Have you ever wondered what people experience in church?  Maybe you wonder about your experience and how it fits into your daily living.  Last week as I was working, a church member gave me an article with just such research from the Barna Research Group.  Here is some insight.

First of all we expect to connect with God while attending church.  Clearly that is a prime purpose.  Yet while 66% of people asked said that they have a real and personal connection a third said that they never had a connection with God.  When we look for people who may need connecting with God we need to look no further than our neighbor.

Another avenue that we take for granted is that we will gain new insights both historical and spiritual.  This is where it gets really sad, 61% of church attenders said they could not remember a significant or important new insight or understanding related to faith gained through church attendance.  It reminds us that we have to come to church prepared to allow our hearts to be open to new insights and also there needs to be God given insights presented.

We in our annual conference state that “We are making disciples for Jesus Christ for the transformation of the World.”  Yet the number of people who stated that their life had been transformed was 54% while 46% had no transformational experience as a result of churchgoing.  What that tells me is that we have to do more than go to church.  We have to be the church to one another.  We have to be available to lead and to be led by God to be his ambassadors to the world around us.

The last two areas that were surveyed were 1. Feeling Cared for  and 2. Helping the Poor.  Again 68% of people connected to a church felt cared for and nurtured.  The question becomes what about the other 32% that do not feel cared for.  In fact of those people surveyed 23% felt that church was more like a group experience with no true connection.

And lastly, the outreach of the church to the poor and underprivileged was a concern but not emphasized for 27% of people asked.  They felt that the church that they attended did not place the emphasis in proper perspective.  Remember Jesus reminds us that we are our brother’s keeper and we are to take care of each other.  The each other that Jesus speaks to is not just those that are in our group but everyone that lives in our world.  What that says is we are to be open to the possibilities that God places before us to give aid to others.

In closing I want to commend each of you who have taken the Gospel seriously and not abandoned God or the Church for other avenues of life.  What this survey points out is a reminder of Jesus’ words to love and help one another.  The Good Samaritan was a man who, though despised by the Jews, helped a Jewish man in distress at personal cost and safety.  Jesus points to that story and says, “Go and do likewise”.

Blessings, John

All statistical references are from the Barna Group 2012.