An unclear understanding of spiritual maturity may be an underlying reason why there is so little progress in seeing people develop spiritually in the United States, despite overwhelming access to churches and unlimited products and resources, the Barna Group says.
“America has a spiritual depth problem partly because the faith community does not have a robust definition of its spiritual goals,” David Kinnaman, Barna’s president, said. “The study shows the need for new types of spiritual metrics.”
Barna found that most Christians equate spiritual maturity with following the rules described in the Bible. Also, many churchgoers were unable to identify how their church defines spiritual maturity. Most Christians, Barna said, offer one-dimensional views of personal spiritual maturity, giving answers such as having a relationship with Jesus, living a moral lifestyle or applying the Bible.
Most pastors struggle with articulating a specific set of objectives for spirituality and instead list activities over attitudes, the study said. Pastors are willing to acknowledge that a lack of spiritual maturity is one of the largest problems in the nation, but few of them say spiritual immaturity is a problem in their church. When Barna asked the 600-plus pastors who were part of the survey to identify biblical references to chart spiritual maturity, most gave generic responses such as “the whole Bible,” “the gospels” or “the New Testament.” Just 2 percent mentioned the Galatians 5 passage listing the fruit of the Spirit.
“One new metric might be a renewed effort on the part of leaders to articulate the outcomes of spiritual growth. Another might be the relational engagement and accountability that people maintain,” Kinnaman said. “Of course, spirituality is neither a science nor a business, so there is a natural resistance to ascribing scientific or operational standards to what most people believe is an organic process.
“Yet, the process of spiritual growth is neither simplistic nor without guidelines, so hard work and solid thinking in this arena are needed.”
Barna identified some opportunities in addressing the problems related to spiritual maturity in the nation. One positive, the report said, is that Christians and pastors understand the obstacles that must be overcome, such as a lack of personal motivation, other competing obligations and a lack of involvement in spiritually nurturing activities. Also, while most Americans are relatively content with the current state of their spiritual maturity, millions aspire to grow, Barna said. Christians under the age of 40 are less satisfied with spirituality and less “rule oriented” compared to older believers.
Another positive is that pastors who were surveyed realize they need more help with assessing spiritual health.
“Perhaps churchgoers would become less complacent about self-evaluation as pastors embrace more effective forms of evaluation for their congregations,” the report said.
For more information, visit barna.org. – BP