Churchgoers recognizing the name the "Great Commission"

NewCreation435 · May 7, 2018

You may think this article is joking, but sadly it is not. From Barna Research group and article states

"In partnership with Seed Company, Barna conducted a study of the U.S. Church’s ideas about missions, social justice, Bible translation and other aspects of spreading the gospel around the world, available now in the new report Translating the Great Commission. When asked if they had previously “heard of the Great Commission,” half of U.S. churchgoers (51%) say they do not know this term. It would be reassuring to assume that the other half who know the term are also actually familiar with the passage known by this name, but that proportion is low (17%). Meanwhile, “the Great Commission” does ring a bell for one in four (25%), though they can’t remember what it is. Six percent of churchgoers are simply not sure whether they have heard this term “the Great Commission” before."

rest of the article here
https://www.barna.com/research/half-churchgoers-not-heard-great-commission/

Your thoughts?

psalms 91 · May 8, 2018

A sad commentary on the state of Jesus's church. Many do not read a bible and many go to church on Sunday and that is where their commitment ends sadly. We are commanded to go forth, to take care of those who are poor, to do the works of Christ. If all the church did this we would have a far different church than the one we see now.

Albion · May 8, 2018

jsimms435 said:
You may think this article is joking, but sadly it is not. From Barna Research group and article states

"In partnership with Seed Company, Barna conducted a study of the U.S. Church’s ideas about missions, social justice, Bible translation and other aspects of spreading the gospel around the world, available now in the new report Translating the Great Commission. When asked if they had previously “heard of the Great Commission,” half of U.S. churchgoers (51%) say they do not know this term. It would be reassuring to assume that the other half who know the term are also actually familiar with the passage known by this name, but that proportion is low (17%). Meanwhile, “the Great Commission” does ring a bell for one in four (25%), though they can’t remember what it is. Six percent of churchgoers are simply not sure whether they have heard this term “the Great Commission” before."

rest of the article here
https://www.barna.com/research/half-churchgoers-not-heard-great-commission/

Your thoughts?

This doesn't particularly alarm me. It doesn't surprise me, but it also doesn't alarm me.

There is much in Scripture that is about the Great Commission. It is the term itself that is the problem here, and the question that was asked in the survey was exclusively about recognition of the term. So I think that a significantly higher percentage of Christians would have been able to recognize the charge, obligation, assignment, or command that is the Great Commission and answer questions about that, if this had been the way the question was asked.

NewCreation435 · May 8, 2018

Albion said:
This doesn't particularly alarm me. It doesn't surprise me, but it also doesn't alarm me.

There is much in Scripture that is about the Great Commission. It is the term itself that is the problem here, and the question that was asked in the survey was exclusively about recognition of the term. So I think that a significantly higher percentage of Christians would have been able to recognize the charge, obligation, assignment, or command that is the Great Commission and answer questions about that, if this had been the way the question was asked.

I guess some denominations may use the term more than others. And if you go to church only once or twice a month like many people then you don't have a chance to hear it

tango · May 8, 2018

Albion said:
This doesn't particularly alarm me. It doesn't surprise me, but it also doesn't alarm me.

There is much in Scripture that is about the Great Commission. It is the term itself that is the problem here, and the question that was asked in the survey was exclusively about recognition of the term. So I think that a significantly higher percentage of Christians would have been able to recognize the charge, obligation, assignment, or command that is the Great Commission and answer questions about that, if this had been the way the question was asked.

This is a good point, it's easy to get caught up in specific terminology and worry about people not speaking fluent Christianese when they fully understand the underlying message without the fancy terminology.

psalms 91 · May 8, 2018

The proof is in the actions, if they understood there would be a lot more evangelism going on personally and the churchs would be outside thier walls a lot more reaching their communities, the bible would be read daily by all who call themselves christian and the church would have an abundance of volunteers. Personally I dont see that in many cases, do you?

tango · May 8, 2018

psalms 91 said:
The proof is in the actions, if they understood there would be a lot more evangelism going on personally and the churchs would be outside thier walls a lot more reaching their communities, the bible would be read daily by all who call themselves christian and the church would have an abundance of volunteers. Personally I dont see that in many cases, do you?

