Is this true? 50%

George Barna recently released another study that makes us sit up and take notice. His
study showed that half the people who attend Protestant churches on a typical Sunday
morning are not Christians. Most of them call themselves Christians but they do not
believe that their hope for eternal life is based on a personal relationship with Jesus and
the belief that He died and rose again from the dead. Barna notes that most of these
notional Christians have been members of the church all their lives. They make up half of
all the people who sit in our churches every Sunday.
Bill Bright, in a similar study, suggests that one half of the people in church every
Sunday are not sure of their salvation. Christian researchers have begun to call this the
7:21 window, refering to Matthew 7:21 which states “Not everyone who says to me,
‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven.” Dr. Phil Fernandes, president of the
Institute of Biblical Defense, challenged, “The primary emphasis of the church should be
leading the lost to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, but first we must lead our own
congregations to Christ.”
In his book Welcoming People the Church Rejects, Rich Nathan claims the conservative
church in America has misidentified the enemy.
“In the first century, the Romans were marching through the streets of Judea. They had
their pagan standards. They were involuntarily conscripting Jewish young men into their
armies, taking Jewish daughters into wealthy Roman homes to serve as servants and
cooks, taking the best of the crops of Judea and they were taking taxes. Jesus never said
the problem of first century life was the Romans. He never said that the problem of first
century life in Judea was the amoral people ruining the culture. He continually said the
problem was that the people of God have failed to act like the people of God. The salt has
lost its saltiness. Today we sincerely believe that the problem of the world is those
immoral people out there, or those folks who don’t share our political views, or those
folks who are ruining our schools, rather than that the people of God are not acting like
the people of God.”
Mike Regele, in his book Robust Church Development, says, “The 21st century church
must displace a traditional Christendom chaplaincy with a church that will become a
missionary enterprise.”
Pastors today need first of all to be missionaries. We need to equip and lead our
congregations in their engagement of the community. Tom Clegg, in Lost In America,
warns, “Any church that doesn’t shift from ‘ministry as status quo’ to ‘ministry as
mission outpost’ will die or become hopelessly irrelevant.”
There is no simple answer or solution — the challenge belongs to each of us as we
minister to the people and communities in which God has placed us. We need to
challenge ourselves, our congregation leaders, and our congregation members to ask,
“How do we become a Great Commission Church? How do we get back on track to
become what God called us to be?
What is your congregation’s vision? Mike Regele says his vision for a church in the 21st
century is a church that proclaims the Gospel of Jesus Christ and:
• is a vital center of life and hope
• is a place where people want to be
• is a place that generates a feeling of life and healing and acceptance
• knows who you are and why you exist
• is a redemptive island of hope for all people in Jesus Christ
• loves their communities and loses themselves in service to the community
• is a place where I can go and feel welcome, safe, and accepted
• is a place for myself, my children and for others.
Who are we trying to reach? The answer is clear. We are trying to reach God’s people:
the people in our community, our neighbor next door, our family members, the people in
our congregation, the people in our small group, anyone God connects us with in our
journey through life. Many people do not know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
This is our challenge! ■