There has been a lot of buzz in the Christian community in recent times related to some of the polling George Barna has done regarding the relatively low numbers of self-identified Christians in America who actually hold a biblical worldview. Well, some new numbers have stirred the pot once again. He has recently released the results of polling he did among pastors – and the results are truly shocking. According to Barna’s numbers, only 51% of Protestant pastors actually hold a biblical worldview – and the numbers get dramatically worse when you move outside of the Evangelical community.
[Note: For clarity, here is how Barna defined a biblical worldview for polling purposes. People who have a biblical worldview believe that:
- absolute moral truth exists
- moral truth is based upon the Bible
- the Bible is accurate
- Jesus Christ was sinless
- Satan literally exists
- God is omnipotent and omniscient
- Salvation is by grace alone
- believers have a personal responsibility to evangelize.
Those not agreeing with these points were considered to not have a biblical worldview.]
In some ways, I find it rather shocking to even contemplate this finding. At the same time, I recognize that there are a number of different approaches that people uses to develop their theological points of view – many of them completely unbiblical. And sadly, some of these false theological systems have actually become mainstream in many liberal theological schools.
Recently I had a brief interaction with a pastor who fit the non-biblical worldview profile. Most of the pastors I interact with fit within the biblical worldview framework, but occasionally I do engage others whose guiding purpose is not to advance the gospel, but to promote some kind of “social justice” agenda.
Recently I sent out a marketing e-mail to pastors. There was nothing particularly provocative in it. I was just sharing with them the work of MarketFaith Ministries. Here is the e-mail I sent:
(Pastor),
When COVID hit, it became virtually impossible to go to churches to share my Christian worldview training. Now that things are opening back up, I am cranking up my schedule again. Since I am still very early in this process, my schedule is pretty much wide open right now.
Just for your review, and to jog your memory about me and MarketFaith Ministries:
- We are a worldview discipleship ministry (www.marketfaith.org)
- The greatest interest churches have for worldview training these days is occurring because of the increasingly anti-Christian societal environment and church member’s deeply felt need to know how to respond to it based on a Christian worldview.
- The training is VERY practical and not only discusses a biblical worldview, but also how to share one’s faith in our post-Christian society, and how to use apologetics to push back on the anti-Christian expressions that are so prominent.
I’ve found that if it is carefully scheduled and energetically promoted, a one time Friday evening and all day Saturday training will garner huge participation (though the timing can certainly be tweaked if you believe a different time would work better for your particular situation). This is a topic that huge numbers of people are interested in as it directly touches their lives.
I operate primarily on a love offering + expenses basis, though if you have a particular budget or another preference, I am open to other possibilities.
Would you be interested in exploring this possibility for your church this summer or fall?
I look forward to hearing from you.
God bless,
Freddy Davis
Shortly after sending it out to Brian, a United Methodist Pastor, I received this response:
No.
I do not encourage my congregation to develop an “us versus them” approach to the world. Your material above indicates that you see the world as “increasingly anti-Christian”. We do not fight against a media, nor an atheistic world, but instead see that the overwhelming number of people we meet are simply neutral and ignorant of what Christianity can bring to their lives. However, there are several Baptist churches and Churches of Christ in our town who would agree whole-heartedly with your worldview. I suggest you target them.
I was a little taken back by the abruptness of his response, but upon receiving it, I wrote him back the following note:
Sorry Brian,
I’m not actually advocating an “us vs. them” approach. Rather, it is a matter of so many people in society being separated from God who are promoting an anti-biblical worldview that is opposed to the traditional values of a biblical worldview. As a Christian, I don’t see them as enemies, but as our mission. My intent is not to start a fight, but to train believers how to share the transformative love of Christ in a way that is understandable to people who hold a different worldview. The focus of what I do is to train believers on the topic of worldview itself.
Hope this makes a little more sense to you.
Blessings,
Freddy
Of course I never received another response from him and didn’t really expect to. The focus of his ministry goes in an entirely different direction.
As one who has served as a pastor, I completely understand the difficulties pastoral leaders have in leading their churches. I realize trying to fit in a special emphasis that is not a part of their regular programming is not always an easy thing to do. So I recognized that if Brian did not see special worldview training as something that fit into his plan for the year, it just didn’t fit. Running into that kind of scheduling issue is actually quite common.
But the case here was not a scheduling issue. Brian made it clear that his agenda was one that went in a completely different direction from what I was offering.
The first thing I noticed was his attitude. Rather than politely decline my offer, his first comment was a curt, “No!” This was followed by a rather adversarial retort indicating not only his personal ministry direction, but also a rebuke to mine – along with a backhanded slap at churches that have priorities that are different from his. I did not take this personally, but the attitude was quite evident.
The next thing I noticed was his repudiation of the very core purpose of God’s work in the world. God wants the lost to be saved, and he wants to use believers as instruments to promote that process. Brian was careful not to say it directly, but his comments about developing an “us versus them” approach, and his unwillingness to even recognize the influence that non-Christian beliefs are having on society are noteworthy. The truth is, these things are both a challenge to our faith and a witnessing opportunity. But this was, obviously, not his priority. His focus is not to bring the gospel of Christ to the world, but to promote social justice.
But unless you think Brian is an outlier here are some of the results of the George Barna polling I referenced earlier.
- Only 51% of Protestant pastors actually hold a biblical worldview (and among United Methodists, of which Brian was a part, it is only 27%).
- 45% of seminary graduates hold a biblical worldview (compared to 59% of non-seminary graduates).
- 53% of male pastors have a biblical worldview, while only 15% of female pastors do.
- 55% of white senior pastors hold a biblical worldview, as opposed to black senior pastors at 30%.
- 56% of pastors under the age of 40 hold a biblical worldview, while it is only 50% over that age.
- 43% of pastors in the Midwest, 49% in the Northeast, 57% in the South, and 58% in the West hold a biblical worldview.
- 57% of Baptist pastors hold a biblical worldview (Southern Baptist pastors are at 71%)
- 51% of non-denominational Protestant pastors hold a biblical worldview,
- 44% of Charismatic or Pentecostal pastors hold a biblical worldview,
- 35% of black church pastors hold a biblical worldview, and
- 28% of those leading mainline Protestant congregations hold a biblical worldview.
The importance of this information should be rather obvious. In churches where the pastor does not have a biblical worldview, it is pretty certain that the church members are not getting biblical worldview teaching in their church, and the activities of those churches do not represent biblical worldview beliefs. Or to put it more bluntly, in spite of the fact that a particular pastor might self-identify as Christian, many are actually not – they do not promote what the Bible teaches.
We live in a day where a lot of false beliefs are prominent in society. It is bad enough when the false teachings are blatantly and proudly outside of the Christian arena. But it is even more insidious when churches and people claim to be Christian but promote non-Christian beliefs. Because of this, even very sincere people can be led astray. As Christians, it is critical that we become able to not only recognize false beliefs when we see them, but also have the ability to effectively counter them and accurately point non-believers to Christ.
It is evident in the political arena these days, that we cannot always trust those who are in positions of leadership. If their foundational belief system is wrong, they will lead society in a wrong direction. The same is true with those who lead in the religious arena – both at a denominational level and a local church level. The only way we can be confident of our leaders is to personally know the truth, and know what our leaders believe in relationship to the truth.
There are a lot of people in the world who follow false beliefs – in every area of life; including the faith arena. I want to challenge you now to commit yourself to master biblical worldview beliefs. With that, you will be able to easily recognize who you should allow to lead you, and who you should avoid.
© 2022 Freddy Davis
Hi Freddy!
Welcome in Jerry!