Transcript Churchless Ross Hoagland All graphics in this presentation have been shamelessly stolen from BARNA.ORG.

Churchless
Ross Hoagland
All graphics in this presentation have been
shamelessly stolen from BARNA.ORG.
© Barna Group www.barna.org/churchless
© Barna Group www.barna.org/churchless
What is the Bible?
View of the Bible
Churched Unchurched
The actual Word of God; it should be taken literally, word
for word
33%
12%
The inspired Word of God; it has no errors, although
some verses are meant to be symbolic rather than literal
39%
17%
The Inspired Word of God; it has some factual or
historical errors
14%
17%
Not inspired by God, but tells how the writers of the
Bible understood the ways and principles of God
5%
13%
Just another book of teachings written by men that
contains stories and advice
4%
32%
Some other view of the Bible
1%
2%
Not sure
3%
8%
To many unchurched people, attending a church
looks like becoming an active participant in a club
or organization whose central purpose is to
celebrate and promote a leader who has never
visited the group and is not alive; that is based on a
life philosophy that was written thousands of years
ago in a very different culture; and whose core
values are often misunderstood or even ignored by
other members. How difficult, with these
assumptions, to see how belonging to a local
church is desirable or even reasonable.
In the research…..our team discovered that 84%
of young non-Christians say they know a Christian
personally, yet only 15% say the lifestyles of those
believers are noticeably different in a good way.
•AND 7 in 10 believe that our faith is out of touch
with reality
•Is there truth in these perceptions?
•What, if anything, should we do about it?
Characteristics of people ages 18-41
•They want a unique and personal journey in life
•Relationships are their driving force
•Are irreverent and blunt
•Are skeptical of institutions, leaders and products
•They reject what “doesn’t work for them”
•Expect to participate in the process
•Journey is more important than the destination
•Raised in a market drenched world they are
quick to sniff out real motivations and
superficialities
•Are pragmatic
•Tend to focus on current experiences
CLASS CHALLENGE
•1 Take an interest in someone you don’t know
well or tend to avoid by asking them 5 questions
about themselves
•2 Listen to someone’s opinion (that you disagree
with) about some topic, affirm that you heard
them, agree with what you can, but offer no
contrary opinion until another conversation
•3 As you casually interact with people, try to
make eye contact, smile or greet them, note
something you like about them, then say a quick
silent prayer for them
•4 Admit a failing or weakness of yours to
someone you don’t know very well
•5 Stop and talk with and offer assistance to a
homeless person (apart from giving them
money)
•6 Greet and engage someone you only know
casually
•7 Show a specific kindness to or greet someone
you don’t like very much
•8 Compliment someone at the moment that you
feel competitive with them
•9 Thank God for 10 different things every day for
a week
•10 Say a prayer out loud (not when you are with
them) for someone who annoys you
•11 Call an old friend for no reason other than to
ask how they are
•12 Go through one day without complaining
•13 Go through one day without gossiping
•14 Bless that moron child of God who cut you off
in traffic
•15 Engage someone who is socially awkward or is
difficult for you to be around
•16 Do a kindness for someone for no reason,
offer no explanation, and accept nothing in
return
•17 Say please and thank you to the server at the
restaurant and leave a bigger tip than you
normally would
•18 Give a gift to someone who is not in your
family for no holiday reason
• 19 Turn a lustfull thought towards someone into a
prayer for them
• 20 Give away something you own that is meaningful
to you to someone you know that would also like to
have it
• 21 Talk to someone from a younger generation
about their opinion about a subject and
acknowledge their insight and wisdom as you
honestly can
•For some time now, the hands and feet of the
body of Christ have been amputated, and we’ve
been pretty much reduced to a big mouth. We
talk far more than we do. It’s time to reattach
the limbs and let the church be the church in the
21st century.
-Rick Warren