It's often hard to judge.

I know a guy who described how, on his way to work by train, he'd be going from carriage to carriage handing out evangelistic tracts to people. I've seen other people in the town center with a microphone and speaker talking about Jesus. All this is well and good but the message we have to consider is "don't tell me, show me". I loosely know of a guy who works with a group called Backyard Ministries in Pennsylvania (don't know if he's in your area - ) that's about going into impoverished communities and spending time with them. From what I gather they start out doing little more than delivering food to people who need it. Over time some of the people open up to talk more about why the volunteers are bothering with the people nobody else wants to bother with. I know several people in London who work with a group called Street Pastors, who go out onto the streets on a Friday night to minister to the people coming out of pubs and clubs. They do everything from hand out flip flops to young women who have lost their shoes in the nightclub, to making sure people get home safely, to calling the police to areas where aggression is building and so on. Often they hand out giant lollipops to people who seem like they might become aggressive. They are often asked how much they get paid to do it, and when they reply that they don't get paid at all it opens up all sorts of opportunities for discussion - people want to know why they spend their Friday nights helping complete strangers get home safely.

I think it was Francis of Assisi who was quoted as saying 'Preach the gospel at all times. Use words if you need to." There's simply no way of knowing how much our day-to-day lives encourage others to think about why we are different, and to what extent simply living a different life among secular peers stands out. Many years ago I was thinking about going to a theme park with a friend and his girlfriend. He couldn't afford to go - he and his girlfriend (both Christians) didn't want to share a room because they weren't married and they couldn't afford two rooms, so they decided they couldn't go at all. I wasn't a Christian at the time and even that simple decision they made was something I noticed - I knew the message they preached but it made a difference to see them actually living it even when it cost them something. You'd never see that impact measured on any performance metric though, they weren't even doing it to "reach out", they were just being themselves and living a life that was true to what they believed.

A lack of volunteers at church doesn't necessarily mean people aren't following Jesus - it could simply mean they don't think the activity in question is worthwhile.

Overall I agree with you that the proof is in the actions, it's just not always easy to measure the actions or to measure the results.

Lamb · May 9, 2018

Albion said:
This doesn't particularly alarm me. It doesn't surprise me, but it also doesn't alarm me.

There is much in Scripture that is about the Great Commission. It is the term itself that is the problem here, and the question that was asked in the survey was exclusively about recognition of the term. So I think that a significantly higher percentage of Christians would have been able to recognize the charge, obligation, assignment, or command that is the Great Commission and answer questions about that, if this had been the way the question was asked.

I was thinking the same thing...how many times is the term found in scripture...I mean the actual verses that contain that term and not as a subtitle placed there by the book producers?

Albion · May 9, 2018

jsimms435 said:
I guess some denominations may use the term more than others. And if you go to church only once or twice a month like many people then you don't have a chance to hear it

I think that's true--many denominations talk about all that is meant by the term "The Great Commission", but without using that term.

Albion · May 9, 2018

Lämmchen said:
I was thinking the same thing...how many times is the term found in scripture...I mean the actual verses that contain that term and not as a subtitle placed there by the book producers?

To the best of my knowledge, the answer is "NONE."

NewCreation435 · May 9, 2018

tango said:
It's often hard to judge.

I know a guy who described how, on his way to work by train, he'd be going from carriage to carriage handing out evangelistic tracts to people. I've seen other people in the town center with a microphone and speaker talking about Jesus. All this is well and good but the message we have to consider is "don't tell me, show me". I loosely know of a guy who works with a group called Backyard Ministries in Pennsylvania (don't know if he's in your area - ) that's about going into impoverished communities and spending time with them. From what I gather they start out doing little more than delivering food to people who need it. Over time some of the people open up to talk more about why the volunteers are bothering with the people nobody else wants to bother with. I know several people in London who work with a group called Street Pastors, who go out onto the streets on a Friday night to minister to the people coming out of pubs and clubs. They do everything from hand out flip flops to young women who have lost their shoes in the nightclub, to making sure people get home safely, to calling the police to areas where aggression is building and so on. Often they hand out giant lollipops to people who seem like they might become aggressive. They are often asked how much they get paid to do it, and when they reply that they don't get paid at all it opens up all sorts of opportunities for discussion - people want to know why they spend their Friday nights helping complete strangers get home safely.

