Intentional Faith

Studying the changes that have occurred in the religious beliefs and behavior of adults based on race and ethnicity shows that there has been lots of movement since 1991 – but perhaps not in the ways expected. These findings are part of the State of the Church – 2011 report from the Barna Group, accompanied by a series of commentaries by George Barna at http://www.georgebarna.com.

Changes in the Faith of White Adults
Among the six religious behaviors tracked by Barna since 1991, white adults experienced statistically significant shifts in five of those behaviors.

§ Weekly church attendance declined by nine percentage points, dropping from 48% in 1991 to 39% in 2011.

§ Adult Sunday school attendance also dipped by nine percentage points, from 23% to 14%.

§ Bible reading dropped by five percentage points, sliding from 42% to 37%.

§ Volunteering at a church during a typical week fell by eight percentage points since 1991, from 26% down to 18%.

§ The proportion of white adults who qualify as “unchurched” – defined as having not attended any church services during the previous six months, other than those for special occasions such as a wedding or funeral – rose from 25% in 1991 to 40% today.

§ The only religious behavior among the six tracked since 1991 that did not change significantly was attending a church of 600 or more people. Among whites, that proportion remained constant (17% in 1991, 18% in 2011).

Of the eight religious beliefs that have been followed by the Barna Group since 1991, white adults showed significant shifts in three of those.

§ White adults are six percentage points less likely to have an orthodox view of God today than was the case in 1991. (Such a perspective was described in surveys as believing that God is “the all-knowing, all-powerful and perfect Creator of the universe who still rules the world today.”) In 1991, 72% of whites held that view; today it is 66%.

§ The Bible is on shakier ground among white adults these days, as witnessed by the seven percentage point drop in those who firmly agree that the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches. That has declined from 43% in 1991 to 36% today.

§ Despite the other challenges represented by changes in the religious faith of whites, the proportion of them who can be categorized as “born again” – defined as having made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today, and believing that they will enter Heaven solely because they have confessed their sins and have accepted Jesus Christ as their savior – has increased. In 1991, 35% of white adults fit that profile, compared to 41% in 2011.

§ White adults showed no significant shifts in beliefs related to the importance of their faith, their willingness to self-identify as a Christian, having made a personal commitment to Christ, believing that Satan is merely symbolic, or adopting a sense of responsibility for sharing their faith with those who believe differently.

Changes in the Faith of Hispanics
The ethnic group that reflected the most profound level of religious change over the last 20 years was Hispanics. Not only did Hispanics see the greatest number of the 14 religious variables shift, but the magnitude of the changes they have experienced dwarfed the changes relevant to white and black adults.

Of the six religious behavior factors tracked, Hispanics have experienced statistically significant change related to five of those domains.

§ Church attendance dropped by 21 percentage points, from 54% to 33%.

§ Adult Sunday school attendance among Hispanics declined from 28% to just 9%.

§ Bible reading plummeted from 55% to 30%.

§ Attending a church of 600 or more people is much more likely these days among Hispanics. While that was the case among less than 1% of Hispanics in 1991, 24% attend a large church today.

§ The percentage of unchurched Hispanic adults has doubled in the last two decades, jumping from 20% in 1991 to 40% today.

§ The only behavior that did not transition substantially in the past 20 years was church volunteerism. While even that statistic sank from 22% back in 1991 to 13% in 2011, the gap is not sufficiently large to exceed the maximum possible sampling error.

There were many changes in the religious beliefs of Hispanics, too. Of the eight core beliefs measured, Hispanic adults showed major changes in relation to half of them.

§ In 1991, two-thirds of Hispanic adults (66%) said their religious faith was very important to them. Today, only half hold that view (51%).

§ Orthodox views of God are far less common among Hispanics today. In 1991, almost nine out of ten (88%) held such an outlook. Now, barely six out of ten do so (62%).

§ The veracity of the Bible has taken a beating in Hispanic circles over the last two decades. In 1991, 62% of Hispanic adults strongly agreed that the Bible is accurate in all of the principles it teaches. That has dropped to just 32% now.

§ Evangelism is viewed much more dimly these days by Hispanics. While about half of them (48%) felt they had a personal responsibility to share their religious beliefs with those who believe differently back in 1991, less than two out of ten (18%) possess that same view today.

