Study of American Religious Life :: Baylor University

Some of you may have picked this up, but Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion came forward with some new information on American religious life.  Here is an article from the Fort Worth Star Telegram about the study.  In 2006 Baylor garnered national attention when they released findings concerning not only that American’s believe in God, but what characteristics God is thought to have (friendly, angry, distant, engaged, etc.).  Click here for a USA Today article which reports findings from the initial study.

According to a Baylor University Press release, a finding of the new study that I found particularly interesting was that megachurch communities are more intimate than commonly supposed.  Check this out:

“None of the things we all believe about the megachurch is true,” said Dr. Rodney Stark, Distinguished Professor of the Social Sciences at Baylor and co-director of the ISR.

Even with congregations of more than 1,000 members, the Baylor Religion Survey found that megachurches surprisingly are more intimate communities than small congregations of less than 100 members (Ch. 5, “Megachurches: Supersizing the Faith”). Megachurch growth is mostly due to their members, who tend to witness to their friends, bringing them into the group, and witness to strangers, much more often than members of small churches.

When compared to small congregations, the survey found that megachurch members display a higher level of personal commitment by attending services and a Bible study group and tithing. They also are more likely to accept that heaven “absolutely” exists and that God rewards the faithful with major successes, are more convinced of the reality of evil, are far more given to having religious and mystical experiences, are significantly younger in age and are remarkably active in volunteer work (as much or more so than tiny churches).

“We think of them as these great, huge, cold religious gatherings with a symphony orchestra and a paid choir and a lot of hoopla and a lot of good tidings but no bad tidings,” Stark said. “It’s not true that it’s all happy talk. These people are as interested in evil and sin as anybody in any of the churches. Their levels of satisfaction are high, their volunteerism in community service is very high and their outreach efforts are absolutely phenomenal.”

“I’ve heard stories when you go to some of the megachurches that you have to get tickets and parking like it’s a football game,” said Dr. Carson Mencken, professor of sociology at Baylor. “You go to a football game, you sit next to people you don’t know very well, and so I figured that’s exactly what megachurches are going to be like. The survey reveals the megachurches are not like that at all. These people do know each other, and they’re networked into the church through their friends and friends of friends.”

I’ve been on staff at large churches and have been around them now for the past six years (really beyond this).  I don’t deny that a great deal of good has come about from these behemoth faith communities, but I continually question the methodology employed, the assumptions that come with “church growth,” and the degree to which such communities are effectively making disciples of Jesus Christ.  I can’t help but look at multi-million dollar facilities and wonder if this was what Jesus intended.  I can’t help but marvel at million dollar sound and light systems, elaborate staging, and slick presentations and wonder if this is a setting more fit for amusement than engagement, entertainment than serious contemplation.  I wonder where the large church pastors are who are not that attractive, considering Jesus may have been uncomely in appearance (Isa. 53:2).  I wonder if the building of our organizations do not reinforce habits of consumption more so than fuel the development of generous character.  I wonder if we give more money toward facilities, staff salaries, and promotional materials than we do to the poor.

Some large churches are more careful than others.  Some remember the poor, and encourage their members to do so as well.  Let’s just say that some of my everyday conversations with church people have indicated that they feel well connected, affirmed, and at home in the large church, but their answers as to why they are there are more centered on social connections, buzz, attraction to a central personality (usually the pastor) than they are on the Lord and Savior of the Universe.  In other words, too often I’ve found that the feeling of connection people have with a church community has little to do with discipleship.

It may be true that in megachurches “These people do know each other, and they’re networked into the church through their friends and friends of friends,” and that “Their levels of satisfaction are high, their volunteerism in community service is very high and their outreach efforts are absolutely phenomenal,” but to what end?

I can only hope that the feelings of intimacy which exist are not ends in themselves, but lead people to Christian maturity that reaches beyond participating in a church program, tithing that reaches beyond a felt obligation to sustain a building and a capital campaign, and volunteerism that reaches beyond “do-good, feel-good” mentalities that center on the self.

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Gospel Tracts a Thing of the Past?

Over the past few years I’ve travelled to a handful of major U.S. cities, and during each visit, I manage to come across people handing out gospel tracts.  I’ve seen these people everywhere.  When there aren’t people to hand them out, sometimes I’ve found tracts lying in airport bathrooms.  My wife and I went on a trip about a year and a half ago where every time we had a layover I picked up a tract somewhere.  Everywhere I went these printed materials were ready to meet me.  Maybe I needed to repent and ask Jesus into my heart.  Yet, blessed assurance…

Out of curiosity I steer toward these people and take whatever they are handing out.  I can remember vividly interactions I had with two different persons while visiting New York City.  One person handed me a tract that stated “being baptized as a child” and “following the 10 commandments and basically being a good person” were not sufficient for salvation, sentiments with which I would agree.  These conditions were the foundation of the presentation which was to follow.  If you’ve seen printed materials which begin with a similar line of argument, you know that infant baptism and being a good person are portrayed as types of “salvation by works” which will be demolished by the proclamation of salvation by grace alone through Christ alone.

Again, as a Christian person I would affirm that salvation comes by grace through Christ.  I wasn’t too surprised by the basic message of this gospel tract.  What bewildered me about this gospel presentation was the fact that it assumed the majority of people reading it would have either experience baptism as a small child or have been familiar with the 10 commandments and considered the decalogue a reasonable basis for a personal code of ethics.  That day I was walking with my friend Ryan, and I told him that I thought this line of argument was no longer applicable to our culture.  The church no longer shares a common discourse or language with a nominally Christian public.  We are no longer living in a nation which intentionally engages with the texts and way of life as embodied in the Judea-Christian tradition.  Tracts like the one I received in New York City were written to another world which no longer exists.

As for that other person I can remember in NYC, he was outside Yankee stadium handing out tracts featuring Mickey Mantle.  Standing on the Subway headed home from the game, I knew I wasn’t the only one who had been handed one of these tracts.  I can recall seeing a man carefully reading through the material, then expressing his disgust to his wife who was with him.  I was saddened in that moment, but was unsure what to say.

This week I was reading a book entitled Holy Conversation: Talking About God in Everyday Life by Richard Peace.  In his 3rd chapter, “Really Good News,” he asks this question:

I do wonder if tracts are not a thing of the past?  You don’t see tractlike materials used in any other areas of life these days.

I thought this was a good question for the blog world, considering this may be one of the most prevalent forums in our culture today in which people can express their beliefs on faith, politics, religion, and public life to a diverse and broad audience.  The blog world just might be the contemporary tract, though the format and the means of engagement are quite different.

I am not someone who leaves “Tracts in my Tracks,” as one evangelist once exhorted me to do both in word and by walking the aisles of the church facility flinging tracts in the air.  My life and work are tracts which I hope point others toward a different reality called Kingdom which is constituted by a cross.

In order to open this up, I invite you to blog and link back here with your thoughts on this question: Is the tract still a viable means by which to communicate the gospel?  Or, has it ever been?  What are your thoughts on tracts?

If you don’t have a forum, feel free to leave a comment.  How effective is the tract?  What purpose does the tract serve?  Will tracts continue to be used by Christian people in the future, and will they maintain the same form?  I’d love to hear your thoughts.

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