Today’s episode features selections from Faithlytics interviews with Greg Smith, associate director of research at Pew Research Center; David Kinnaman, CEO of Barna Group; Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research; and Dr. Frank Newport, senior scientist and former editor-in-chief at Gallup.
Faithlytics is a new, five-part miniseries where Dr. Ed Stetzer talks with top experts and researchers to help you see and understand the latest trends in faith and culture. Watch all five Faithlytics interviews a gloo.us/faithlytics.
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Key Questions for Greg Smith, David Kinnaman, Scott McConnell, and Frank Newport
-How has the religious composition of the U.S. population changed over the past few decades?
-Tell us about Americans’ interest in Jesus.
-What is the data showing about how the church is doing post-COVID?
-What does this data mean for the pastor and church leader?
Key Quotes From Greg Smith
“We have a lot of data on how religion in the United States is changing. And to put it very simply, it’s changing a lot.”
“The share of Americans who are Christians is declining. A few decades ago, something like 8 in 10 or more Americans when you surveyed them would have told you that they are Christians. Today, that number stands at closer to 6 in 10.”
“Religious Nones have been growing for several decades. They’ve probably quintupled in size or more as a share of the population going back to the late 80s or early 90s. And today, something like 3 in 10 U.S. adults tell us they are not religious.”
Key Quotes From David Kinnaman
“I think this is an important and positive trend, which is that despite some of these areas we’re talking about in terms of decline, tens of millions of Americans (the majority of Americans) say they’ve made a commitment to Christ that’s still important in their life. And even among those who haven’t made that commitment, there’s still a lot of positive perceptions of the person of Jesus.”
“About 35% of Americans we categorize as having a savior perspective towards Jesus. That is, he was entirely human and fully God. They’ve made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ…Only 1 in 4 Americans have what we described as a skeptic’s view towards Jesus.”
“This idea that people like Jesus but not the church continues to be a really key theme.”