Changes in the Faith of Blacks
The most stable group of the three racial/ethnic segments has been the blacks. During the past 20 years, they have undergone significant change in just two of the 14 religious variables tracked.

§ In 1991, 38% of black adults volunteered at a church during the course of a typical week. That figure had fallen to 30% by 2011.

§ Twenty years ago nearly nine out of ten black adults (88%) held an orthodox perspective on the nature of God. Today the figure is eleven percentage points lower (77%).

Comparative Standing
The Barna report indicates that the segment that possesses beliefs most likely to align with those taught in the Bible are blacks. On five of the eight belief factors, blacks were more likely than either whites or Hispanics to reflect a scriptural view. Specifically, blacks were more likely than other segments to say:

§ Their religious beliefs are very important in their life today

§ They have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today

§ They believe that God is “the all-knowing, all-powerful and perfect Creator of the universe who still rules the world today”

§ They strongly agree that the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches

§ They have a personal responsibility to share their religious beliefs with other people who might believe differently than they do.

When the data pertaining to religious behaviors is examined, blacks stood out from the crowd on five of the six behaviors. In particular, the study shows that blacks were the most likely to:

§ Engage in church-centric activities, such as attending church services, attending a Sunday school class, and volunteering at their church during typical week

§ Read the Bible, other than at church events, during a typical week

§ Blacks were the least likely segment to be unchurched. In fact, they were only half as likely as either whites or Hispanics to be unchurched.

It’s hardly news that men and women think and behave differently. But a new analysis of national tracking surveys conducted over a 20-year period by the Barna Group profiles specific differences between the genders in relation to 14 religious beliefs and behaviors of significance. The report is the third in a series of six that constitute the annual State of the Church report released by the Barna Group. This year’s report became public simultaneous to the release of the latest trends book by author and researcher George Barna, entitled Futurecast.

Women and Faith
No population group among the sixty segments examined has gone through more spiritual changes in the past two decades than women. Of the 14 religious factors studied, women have experienced statistically significant changes related to 10 of them. Of those transitions, eight represent negative movement – that is, either less engagement in common religious behaviors or a shift in belief away from biblical teachings.

Five of the six religious behaviors tracked showed significant change.

§ Church attendance among women sank by 11 percentage points since 1991, declining to 44%. A majority of women no longer attend church services during a typical week.

§ Bible reading has plummeted by 10 percentage points, declining from half of all women reading the Bible during a typical week (excluding that done during church events) to just four out of ten doing so today (40%).

§ Sunday school involvement is less common among women these days, down seven points from the 24% mark noted in 1991.

§ Women have traditionally been the backbone of volunteer activity in churches. However, there has been a nine point slide in the percentage of women helping out at a church during any given week. That drop reflects a 31% reduction in the non-paid female work force at churches.

§ The only religious behavior that increased among women in the last 20 years was becoming unchurched. That rose a startling 17 percentage points – among the largest drops in church attachment identified in the research.

The only religious behavior tracked among women that stayed stable was the percentage who attended a church of 600 or more people, which has remained at 16%.

Although the core beliefs of women have undergone comparatively less turbulence, five of the eight beliefs tracked registered significant change.

§ Women are six percentage points less likely to say their religious faith is very important to them than they were in 1991. Even so, nearly two-thirds of them (63%) hold their faith in high regard.

§ When it comes to views on the devil, women are five percentage points less likely to write off Satan as merely a symbol of evil. Sixty-one-percent did so in 1991, but that has been reduced to 56% now.

§ Perceptions of the reliability of the Bible have taken a hit, as the percentage of women who firmly believe the Bible is accurate in all of the principles it teaches has declined by seven percentage points to 42%.

§ An even larger drop has occurred in the proportion of women who possess an orthodox view of God. Those who contend that God is the “the all-knowing, all-powerful and perfect Creator of the universe who still rules the world today” has slumped from 80% in 1991 to 70% today.

§ The percentage of women whose beliefs qualify them to be classified as born again Christians has risen significantly in the past 20 years. In 1991, 38% of woman said they had made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that remained important in their life, and also said they believed they would go to Heaven after they died solely because they confessed their sins and accepted Jesus Christ as their savior. Since then, the figure has increased slightly to 44%.

