Two of the most misused words today are “Christian” and “Evangelical.” This is only a fairly recent development. It is part and parcel of the continued corruption and perversion of language. We live in a time when anyone can call themselves a “Christian” without any evidence of how they live, speak, or believe, and the same applies to “evangelical.”
With the latest findings from the George Barna Group working from the Cultural Research Center out of Arizona Christian University, the Barna Group is arguably the most reliable and accurate chronicler of present-day culture, attitudes, and beliefs in what passes for Christianity.
When only 51% of professed evangelical Christian pastors hold a Biblical worldview? What condition can we objectively say the body is in?
How can this be? Simple. The diseased body has turned from God, from the Lord Jesus Christ, from the Holy Spirit, and from the inerrant Word of God to social justice, political agendas, feel-good motivational talks and allowed Satan to speak from the pulpits rather than believing, teaching, preaching, and exhorting from the whole holy Word of God! For there is only one true gospel, only one true Word of God and if not speaking, writing, believing from there? Anything else is of the world and he who has dominion here for a season, that Old Dragon the devil. It is all black and white. Simple. Really. No gray areas. Nothing “fuzzy” or contradictory or hard to understand.
The majority coming out of seminary schools and theology schools don’t believe what is in God’s Word so how are they going to preach it and teach it well? The overwhelming majority don’t believe Jesus was resurrected from the dead, they don’t believe in the virgin birth, and they don’t believe most of what is contained in God’s Word. Yet these go out to get jobs as pastors leading flocks. When the shepherd is a liar and a denier, led more by Satan than by the Word of God what condition can the body truly be in?
Let’s not mince words or pretend. Every person and this includes pastors and teachers who are held to a higher standard by God [see James if you don’t believe or know this] who is not truly, fully, wholly invested in believing all of the Holy Bible and does not possess a Biblical worldview? They then have a worldly, or secular worldview. From Satan’s vantage point rather than from the cross, from the empty tomb, from the Lord of lords and King of kings!
There is no halfway, partial, or a certain percentage to “being a Christian.”
One either is, or they ain’t. Period.
To have only roughly half of so-called evangelical pastors possessing and thus preaching from a Biblical worldview is a sign of the times no one ought to ignore or brush off, excuse, or not take to heart the seriousness of such knowledge.
Nothing is left up to debate, nor is unclear. Each person either is truly transformed into a new creature, born anew by the Supernatural power of the Spirit of God — THUS CHANGING THEM FROM WITHIN TO NOT BE AS THEY ONCE WERE — or they have not been truly regenerated, born anew, and thus no matter what they may say or think? Or pretend? They are not a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, they are not a child of God.
It isn’t about denominations, it isn’t about church attendance, it isn’t about outward appearances or saying what is believed to be the right things. It’s all and only about being truly born anew and forever changed by the Holy Spirit or not experiencing that and not knowing, not truly being a Christian.
It doesn’t matter what anyone — ANYONE — in the world says. It only matters what the Word of God says.
Doesn’t matter if a pastor or a layperson. Title doesn’t matter. The heart, the spirit, the soul, if truly from the darkness to being light — that’s what matters [that’s in the Bible as well. Don’t take my word for it search the Scriptures to find this truth within the Word of God!]
Woe to the church, woe to what is called today the “body of believers” when so few pastors truly believe.
Ken Pullen
Monday, May 30th, 2022
“Shocking” Survey Finds Only 51% of Evangelical Pastors Hold a Biblical Worldview
30 May 2022
By Ian M. Giatti
Reprinted from Christian Today [in the U.K.]
Once considered the “denomination” of Scriptural truth-bearers, Evangelical Christians might be in jeopardy of losing their theological reputation.
In what researchers described as a “shocking” find, a new report from the Cultural Research Center (CRC) at Arizona Christian University indicated just over half of all U.S. pastors of Evangelical churches (51%) have a biblical worldview.
This study, released Tuesday, builds on an earlier report from CRC’s “American Worldview Inventory 2022,” which showed that just 37% of Christian pastors bring a biblical worldview with them to their pulpits.
