Conference Call with George Gallup Jr. November
21, 2002
About 100 Christian
leaders around the country had the privilege of participating in a conference
call sponsored by Mission America. This lasted about an hour, with a
half-hour of questions from Mission America and then an open half-hour where we could
ask questions. With George Gallup, Jr. was Michael Lindsay, (Princeton University) who is a consultant with George and one of the foremost educators in America if not the world. Both are very committed
Christians with a very deep faith. This paper includes notes from that
conversation. Sometimes the speaker was not identified, so forgive me if the
source is wrong or I’ve misquoted.
The key question that Glenn Barth and
Jarvis Ward (Mission America)
led with from Mission America
was for them to define some significant spiritual insights they have see from
their research.
Key Concerns:
- Many who
identify themselves as Christians do not know what they believe or why.
They don’t know who gave the Sermon on the Mount, they don’t understand
the doctrine of Grace with their faith or other faiths, can’t quote much
scripture, and don’t know the Ten Commandments. Our religious education
programs have failed. The percent of people with a college education today
has more than tripled, but religious knowledge has declined dramatically.
- There
is an overwhelming increase in relativism in modern life.
Positive Issues:
- There
is a deep, deep spiritual hunger in the country, and this hunger is
growing dramatically. This hunger is for God and a relationship (intimacy)
with God.
- There
is a growing interest in the church for more outreach, particularly social
outreach.
Other Findings:
- People
today are very interested in getting faith back into the public schools.
The issue is who sets the agenda.
- In America
today about 42% of the people attend church at least 1 or 2 times a month.
(In Portland our last surveys
show it’s about 18-20% here.)
- Their surveys
show about 40% of Americans are experiencing a
deep pain of loneliness (See below). This is due to the high mobility of
our culture and the difficulty of people experiencing any community level.
There was some question here from Glen to George about 1 Chronicles
12:32 – the men of Issachar, a ministry in Israel
of men who understood the times and knew what Israel
should do. These were about 200 men. George’s comment here was that we should
try to understand the times and how to minister to the people we are trying to
reach.
The church today is doing traditional ministry, and not
ministering where the need is. Instead it should be doing transformal
ministry.
My question to them was how to motivate a church to do the
work (which takes volunteers as well as leadership) and to understand heart of
the community and the needs to which they must minister.
They said the initial step was for the area leaders to begin
praying together to get their orders and vision from God. It is from this that the
leadership begins to get their hearts in tune with God’s heart for their
community. From that core group surveys can be done, but it is essential that
you:
- Target
the survey carefully to that you get the specific information you want. The
survey questions needs to be put together in terms of the end goal. That
requires skill and experience. They have a new book out that tells how to
do this and gives the questions you should ask (see below).
- To communicate
to others the reason for the survey and the expectations that you have
when you get the results. What are you doing to do with the results?
Small Groups
This was a big issue and the two spent much time addressing
this. This, they believed, was the key to church growth today. Their surveys
show 40% of the population experiences a deep loneliness. This isn’t going to
be resolved by worship services on Sunday morning. The meeting of this need is
the role of small groups in the church. Unfortunately, people seem very busy
today and often express they don’t have time for a small group. Today, adults
are most likely to come back to the church in times of crisis – a lost job,
divorce, physical sickness, etc.. If they are
physically sick they are quite willing to go to a doctor. When psychologically
broken, however, getting them to take steps for healing and taking time for
this group experience is much more difficult. Small groups have a very
important role in giving people intimacy and the sense of belonging.
Gallup says that
today, belonging comes before believing.
The small group, then, becomes the major gateway of the church. This is where
new people come into the church and first sense this sense of belonging and
trust.
The question, then, becomes: How do you get people to commit
to the small groups (or another way of expressing this is how do you get church
growth)? First, people coming into the
church must see lives in the church that have been transformed. Then they, too,
want to experience the healing and small group process. Second, those who are
participating in the small groups must share their story. Why was the group
important to them? This encourages others to move into the groups and take the
risk.
Gallup and Lindsay have a new book out that was heavily
recommended: The Gallup Guide: Reality
Check for Twenty-First Century Churches (Group, 2002)
Carl Townsend