Men and Faith
While men have not undergone changes on as many religious indicators as women have since 1991, men experienced statistically significant shifts in relation to six of the 14 religious factors studied. Four of those transitions were behavioral while the other two were shifts in belief.

The four behavioral changes were all negative from a church’s perspective.

§ Church attendance declined by six percentage points among men, The research showed that the proportion of men who had attended a church service, other than a special event such as a wedding or funeral, during the week prior to their survey interview fell from 42% to 36%.

§ Sunday school attendance declined by eight percentage points among men since 1991. Only one out of eight men (13%) presently attends such a meeting in a typical week.

§ The percentage of men who volunteer at a church during a typical week has slipped by six percentage points since 1991 to its present level of 18%.

§ The proportion of unchurched men has grown by nine percentage points since 1991. Today an estimated 39% of all men can be deemed unchurched – that is, having not attended a church event, other than a special service such as a wedding or funeral, in the past six months.

The two religious beliefs that witnessed significant change were having a personal responsibility to share their religious views with others who believe differently (down five points, to just 23%); and firmly believing that the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches, down by ten points to only one-third of men (33%).

Among the surprises emerging from the research was the fact that despite decreases in core religious behaviors men are no less likely to read from the Bible these days than they were 20 years ago (41% in 2001, 40% in 1991). In fact, men and women are now equally likely to read the Bible during a typical week, thanks to the recent decline Bible reading among females.

July 27, 2011

The three oldest generational segments of America’s population have been actively redefining their faith over the past two decades. A new analysis of Barna Group data from nationwide tracking surveys covering the last two decades reveals that in regard to 14 religious variables examined, each of the generational segments has experienced significant change concerning about half of those variables. On the heels of the release of his latest trends book, Futurecast, author and researcher George Barna added this generational analysis as part of the State of the Church series of reports from the Barna Group.

Young Adults: Baby Busters
An examination of the behavior and beliefs of adults born after the Boomer generation – i.e., those born from 1965 through 1983 – showed that there has been a lot of realignment taking place within this segment. Three of the six religious behaviors and five of the eight religious beliefs have undergone statistically significant change since 1991.

Among the behaviors that have shifted were:

§ Bible reading undertaken during the week preceding the survey interview, excluding reading that occurred during church events, jumped nine percentage points, reaching 41% in 2011.

§ Volunteering at a church during a typical week also grew by nine percentage points. The proportion climbed to 19% in 2011.

§ The proportion of unchurched Busters – i.e., those who had not attended any church services during the past six months, not including special events such as weddings or funerals – hit 39% in 2011. That represented an eight percentage point increase since 1991.

Five belief-oriented measures also witnessed significant change among the Busters during the past twenty years.

§ The percentage of Busters who describe themselves as Christians increased by nine points. Currently, 80% embrace that label.

§ Making a personal commitment to Jesus Christ became much more fashionable among Busters during the last twenty years. Sixty percent of Busters have done so, a rise of 12 percentage points since 1991.

§ Busters have become less indifferent toward the existence of Satan. Since 1991 there has been a ten percentage point drop in those who believe that Satan is simply a symbol of evil but not a living entity. However, a majority of Busters (55%) still concur that Satan is not a living being.

§ Busters are less prone to believe that the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches than they were twenty years ago. The proportion of those who strongly affirm the complete accuracy of the Bible’s principles has declined by 11 percentage points during that time, dropping to 35%.

§ Being born again is more common today than ever among Busters. In 1991, only 23% met the criteria – saying they have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life, as well as believing that they will experience eternal salvation only because they have confessed their sins and accepted Jesus Christ as their savior. In 2011, 37% of Busters could be classified as born again.

The World Changers: Baby Boomers
No generation has been as widely chronicled as the Boomers, the post-war group born from 1946 through 1964. At every stage of their existence, this generation has redefined America’s ways of life – including its faith and spirituality. Four of their six religious behaviors and two of their eight religious beliefs tracked in this study have undergone statistically significant change since 1991.

The four religious behaviors that shifted included the following.

§ Church attendance plummeted by 12 percentage points, dipping to 38% in 2011.

§ Sunday school attendance by Boomers fell by nine points, from 23% in 1991 to just 14% in 2011.

§ Volunteering at churches was less likely among Boomers in 2011 than was the case twenty years ago, declining from 28% in 1991 to 18% in 2011.

