We love bad news and apparently we love bad facts as well.
Bad facts sell more books and get people to more conferences.
These are three commonly held myths about people who go to church.
Myth #1: Church people divorce at the same rate as the non-churched. It’s a widely held view–I heard someone give it this week–but it is simply not true. Bradley Wright, a sociologist at the University of Connecticut, has looked at divorce statistics for years. Half of the “Nones”–people who claim no religious identity–were divorced while only 42 percent of self-identified Christians and people of other faiths were divorced. But listen to this part of the survey: people who show up to church every week were even less likely to divorce. Wright found that only 34 percent of evangelicals, 32 percent of mainline protestants, and 23 percent of Catholics who attend church are divorced.
Myth #2: Christians are bad tippers. I suppose we could laugh about this one except that it is so widely held. It really would bother me if this were true. Now it bothers me to know that people think it is true. A study by Michael Lynn of Cornell University showed that Christians are pretty good tippers, giving an average of 17% for good service.
Myth #3: Christian young people are leaving the church in droves. Thank God it’s not true. Of course, one person who leaves the church is a tragedy, but Christian young people are not leaving in droves. We’ve been hearing this for years. Recently, a study by LifeWay Research showed that young people who were raised in homes where faith was practiced generally do go to church and do practice their faith.
What should we take from all this? First, bad news sells. Second, take heart. Practicing your faith is a good thing that makes a difference in people’s lives.
“And let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we do not lose heart” (Galatians 6:9).
I pray you will not lose heart, but you will continue to fight the good fight.
I am indebted to Facts and Trends Magazine, Winter 2014 for the statistics.
8 Responses
Myth 1: Thanks for bringing the statistical norm up for dissection to get a better view of the component parts. Many who say they are Christians have never read the Bible. It puts them more in a traditional tribal (or cult) relationship rather than a God relationship. Further, there are many who came to a God relationship becoming real “Christians,” walking in the newness of life, that are held to Scriptural standards that are poorly applied by main line Church goers. As People of the Book in Relationship to Him and one another in Him and He in Us, we have much work to do in inside and out, communicating the message of His Grace without slurring, slighting, or slipping by Our accountability as Watchmen. Thank you for the breath of Fresh Spiritual Air in and out of the pulpit as the Mission is Lived out: “We exist to help people know and accept Jesus Christ and through Him experience life-changing relationships.”
Myth 2: May depend on the source of samples. Having had a family members and friends work in the restaurant industry and having conducted my own private survey, I wonder about the statistical reliability of the report. I am encouraged by your presentation and will pay more attention, gathering further information to question the validity of my data gathering. I know my tendency (or should I say desire) on large bills is not to give more then 10%. I find myself peer pressured into the 20% range on such occasions. Yet, I have no problem in 20-100+% on small bills, given the spiritual circumstance, the person waiting on me.
Myth 3: The grave concern continues as we forget to give God and forget to appreciate in our lives the opportunities, Blessings of Liberty, we enjoy generationally. The division within and without the church walls grows. The cultural dynamic of the experiential gulf between those who have served in the Armed Forces and those without continues to grow disproportionately to the population growth. It seems also to be true with reading the Bible at home with the family. It is the reason the programs of FBCC and others like it to reach each generation are so important, critical, to the Mission as previously stated. Thank you!!!
Galatians 6:9 Indeed!
Blessings
Thank you so much for your message every day. That is a big part of my devotional every morning. I appreciate you and Martha so much, but never get to tell you. You both are such a blessing to me.
Your welcome. If it’s a blessing to others, it’s worth doing.
So true, that we are more willing to listen to someone’s own opinion, factual or not, instead of searching for the truth through other informed sources and weighing it all out, so to speak. I know it has gotten me in trouble by only helping to keep those myth’s alive. I guess the lesson is to keep better informed by real/true statistic’s. Thanks for your always thought provoking words.
Actually, the article was as much about our willingness to believe bad facts as the myths and facts themselves. Thanks for your comment.
It’s good to ask the who, how, what, where, and why questions before you buy into any headline.
A different topic, but very important question regardless of who is sharing is “where is that found in Scripture?”. Maybe it’s not that far off from the context of today’s blog if we don’t want to become “a headline”.
Yes, it is very important that we get our facts straight!
Psalms 50