Megatrends

One of the research groups I follow is Barna. Over the years I have found their research both insightful and concise. Testing their research, I have conducted my own surveys (on a very limited scale) with pre-teens I was teaching at the time and verified everything the Barna group had found on a much broader scale.

Now Barna has release their "Six Megathemes" for 2010. They are:

1. The Christian Church is becoming less theologically literate.
2. Christians are becoming more ingrown and less outreach-oriented.
3. Growing numbers of people are less interested in spiritual principles and more desirous of learning pragmatic solutions for life.
4. Among Christians, interest in participating in community action is escalating.
5. The postmodern insistence on tolerance is winning over the Christian Church.
6. The influence of Christianity on culture and individual lives is largely invisible.

Like most of Barna's work, this should serve as a wake-up call for the American Church, if it is not already too late.

Work cited

Barna Group. (2010). Six Megathemes Emerge From Barna Research Group for 2010. Retrieved December 14, 2010, from The Barna Group: http://www.barna.org/culture-articles/462-six-megathemes-emerge-from-2010