(Ventura, CA) A study released earlier this year by the Barna Research Group shows that a substantial gap exists between the perspectives of Protestant senior pastors and the beliefs and religious practices of the laity within those churches. In particular, key differences emerged in terms of church identity, theological perspectives, and ministry involvement.

A new study finds that the issue of spiritual revival could be added to that list of differences. The research -- commissioned by Gospel Light and conducted by the Barna Research Group -- indicates that church leaders and congregants hold disparate views about spiritual revival and its implications for the Church.

Getting a Handle on Revival

The most surprising finding of this study was that only a small minority of church-goers -- just 1 out of 7 (14%) -- could accurately describe the term spiritual revival.2 Comparatively, even among unchurched adults, 7% offered a "correct" account of revival. Another 1 out of 4 church attenders (25%) offered a description of revival that was so vague, it was not possible to decipher whether or not they actually possessed a realistic perspective about revival, even after follow-up probing by interviewers. That means that more than 6 out of 10 churched adults (61%) possess significant misconceptions about revival or do not understand the term at even the most basic level.

The laity's lack of clarity about revival stands in direct contrast to what most of them would have experienced in their church during recent months. The study discovered that 3 out of 4 pastors (75%) said they have preached a sermon on the subject of revival and how each individual in their congregation might participate in revival-oriented ministry within the past six months.

Other Differences

There were several key differences that further illustrate the gap between pastors and laity in regards to revival.

Two-thirds of pastors (66%) agreed strongly that spiritual revival is the single most pressing issue facing the Church in America today. However, only half of adults who attend Christian churches (51%) agreed that revival is the top challenge facing the Church. One implication of this finding is that the job of motivating and mobilizing the laity to contribute in revival efforts may be more difficult than pastors would otherwise expect.

The typical pastor was also much more optimistic than was the average congregant regarding their church's willingness to facilitate revival. Among pastors, 2 out of 3 (67%) agreed that their church is committed to doing as much as possible to bring about spiritual revival in their area. However, among church attenders, slightly more than half (56%) agreed with the statement.

Pastors were also significantly more likely than were church attenders to assert that their church specifically asks the congregation to fast or pray for revival (66% to 40%, respectively).

The only apparent similarity between pastors and their congregations involved the proportion who believe that spiritual revival is currently occurring. About half of both groups said they believe that revival is taking place (54% among pastors and 50% among adults).

The View From the Pulpit

The study also found that most churches engage in activities specifically to help foster or facilitate spiritual revival these days. In addition to most pastors preaching sermons on the topic of revival during the past six months, 2 out of 3 pastors (66%) claimed to have encouraged their congregation to fast or pray for revival in that same time frame. A slim majority of pastors (52%) said that they have organized a special prayer group or prayer event within their church specifically for revival. Overall, 4 out of 10 churches (40%) have engaged in all three revival-oriented activities in the past six months.

In terms of the profile of those churches that are the most ideologically supportive of revival and the most active in facilitating it, there were several significant patterns. Revival-oriented churches were more likely than average to be described by their pastor as charismatic or Pentecostal. But the revival-oriented segment is also comprised of a disproportionately large percentage of Southern Baptist and Baptist churches. Regionally, revival-oriented churches were more likely than average to be located in the South. Pastors of these churches were less likely to have a seminary degree and were more likely than average to be 53 and older.

Churches which were indifferent toward revival tended to be affiliated with mainline denominations and were described by their pastors as liturgical and theologically liberal. Suburban churches, congregations located in the West and Northeast, those led by seminary graduates, and those pastored by Baby Boomers (pastors ages 34 to 52) also were more likely than average to hold indifferent attitudes about revival.

Many pastors seem to struggle with how they should appropriately emphasize revival to their congregation. On the one hand, most agreed that revival is the single, most important challenge facing the American Church today. On the other, when asked to identify the most significant challenges facing their church (and to provide any answer that came to mind), none of the pastors interviewed in the research mentioned revival. This inconsistency between pastors' attitudes about revival and their church's pressing challenges indicates that most pastors believe that revival is important, but, it does not make the list as one of the most significant objectives of their church.

George Barna, president of the firm that conducted the research, described some possible reasons for the divergent views on revival between pastors and church-goers. "Remember that pastors live to see spiritual revival happen. Every day they are focused on ministry and are immersed in a ministry environment. Consequently, it is virtually impossible for them to remain objective about the spiritual climate of the nation and the existence of revival. Emerging from the spiritual deadness of the eighties and early nineties, any public enthusiasm about revival can seem like a groundswell of energy for spiritual reawakening. The typical Christian, on the other hand, is not very involved in faith matters and interprets teaching, discussions and activities regarding revival in a very different manner. Pastors live for revival; most believers are simply waiting to see it."