§ While the Boomers have never been the generation most likely to attend church, during the past 20 years the percentage of unchurched Boomers has risen dramatically, jumping up 18 points! At 41%, they are now the generation most likely to be unchurched, surpassing the 39% level among Busters.

The pair of religious beliefs that have yielded substantial change in the last two decades are declines in those who hold an orthodox view of God (down six points, to 67%); and a reduction in those who are strongly convinced that the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches (down seven points, to just 38%).

The pre-Boomer Segments – aka the Elders
This generational equivalent is a combination of the Builders (1927-1945) and Seniors (born prior to 1927), representing adults who are presently 66 or older. While many might assume that there would be little change in the spiritual lives of these folks, other than that brought on by physical infirmities, the survey data paint a different picture. Four of the six behaviors tracked experienced significant changes, and three of the eight beliefs followed also showed noteworthy shifts.

The four behavioral shifts involved these dimensions:

§ Sunday school attendance dropped by eight points, from 28% in 1991 to 20% today.

§ Bible reading undertaken during the past week, apart from such reading during church events, declined by eight points as well, moving from 54% to 46%.

§ Unexpectedly, older Americans have gradually become more open to attending large churches. During the last 20 years there has been a 12-point increase in Elders who now attend a church of 600 or more people. Neither of the other generations reflected any proportional change in this dimension, suggesting that the growth in attendance at large churches is predominantly attributable to either transfer growth among post-Elders or to Elders leaving small churches in favor of larger communities of faith.

§ The proportion of unchurched climbed eight points since 1991 among this group. Today three out of ten adults 66 or older (29%) are unchurched.

These are the trio of beliefs that experienced significant change since 1991.

§ The number of Elders who have made a personal commitment to Jesus that is still important in their life these days rose by ten percentage points. That level now stands at three out of every four elderly Americans (76%).

§ Concurrently, the percentage of Elders who meet the born again criteria (described above) increased by 11 points. Elders are far more likely than their younger colleagues to be classified, based on their beliefs rather than self-identification, as born again (49%).

§ The proportion of Elders who believe that “God is the all-knowing, all-powerful creator of the universe who continues to rule that world today” has dropped by nine percentage points. Presently 71% have adopted that view, down from 80% in 1991.

In light of these results, George Barna has provided interpretive comments regarding these trends on his blog site, georgebarna.com. During the coming week (August 1 – 4) Barna will release four additional summaries regarding how the 14 religious factors tracked since 1991 have shifted according to people’s region, gender, ethnicity, and religious affiliation. He will also continue to provide commentary after each release on his blog site.

July 25, 2011

George Barna, author of the new trends book Futurecast, has just released the first in a series of assessments of how America’s faith has shifted in the past 20 years on 14 religious variables. In the series of briefs, Barna explores not only the aggregate national patterns, but also digs into how matters have changed according to gender, ethnicity, region, generation, and religious segments.

Religious Behavior
An examination of six religious behaviors tracked over the past 20 years among American adults shows that five of the six experienced statistically significant changes during that time frame.

§ Bible reading undertaken during the course of a typical week, other than passages read while attending church events, has declined by five percentage points. Currently an estimated 40% of adults read the Bible during a typical week.

§ Church volunteerism has dropped by eight percentage points since 1991. Presently, slightly less than one out of every five adults (19%) donates some of their time in a typical week to serving at a church.

§ Adult Sunday school attendance has also diminished by eight percentage points over the past two decades. On any given Sunday, about 15% of adults can be expected to show up in a Sunday school class.

§ The most carefully watched church-related statistic is adult attendance. Since 1991, attendance has receded by nine percentage points, dropping from 49% in 1991 to 40% in 2011.

§ The most prolific change in religious behavior among those measured has been the increase in the percentage of adults categorized as unchurched. The Barna Group definition includes all adults who have not attended any religious events at a church, other than special ceremonies such as a wedding or funeral, during the prior six month period. In 1991, just one-quarter of adults (24%) were unchurched. That figure has ballooned by more than 50%, to 37% today.

The only behavior that did not experience any real change was the percentage of adults who attend a church of 600 or more people.

Religious Beliefs
The Barna summary included eight beliefs that have been tracked since 1991. Among those just three experienced statistically significant change.