I think it was Francis of Assisi who was quoted as saying 'Preach the gospel at all times. Use words if you need to." There's simply no way of knowing how much our day-to-day lives encourage others to think about why we are different, and to what extent simply living a different life among secular peers stands out. Many years ago I was thinking about going to a theme park with a friend and his girlfriend. He couldn't afford to go - he and his girlfriend (both Christians) didn't want to share a room because they weren't married and they couldn't afford two rooms, so they decided they couldn't go at all. I wasn't a Christian at the time and even that simple decision they made was something I noticed - I knew the message they preached but it made a difference to see them actually living it even when it cost them something. You'd never see that impact measured on any performance metric though, they weren't even doing it to "reach out", they were just being themselves and living a life that was true to what they believed.

A lack of volunteers at church doesn't necessarily mean people aren't following Jesus - it could simply mean they don't think the activity in question is worthwhile.

Overall I agree with you that the proof is in the actions, it's just not always easy to measure the actions or to measure the results.

That's true to some extent. But, if you never say anything, they might just think your a nice atheist or agnostic.
I do think though that trying to show the gospel down someone's throat is often offensive and turns people off to the gospel rather than helping.

tango · May 10, 2018

jsimms435 said:
That's true to some extent. But, if you never say anything, they might just think your a nice atheist or agnostic.
I do think though that trying to show the gospel down someone's throat is often offensive and turns people off to the gospel rather than helping.

They may do - as you say there needs to be some kind of balance. Chances are if people notice you're different they may also notice mention of things like going to church on a Sunday or similar.

The "open mouth, insert Bible, close mouth" approach taken by some is definitely counterproductive. I can't help wondering whether the pat answer of "I'll pray for you" is equally unhelpful when offered to people with very real and very immediate needs. It does seem somewhat like what James had to say about how the cold hungry man isn't helped by being told "be warm, be filled" - he needs warmth and food now.

psalms 91 · May 10, 2018

Yes and there is more than enough need to go around that everybody can help someone. I see many programs that are good but I also see a lot of unmet need as well

tango · May 10, 2018

psalms 91 said:
Yes and there is more than enough need to go around that everybody can help someone. I see many programs that are good but I also see a lot of unmet need as well

True, and the best thing about personal help is that it can actually meet a need whereas centralised help often does little more than attempt to turn a need into an amount of money.

If the poverty level is defined as an income of $16,000 or less the person living on $15,995 is technically "in poverty" and an annual contribution of $10 will techically lift them out of poverty, but that $10 isn't likely to make any practical difference to their life. Likewise the old person who is wealthy but lonely doesn't need money, they need human company.

I personally know an older lady who literally has more money than she knows what to do with but since her husband died her biggest issue is loneliness. What she needs is human company, and human company that can provide intellectual stimulation. The trouble is that she's very intelligent so a lot of people won't provide her the intellectual stimulation she needs.

NewCreation435 · May 10, 2018

tango said:
They may do - as you say there needs to be some kind of balance. Chances are if people notice you're different they may also notice mention of things like going to church on a Sunday or similar.

The "open mouth, insert Bible, close mouth" approach taken by some is definitely counterproductive. I can't help wondering whether the pat answer of "I'll pray for you" is equally unhelpful when offered to people with very real and very immediate needs. It does seem somewhat like what James had to say about how the cold hungry man isn't helped by being told "be warm, be filled" - he needs warmth and food now.

Definitely it is important to help people in practical ways. it shows your sensitive to their needs and are treating them with respect and as important. From what I have seen many ministries that started as evangelistic in nature and also meeting practical needs eventually lose their evangelistic mission and end up just taking care of temporary and immediate needs. Like you already said, there needs to be a balance

Churchgoers recognizing the name the "Great Commission"

NewCreation435

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psalms 91

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Albion

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NewCreation435

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tango

... and you shall live ...

psalms 91

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tango

... and you shall live ...

Lamb

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Albion

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Albion

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NewCreation435

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tango

... and you shall live ...

psalms 91

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tango

... and you shall live ...

NewCreation435

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