Barna also pointed out that because pastors and individual believers use terms such as revival rather loosely, and because the two groups have significantly different definitions of revival, it is reasonable to find such differences of opinion about the presence of revival. "And our research also demonstrates that many pastors mistakenly assume that their congregation believes the same things that they believe. The truth is that congregants tend to pick and choose the elements of a pastor's theology and teaching that they want to embrace, and reject the rest. This is likely the case with thinking about revival, too."

The State of the Church

The perspective that revival is currently taking place -- a view held by 1 out of 2 church-goers and pastors -- must be reconciled with the fact that the Christian Church in the U.S. is not showing any visible signs of widespread spiritual revival. Since 1997, there has been no change in Americans' participation in church services, Bible reading, Sunday school attendance, involvement in small groups, the percent of adults who experience the presence of God in church worship services, church volunteerism, or the size of the born again population in the country.

Many Christian churches have actually experienced a decline over the past year. The average church size has dipped from 102 adults in 1997 to just 91 adults in 1998. This corresponds with a 15% drop in the annual operating budget of churches, down from $123,000 to $105,000 in the past 12 months. Also, since the early nineties, church attendance and Bible reading among the nation's adults have declined appreciably.

These data, Barna explained, indicate the need for greater accountability in discussions regarding revival. "If pastors consistently suggest to their congregations that our nation is, in fact, experiencing a widespread, national spiritual revival -- when the Church is not growing and the fruits of that supposed revival are not evident in any measurable manner -- the Church is placed at a significant disadvantage. We run the risk of anesthetizing the nation's population to the necessity of involvement in personal spiritual renewal as well as engagement in revival-oriented activities. Thus, it is possible that errant claims of widespread revival could hinder the position and integrity of the Church."

Barna added that there are reasons to be encouraged about the prospects of spiritual revival, despite some of the outcomes of the survey. "Americans, in general, are more interested in spiritual matters than they have been in a long time. At the same time, Christians are certainly more sensitized to the issue and significance of revival. And regardless of what research shows, when God chooses to send His Holy Spirit to impact a nation, it will happen. The key is for the Christian community to maintain a diligent effort of prayer, outreach, lifestyle modeling and faith that will facilitate revival when God chooses to touch the nation in that way."

Survey Methodology

This information is based on telephone interviews among a national sample of 610 Protestant pastors conducted in June 1998. The research was a random sample of churches from among the estimated 324,000 Protestant churches in the United States. Denominational and regional quotas were used to ensure a representative sampling of churches by affiliation and by location. The maximum sampling error associated with this survey is ± 5 percentage points, at the 95% confidence level. This research was part of the PastorPoll , an omnibus survey among pastors of Protestant churches in the 48 continental states.

The survey of adults was a national telephone survey of 1,015 interviews conducted in July 1998 among a national sample of people 18 or older, called OmniPoll . Adults in the 48 continental states were eligible to be interviewed and the distribution coincided with the geographic dispersion of the U.S. adult population. The maximum sampling error is ± 3 percentage points, at the 95% confidence interval.

All of the interviews were conducted from the Barna Research Group telephone interviewing facility. In both studies, multiple callbacks were used to increase the probability of including a reliable distribution of all types of churches and a reliable distribution of adults in the studies.

Gospel Light, one of the nation's leading publishers of Christian books and Sunday school curriculum, commissioned the research. Gospel Light is located in Ventura, California.

The Differences Between Pastors and Church Attenders

Footnotes:

Footnotes:
2 A "correct" description of revival refers to those individuals who said that revival was behavioral change or repentance; finding a deeper relationship with Jesus, acceptance of Christ, conversion, or evangelism; engaging in specialized prayer activities; or renewing a person's spirituality or faith. Any one of those descriptions would have been considered an accurate description of revival. At no point in any of the research were respondents given a definition of spiritual revival; that was left to their own interpretation of the term.

Incorrect definitions of revival included such things as reading the Bible more, attending church more frequently, examining New Age spirituality, or simply talking about God or Jesus. Some people thought that spiritual revival was not a thing but a place, like a specific meeting or a tent revival. Other incorrect definitions of spiritual revival included such things as the following: the modernization of churches, getting connected with nature, learning the history of religion, becoming more accepting of other people, engaging in a religious pep talk, or renewing the evolution debate.