§ The percentage of adults who can be classified as born again Christians, based on their belief that they will experience eternal salvation based on their commitment to Jesus Christ, personal confession of sins, and acceptance of Christ as their savior, has risen by five percentage points. In 1991, the national estimate was 35% of adults met those criteria. Currently, 40% of adults can be classified as born again.

§ When asked to choose one of several descriptions of God, the proportion who believe that God is “the all-knowing, all-powerful and perfect Creator of the universe who still rules the world today” currently stands at two-thirds of the public (67%). That represents a seven point drop from the 1991 level.

§ The biggest shift has been in people’s perceptions of the Bible. In 1991, 46% of adults strongly affirmed that “the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches.” That has slumped to just 38% who offer the same affirmation today.

Among the religious beliefs that have remained relatively constant over the past 20 years were the percentage of adults who describe themselves as Christian (84%); those who say their religious faith is very important in their life today (56%); those who have made a “personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in my life today” (65%); the proportion who agree that Satan is not a living entity but merely a symbol of evil (56%); those who strongly believe that they have a personal responsibility to share their religious beliefs with others who believe differently (25%).

George Barna commented on the significance of these trends on his blog site, www.georgebarna.com, and indicated that over the next eight days he will release five additional summaries of how the fourteen factors tracked since 1991 have shifted among regions, generations, genders, ethnicities, and religious segments. He will also continue to provide commentary after each release on his blog site.

The out-and-out Christian is a joyful Christian. The half-and-half Christian is the kind of Christian that a great many of you are little acquainted with the Lord. Why should we live halfway up the hill and swathed in the mists, when we might have an unclouded sky and a radiant sun over our heads if we would climb higher and walk in the light of His face. McClaren

And My Father is the Husbandman—John 15:1

A vine must have a husbandman to plant and watch over it, to receive and rejoice in its fruit. Jesus says: “My Father is the husbandman.” He was “the vine of God’s planting.” All He was and did, He owed to the Father; in all He only sought the Father’s will and glory. He had become man to show us what a creature ought to be to its Creator. He took our place, and the spirit of His life before the Father was ever what He seeks to make ours: “Of him, and through him, and to him are all things.” He became the true Vine, that we might be true branches. Both in regard to Christ and ourselves the words teach us the two lessons of absolute dependence and perfect confidence.

My Father is the Husbandman.—Christ ever lived in the spirit of what He once said: “The Son can do nothing of himself.” As dependent as a vine is on a husbandman for the place where it is to grow, for its fencing in and watering and pruning. Christ felt Himself entirely dependent on the Father every day for the wisdom and the strength to do the Father’s will. As He said in the previous chapter (Jn. 14:10): “The words that I say unto you, I speak not from Myself; but the Father abiding in Me doeth his works.” This absolute dependence had as its blessed counterpart the most blessed confidence that He had nothing to fear: the Father could not disappoint Him. With such a Husbandman as His Father, He could enter death and the grave. He could trust God to raise Him up. All that Christ is and has, He has, not in Himself, but from the Father.

My Father is the Husbandman.—That is as blessedly true for us as for Christ. Christ is about to teach His disciples about their being branches. Before He ever uses the word, or speaks at all of abiding in Him or bearing fruit, He turns their eyes heavenward to the Father watching over them, and working all in them. At the very root of all Christian life lies the thought that God is to do all, that our work is to give and leave ourselves in His hands, in the confession of utter helplessness and dependence, in the assured confidence that He gives all we need. The great lack of the Christian life is that, even where we trust Christ, we leave God out of the count. Christ came to bring us to God. Christ lived the life of a man exactly as we have to live it. Christ the Vine points to God the Husbandman.

As He trusted God, let us trust God, that everything we ought to be and have, as those who belong to the Vine, will be given us from above. Isaiah said: “A vineyard of red wine; I the Lord do keep it, I will water it every moment; lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.” Ere we begin to think of fruit or branches, let us have our heart filled with the faith: as glorious as the Vine, is the Husbandman. As high and holy as is our calling, so mighty and loving is the God who will work it all. As surely as the Husbandman made the Vine what it was to be, will He make each branch what it is to be. Our Father is our Husbandman, the Promise of our growth and fruit.

