Parshall Partners

TELL THE GOOD NEWS

         “I Love To Tell The Story” was a well-known hymn which was written in 1866 as a poem by an English evangelist, Katherine Hankey. Most Christians know the words, “I love to tell the story, 'twill be my theme in glory, To tell the old, old story of Jesus and His love.” But we really love to tell that story?

         It’s inarguable that the Great Commission set forth in Matthew 28 is a call for all believers to share their faith.  Telling people about the Truth of the Gospel (or evangelizing) is something we all must do and it should pour out of us like the living water it is.  But, according to a new Barna survey, we are not.

         In 1993, Barna partnered with Lutheran Hour Ministries to find out if people did or did not reach out to the world with the Gospel.  25 years later, Barna is still asking the question but this time trying to determine what impact the digital age is having on spiritual conversations.

         When asked whether they agreed with the statement, “Every Christian has a responsibility to share their faith” the results were significantly different today from 25 years ago.  In 1993, nine out of 10 Christians who had shared their faith agreed (89%). Today, just two-thirds say so (64%)—a 25-point drop.

         Barna also reported that “just 10 percent of Christians in 1993 who had shared about their faith agreed with the statement “converting people to Christianity is the job of the local church”—as opposed to the job of an individual (i.e., themselves). Twenty-five years later, three in 10 Christians who have had a conversation about faith say evangelism is the local church’s responsibility (29%), a nearly threefold increase.”

         Perceived social barriers have made an impact on Christians today, more so than 25 years ago.  Barna concluded Christians “are more likely to agree that faith-sharing is only effective when they already have a relationship with the other person (47% vs. 37% in 1993) and to admit they would avoid a spiritual conversation if they knew their non-Christian friend would reject them (44% vs. 33%). They are also more likely than Christians in 1993 to say they are unsure whether “most non-Christians have no interest in hearing about Jesus” (28% vs. 5%).

         Why the significant change since 1993? Roxanne Stone is the editor-in-chief at Barna Group.  She has concluded that “the overarching cultural trends of secularism, relativism, pluralism and the digital age are contributing to a society that is less interested in religion and that has marginalized the place of spirituality in everyday life. As a result, Christians in America today have to live in the tension between Jesus’ commands to tell others the good news and growing cultural taboos against proselytizing…”

         The Gospel message hasn’t changed and the call to evangelize hasn’t been rescinded.  It is we who have changed. Spurgeon said it best when he referred to evangelism as an “irksome task” but said we must force ourselves to do it “until it becomes easy.”

         “We are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.” (2 Cor. 5:18-20) May we never forget who we are and the message we’ve been called to share. 

         That’s my opinion.  I’m Janet Parshall.