Interesting research
I am a data junkie. I love to read Barna’s stuff because I glean a lot from numbers. (although I’ve always had trouble concentrating on Numbers in the Bible). Barna’s new book is about the Seven Faith Tribes in America today. Casual Christians, Captive Christians, Jews, Mormons, Pantheists, Muslims, and Skeptics. The book is about how America will be shaped in the future by these seven tribes. I haven’t read the book but have read excerpts on his website and definitely will buy it soon.
In this quote Barna describes the difference between Casual Christians and Captive Christians:
“The big difference between these two tribes is how they define a successful life. For Captives, success is obedience to God, as demonstrated by consistently serving Christ and carrying out His commands and principles. For Casuals, success is balancing everything just right so that they are able to maximize their opportunities and joys in life without undermining their perceived relationship with God and others. Stated differently, Casuals are about moderation in all things while Captives are about extreme devotion to their God regardless of the worldly consequences.”
Most people in our churches are Casuals at best, trying to balance life so that God doesn’t “get them” but live so they don’t offend their neighbors with their religious convictions. Another words it’s a life of compromise for the majority of us. I wonder what a church or community would look like when or if we all got serious about living a “Captive” life?
Imagine a church of 4000 like WRC where 100% of the attendees decided to live a “fully devoted life” in all areas of their lives – marriage, children, work, finances, community involvement, giving, serving, recreation, school, etc. What would the community look like? Would there be a difference in juvenile crime, abortion, child/spouse abuse, homelessness, joblessness, hunger, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, etc? See for so long the church defined devotion as not drinking, smoking, or having pre-marital or extra-marital sex. And devotion may mean some of those things.
Devotion means that when God says “GO” we go. We are afraid that may mean Africa or Asia. What if it just meant “GO” next door and make sure your neighbors needs are being met? What if it meant taking in a foster child? What if it meant taking in a pregnant teen? What if it meant mentoring a juvenile delinquent? What if meant encouraging a recovering drug or alcohol abuser? What if it meant sitting with an elderly widow or widower? What if it meant coaching a little league team? What if it meant giving an extra $5.00 to feed someone? I could go on and on.
The question is, “What captivates you?” What difference does it make? I wonder if I’m really captivated sometimes. What difference am I making? Tough questions. Don’t know that I have an answer right now. How are you leading your church to be captivated? Make a difference.