I am the True Vine—John 15:1

All earthly things are the shadows of heavenly realities—the expression, in created, visible forms, of the invisible glory of God. The Life and the Truth are in Heaven; on earth we have figures and shadows of the heavenly truths. When Jesus says: “I am the true Vine,” He tells us that all the vines of earth are pictures and emblems of Himself. He is the divine reality, of which they are the created expression. They all point to Him, and preach Him, and reveal Him. If you would know Jesus, study the vine. How many eyes have gazed on and admired a great vine with its beautiful fruit. Come and gaze on the heavenly Vine till your eye turns from all else to admire Him. How many, in a sunny clime, sit and rest under the shadow of a vine. Come and be still under the shadow of the true Vine, and rest under it from the heat of the day. What countless numbers rejoice in the fruit of the vine! Come, and take, and eat of the heavenly fruit of the true Vine, and let your soul say: “I sat under His shadow with great delight, and His fruit was sweet to my taste.”

I am the true Vine.—This is a heavenly mystery. The earthly vine can teach you much about this Vine of Heaven. Many interesting and beautiful points of comparison suggest themselves, and help us to get conceptions of what Christ meant. But such thoughts do not teach us to know what the heavenly Vine really is, in its cooling shade, and its life-giving fruit. The experience of this is part of the hidden mystery, which none but Jesus Himself, by His Holy Spirit, can unfold and impart.

I am the true Vine.—The vine is the living Lord, who Himself speaks, and gives, and works all that He has for us. If you would know the meaning and power of that word, do not think to find it by thought or study; these may help to show you what you must get from Him to awaken desire and hope and prayer, but they cannot show you the Vine. Jesus alone can reveal Himself. He gives His Holy Spirit to open the eyes to gaze upon Himself, to open the heart to receive Himself. He must Himself speak the word to you and me.

I am the true Vine.—And what am I to do, if I want the mystery, in all its heavenly beauty and blessing, opened up to me? With what you already know of the parable, bow down and be still, worship and wait, until the divine Word enters your heart, and you feel His holy presence with you, and in you. The overshadowing of His holy love will give you the perfect calm and rest of knowing that the Vine will do all.

I am the true Vine.—He who speaks is God, in His infinite power able to enter into us. He is man, one with us. He is the crucified One, who won a perfect righteousness and a divine life for us through His death. He is the glorified One, who from the throne gives His Spirit to make His presence real and true. He speaks—oh, listen, not to His words only, but to Himself, as He whispers secretly day by day: “I am the true Vine! All that the Vine can ever be to its branch, “I will be to you.”

With the economy still struggling, national security still an issue, continual advances in technology, and a myriad of moral and legal challenges rewriting people’s sense of propriety, Americans have pushed the reset button regarding their lifestyle and future expectations.

The traditional American Dream – which included a house in the suburbs, two cars, two children, a stay-at-home mom and a gainfully employed father – is being revised. The nature of that redefinition is explained in Futurecast, the latest book by researcher George Barna, who explores the future of American society in eight dimensions of our lives.

According to Barna, the reshaping of the Dream is a reaction to mistakes of the recent past. Those missteps include:

• Living beyond the family’s economic means, in the expectation that the future will provide greater financial capacity. Expectations have been significantly downgraded in the wake of the economic slump that is going on four years in duration.

• Piling on unsustainable levels of household debt, in the belief that future financial gains from housing and employment will cover the burden. In the aftermath of record-setting levels of unemployment and under-employment, decimated housing values, tighter loan policies, and historic highs in foreclosures, adults are re-thinking their spending habits.

• The absence of savings, trusting that the future will provide increased income and decreased prices. After a period of negative savings, Americans have re-learned the art of saving. While reserves remain relatively low, putting a few dollars away for the future is increasingly becoming part of the household financial routine.

• Purchasing the best available goods and services. The nationwide financial dive has driven millions of Americans to alter their sense of “needs” – to the point of accepting products and services that are not the most expensive, most prestigious, most exotic, or most exclusive. There are indications that growing numbers of people have learned to distinguish needs from wants.

“One of the keys to understanding where we are headed,” explained George Barna, “is how willing people are to engage in acts of self-discipline. We see such restraint being forced on people economically. We are not seeing evidence of such discipline in areas such as moral values or spiritual commitment.”

