17,000 questionnaires returned from a range of evangelical festival venues, including Keswick and Spring Harvest, and from 35 EA churches. The survey gives an insight into the beliefs and habits of fellow evangelicals who would not describe themselves as Conservative Evangelicals. The results of the survey give us an important insight into the challenges facing us as evangelical Christians and churches.
The results of the survey are very illuminating. I have copied the following results from Affinity’s Social Issues Bulletin.
Beliefs and Doctrines
93% strongly agree that the Bible is the inspired word of God.
54% strongly agree that the Bible, in its original manuscripts, is without error.
91% strongly agree that Jesus is the only way to God.
26% agree that evolution and Christianity are incompatible.
37% strongly agree that hell is a place of conscious eternal punishment.
The Christian Life
96% attend a church service at least once a week.
82% read, or listen to, the Bible at least a few times a week.
96% pray at least a few times a week.
77% pray every day.
88% say their faith is the most important thing in their life.
83% agree that it is a key factor in their decision-making.
Moral and Ethical Issues
62% strongly agree that sexual intercourse outside marriage is wrong.
59% believe that homosexual actions are always wrong.
42% believe that assisted suicide is “always wrong”.
37% agree that “abortion can never be justified” (the question asked was rather ambiguous and so this result is somewhat unreliable).
Church Life and Giving
71% agree that women should be eligible for all roles within the church on the same basis as men are.
60% practise tithing, half of these giving at least 10% of their household income to their church.
75% of the over-65 age group practise tithing.
53% in the 25-34 age group practise tithing.
Twice as many in the over-65 age group support missionaries compared with those in the 16-24 age group.
Evangelism and Witness
51% of the over-65’s talk to a non-Christian about their faith at least once a month.
77% in the 16-24 age group talk to a non-Christian about their faith at least once a month.
Summary
Overall the survey revealed that younger Christians are less likely than older believers to be guided by the Bible in their beliefs, views and behaviour and decision-making, to give financial support to Christian causes, and to pray and read the Bible every day. Younger Christians are, however, more active in witnessing to their faith. Fuller details of the survey can be seen at http://www.eauk.org/articles/faith-survey-launch.cfm
We need to note that these are the responses of the more zealous evangelicals. Not many of them would be seen as Conservative Evangelicals but they are serious believers who attend Christian conferences which are built around Bible teaching and most of whom attend a church regularly. There are, however, aspects of the responses that must give cause for concern. It is surely in the areas of belief and doctrines and Christian living that the loudest alarm bells ring. If there is not clarity and conviction in these areas then we might expect some deficiencies in the other areas. The serious loss of a belief in hell is a very serious matter. There is a direct connection between the Cross and the reality of hell – why else did Christ suffer? When the doctrine of hell is lost there must be a reflection on the view of the atonement. I would suggest that John Stott’s major work on the Cross reflects that inevitability.
A further aspect of the results of this survey that provides food for thought is how in the areas of Morals and Ethics and also Church Life there is a strong reflection of the values that apply within our society in general. The disparity between older and younger people on the influence of the Bible on values and conduct also suggest there is a strong cultural influence at work. Indeed, the disparity in witness can also be a mark of cultural differences – younger people being more outgoing and socially inclined. Nevertheless older people need to stir themselves up over this matter.
Three conclusions should be drawn from these figures. The first is that Evangelicalism is not in that healthy a state. Unless there is a stronger emphasis on Bible-based preaching, which is both faithful to the text, doctrinal and practical, the signs of decline seen in this survey will get stronger. Those three aspects of preaching are so important and young men need to be trained and encouraged to approach preaching with these things in mind. It also needs to be observed that whilst the presence of these three elements in preaching is something to be thankful about, there is also the absolute necessity of the empowering of the Holy Spirit on the preacher. The lack of this is our greatest weakness
Secondly we should ensure that as individuals we are submitting daily to God’s Word and engaging with the Lord in daily earnest prayer. These vital elements of Christian living can easily slip and our effectiveness for Christ will be reduced accordingly. We are all guilty here. How many of us drop our spiritual devotions when we go on holiday, and if we are busy miss reading the Scriptures (often rather than missing a TV programme!)? Prayerlessness is our greatest scourge.
Thirdly we should not be surprised at the moral decline within our nation if this is a true reflection of the thinking of many Christians. Has the salt lost its savour? Is not this the explanation of things? It shows that the primary need of the church of God is a revival of true godliness and zeal for the Lord. If the Spirit of God does not stir us up and strengthen us to rebuild what has been knocked down, there is no other power that can help us. How we should therefore pray is very clear.
Roger JR Hitchings
01/04/11