grossg@patriot.rtp.dg.com (Gene Gross) (07/01/91)
CHANGES IN BEHAVIOR AND LIFESTYLE Barna thinks that the 1990s will bring radical revisions in the values that Americans hold. He sees materialism and the desire for affluence continuing to be a driving force for Americans. However, he says that we should understand the difference between the attitude of the Baby Boom generation (those born between 1946-1964) and that of their parents. He says that the older generation saw achieving wealth and status as a challenge; Boomers feel they have a right to be well-off and comfortable. Personal interests and self-preservation have overshadowed the value of commitment. Barna sees the value system of America of the year 2000 being a synthesis of old ideas and new concepts. Here are some of the values that he thinks will predominate: -- Quality will be more important than quantity; Americans won't settle for less than the best -- Money will not lose its importance, but having the time to do everything that they want to do, Americans will de-emphsize money -- Privacy, personal independence, and individualism will become increasingly important. What does this mean for the Church? Well, Barna thinks that the church, in order to survive, will have to alter the ways in which it reaches out to this vastly different culture. Each local congregation should determine to have and maintain a standard of excellence in everything they do. He thinks that local churches would do better if they did a few things very well rather than many things only adequately. While adults want to have options, but the quality is far more important than a lot of choices. The importance of time will mean that churches will have to schedule services and activities as conveniently as possible. The old measure of success, numbers, will no longer have the same weight of meaning. Church membership will continue to trend downward, and the people who do participate in church will do so very selectively. Here is a boiled down version of a graph that comes from the book -- I'm doing it this way because I don't have wonderful graphics capability. Even if I did, it might not match what others have. So ASCII here we go: Change In Membership For Leading Christian Denominations From 1990-2000 (in thousands) Southern Baptist: +1600 Assemblies of God: +405 Lutheran, Missouri Synod: -104 Evangelical Lutheran: -157 United Church of Christ: -164 Disciples of Christ: -185 Episcopal: -460 Presbyterian Church USA: -564 United Methodist: -708 (source: Barna Research Group, 1990) Here ends part 2. In the next part, I'll summarize the new ways of sharing information. En Agape tou Iesou, Gene