Futurecast provides information about trends related to American lifestyles, family life, attitudes and values, media use, technology integration, entertainment preferences, religious beliefs and behavior, institutional faith, and demographics. Published by Tyndale Publishing, as part of the BarnaBooks line regarding faith and culture, the book represents the third such trends-oriented written book by Barna, released a decade apart. (Prior trends titles included the award-winning The Frog in the Kettle in 1990 and Boiling Point, with co-author Mark Hatch, in 2000.)

Early reviews have also pointed out the multitude of fascinating facts delivered in Futurecast. Among some of the insights pointed out by readers are:

• America’s emphasis upon legal action has produced a “litigation tax” – the amount of money a typical citizen pays each year due to the cost of court awards that get passed on to consumers – of $835 per person. America currently has more lawyers than it has doctors.

• Despite the ubiquitous presence of sexuality in American media, and the widespread focus on sex in daily conversation and behavior, roughly one-third of all marriages are “sexless” marriages – those in which the married couple has sex less than 10 times per year.

• Barna describes more than a dozen seminal shifts in core attitudes and values. One of the more intriguing transitions is away from the quest for excellence toward satisfaction with adequacy in personal productivity.

• Although the “big four” music companies have struggled to remain profitable in the age of digital singles and music piracy, several indicators show that music is more popular than ever. It serves various purposes for the public: a distraction, engaging entertainment, instructional philosophy, representative communication, the foundation of generational language, the source of role models, and a means of connecting people.

• The faster growing faith group in America is the Skeptics. Comprised of the combination of atheists and agnostics, the segment has doubled in size in the last 25 years.

• Various measures indicate that Americans remain deeply interested in connecting with God, but fewer and fewer retain enthusiasm about doing so in a conventional church setting or through long-standing religious institutions. Millions of Americans are currently marking time until new, more appealing avenues of faith expression and experience are developed and accessible.

George Barna encourages leaders to remain aware of the trends so that they and the people they lead do not become victims of those patterns. “Leaders define reality for people. You cannot effectively define your slice of the world if you’re always a step behind, trying to undo what has already been done. True leaders are compelled by a vision of a superior tomorrow to create that world. You have to grasp the current state of things and the direction things are moving in order to effectively direct the flow of energy and resources. Leadership never happens in an information vacuum; it always builds on trend awareness and cultural potential.”

It’s been said that genius is 99 percent perspiration and 1 percent inspiration, but that 1 percent, which is infinitely more valuable than its corresponding bucket of sweat, can be frustratingly hard to come by. According to Northwestern University business professor Adam Galinsky, the best way to rev up your insight quotient is by jumping a time zone or twelve and bidding au revoir to the daily grind.

Galinsky, along with INSEAD business school professor William Maddux, conducted a study in 2009 to determine whether time spent living in a foreign country enhanced creative thinking skills. They developed five tests to measure adaptability, associational thinking, and insight skills, and found that subjects who’d lived abroad consistently scored higher than those who’d traveled abroad for shorter periods or those who stuck close to home. The reason for the globetrotters’ creative prowess, according to Galinsky, as reported on CNN.com, was they’d been immersed and actively engaged in new, otherwise unavailable perspectives, which challenged and enriched the way they viewed themselves and their lives back home.

But you don’t necessarily have to travel across the globe to get a fresh perspective. Getting your creative juices flowing might be as simple as giving your brain some much-needed downtime in a stimulus-saturated world.

Turn off the cell phone, go for walk and visit someone you like. We have wonderful trails and state facilities around us and a few minutes with just you and the Lord can reap big dividends.

There is a second hindrance in the spiritual way of faith. In the life of every plant and every animal and every child there lies sufficient power by which it can become big. In the new life, God has made the most glorious provision of a sufficient power whereby His child can grow and become all that he must be. Christ Himself is his life and his power of life. (Ps. 18:2; 27:1; 38:3; 34:8; John 14:19; Gal. 2:20; Col. 3:3, 4). Yet, because this mighty life is not visible or cannot be felt, but works in the midst of human weakness, the young Christian often becomes of doubtful mind. He then fails to believe that he shall grow with Divine power and certainty. He does not understand that the believing life is a life of faith whereby he reckons on the life that is in Christ for him, although he neither sees, feels, nor experiences anything. (Hab. 2:4; Matt. 6:27; Rom. 1:17; Gal. 3:11; Heb. 10:38). http://ow.ly/5mBCl