Reflections by the Late Forrest Boyd

Comments, Reflections, & Observations - by the late Forrest Boyd
"Reflections by Forrest Boyd" is a collection of various broadcast reports that have been transcribed from his daily radio feature called, "Another View of the News;" a program he originated. Although he reported on topics that were pertinent to listeners of that day, his acute awareness of news and world events make his observations and comments applicable to us today.

America is spiritually stagnant. A revival has not begun.

The Barna Research Group released in April, 2001, its annual State of the Church survey and showed that while Americans remain interested in faith and consider themselves to be religious people, little has changed in relation to the religious practices of Americans in recent years.

Barna does the survey every year to assess whether the spiritual life of the country is improving or deteriorating. The survey found that in the past twelve months, twelve of the thirteen factors tracked have experienced no change, and one factor underwent a marginal decline. The one behavioral change identified was a four-percentage-point drop in adults who said they had spent time by themselves during the past week praying and reading the Bible or devotional literature.

There was surprisingly little difference in the ten measures that have been tracked in the past five years. Among those behaviors, eight remained stable, while just two showed a significant shift – and even those changes were marginal. Specifically, since 1995, there has been a five-point increase in the percentage of adults who say they are "absolutely committed" to the Christian faith, and a five-point drop in the proportion who had attended church in the past seven days.

When the current statistics are compared to those of a decade ago, a greater number of transitions are evident. Five of the seven measures that were examined in 1991 have experienced statistically significant change. Those included a small increase in the percentage of adults who can be classified as "born-again" Christians, rising from 35% in 1991 to 41% in 2001. The four behaviors that declined in frequency - each measured in terms of participation in the previous week – were Bible reading (down from 49% to 42%); volunteering at church (down from 27% to 20%); and adult Sunday school attendance (down from 23% to 19%).

There were some findings that indicated that Christians were practicing their faith, but there was plenty of room for improvement. For instance, four out of ten born again Christians do not attend church or read the Bible in a typical week, three out of ten say they are not "absolutely committed to the Christian faith", and seven out of ten are not involved in a small group that meets for spiritual purposes. The data also confirmed that there are more than ten million born again Christians who don't go to church.

George Barna, president of the company that did the survey, suggested that the nation seems mired in spiritual complacency. "America did not experience the spiritual revival that many Christians hoped would emerge as the new millennium began. In fact, Americans seem to have become almost inoculated to spiritual events, outreach efforts and the quest for personal spiritual development. There are magnificent exceptions throughout the country, but overall, Christian ministry is stuck in a deep rut."

Barna said that "Too many Christians and churches in America have traded in spiritual passion for empty rituals, clever methods and mindless practices. The challenge to today's Church is not methodological. It is a challenge to resuscitate the spiritual passion and fervor of the nation's Christians."

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