Launched as an annual tracking study in 2020, the American Worldview Inventory is a survey that evaluates the worldview of American adults. It is based on 54 worldview-related questions that measure both beliefs and behavior within eight categories of worldview application: purpose and calling; family and value of life; God, creation and history; faith practices; sin, salvation, and relationship with God; human character and nature; lifestyle, behavior and relationships; and Bible, truth and morals.
The nationwide study of about 1,000 Christian pastors conducted between February and March found that 57% of pastors leading nondenominational and independent churches held a biblical worldview, which researchers called “Biblical Theism.” Nondenominational and independent churches were even more likely to subscribe to a biblical worldview than leaders of Evangelical churches, 51% of whom abide by biblical theism in their daily lives.
Perhaps most surprisingly, just 48% of pastors of Baptist churches, widely viewed as the most enthusiastic about embracing the Bible as the Word of God, held a biblical worldview. Pastors of Southern Baptist churches, by contrast, were far more likely (78%) to have consistently biblical beliefs.
Much smaller shares of pastors belonging to other denominational categories possessed a biblical worldview, according to the report. Just over a third of charismatic or Pentecostal church pastors — 37% — hold a biblical worldview, slightly higher than pastors from mainline Protestant churches (32%) and those aligned with “holiness theology” (28%), which is generally aligned with Pentecostal teachings but promises believers can reach a “sinless state” following their conversion.
Pastors associated with “Traditionally Black Protestant” churches and Catholic priests were found least likely to hold to biblical theism, with the incidence of biblical worldview measured in single digits. Nine percent of pastors leading traditionally black churches had a biblical worldview, along with 6% of Catholic priests.
“The old labels attached to families of churches are not as useful as they were in the past,” said lead researcher George Barna, director of research for the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University, in a statement. “The best example is the term ‘Evangelical,’ which has traditionally connoted churches where the Bible is revered and is taught as God’s reliable and relevant word for our lives.”
“With barely half of Evangelical pastors possessing a biblical worldview — and that number continuing to decline — attending what may be considered an ‘Evangelical’ church no longer ensures a pastoral staff that has a high view of the scriptures.”
The research also examined the worldviews of pastors based on the size of the congregation they serve. In churches with an average of 100 or fewer adults attending weekend services, 41% of the pastors were designated as “Integrated Disciples,” meaning that they have a biblical worldview that has been successfully translated into their daily behavior.
Larger fellowships with 101 to 250 adults fared even better, with 45% of their pastors holding a biblical worldview. However, just 14% of pastors leading mid-sized churches of between 250 and 600 people possessed a biblical worldview, while 15% of pastors of congregations with more than 600 adults were considered integrated disciples.
“You cannot give what you do not have, so it is plausible that pastors of some large churches attract people by teaching a cultural standard rather than a biblical standard,” Barna explained. “There are obviously some great Bible-teaching churches and pastors among the nation’s largest congregations, but the data suggest it is more common to find pastors with a biblical worldview in smaller churches.”
Beyond fellowship size, the incidence of a biblical worldview also varied based on the race and ethnicity of the congregation served.
The survey found that a majority of U.S. Christian congregations (67%) are white-dominant, followed by 10% that are black-dominant, 4% that are primarily Hispanic, and 3% with another minority group comprising the majority. Another 16% are mixed ethnicity congregations.
Among those mixed fellowships, 7% are primarily whites and blacks, 5% mainly consist of whites and Hispanics, 3% are mainly whites and Asians and the remaining 1% have various other combinations.
Describing the findings as “not as expected,” the report found that 42% of pastors leading all or mostly white churches had a biblical worldview. By contrast, 34% of pastors in mixed congregations composed primarily of whites and Hispanics possessed a biblical worldview, followed by 31% of those leading churches attended by multiple ethnic groups, 27% of pastors of mainly black churches, 23% for churches where the body is a mixture of either whites and blacks or whites and Asians and just 7% of pastors shepherding mostly Hispanic churches.
Another study released last month showed that more pastors now say they considered quitting their jobs compared to a year ago, citing stress, loneliness, political divisions, and other concerns like their church being in decline as reasons why they want to take a different path. The share of pastors who have seriously considered quitting being in full-time ministry within the last year increased from 29% in 2021 to 42% in March of this year.
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