Problems BlueSky Ministries Addresses
The church in America is in rapid decline…
- “9 out of 10 American adults cannot accurately define the meaning of the “Great Commission” and 7 out of 10 American adults have no clue what the term “John 3:16” means.” – George Barna, Boiling Point
- “72 churches per week close the door permanently, some 10 per day” -- Walt Wilson
- “34% of Baby Busters (people ages 18 to 35) say they are "absolutely committed to the Christian faith," compared to 52% of Baby Boomers (ages 1946-64), 63% of the Builders (ages 55 to 73), and 70% of the Seniors (ages 74 and older).” – George Barna
- “Mainline denominations are in rapid decline. In 2000 the PCUSA noted the biggest decline in membership since 1994, close to 35,000 names were dropped from the membership roles last year.” -- Agape Press
The church is losing influence and access to future generations…
- “The Christian Church is losing influence. Non-believers are unimpressed by sermons and events; they want to see what difference faith has made in our lives - and they are struggling to see that impact.” -- George Barna, Boiling Point
- “Fewer than one-third of all teenagers are likely to attend a Christian church once they are living independent of their parents.” -- George Barna, 12-12-00 “This Years Most Intriguing Findings”
- “Only 9% of the mosaic generation (born after 1983) will attend church. The culture is one generation away from pure paganism” -- Walt Wilson
The church must reconfigure to address a postmodern culture…
- "In a 24/7 world, Sunday at 11:00 a.m. simply won't work for many people. Similarly, anchoring a church's ministry offerings to a physical ministry campus won't work for increasing numbers of Americans. Flexibility and creativity will be crucial ingredients to successful ministries in the future." -- George Barna, Boiling Point
- “Until we present the message in ways that penetrate the consciousness of the people we seek to influence for Christ, we have not truly communicated. We have only made noise.” -- George Barna, Evangelism that Works
- ”Postmodern evangelism doesn’t say to the world, “Come to church.” Rather, it says to the church, “Go to the world.” -- Leonard Sweet, Soul Tsunami
- “[postmodern evangelists will need to] engage in guerilla preaching/evangelism in which we poach the culture, “plunder the Egyptians,” and rework popular culture to the gospel’s advantage.” -- Leonard Sweet, Soul Tsunami
A culture that is actually very interested in spiritual matters…
- “About 4 out of 10 unchurched assert that their religious faith is very important in their life.” – George Barna