An unclear understanding of spiritual maturity may be an underlying reason why there is so little progress in seeing people develop spiritually in the United States, despite overwhelming access to churches and unlimited products and resources, The Barna Group says.
“America has a spiritual depth problem partly because the faith community does not have a robust definition of its spiritual goals,” David Kinnaman, Barna’s president, said. “The study shows the need for new types of spiritual metrics.”
Barna found that most Christians equate spiritual maturity with following the rules described in the Bible. Also, many churchgoers were unable to identify how their church defines spiritual maturity. Most Christians, Barna said, offer one-dimensional views of personal spiritual maturity, giving answers such as having a relationship with Jesus, living a moral lifestyle or applying the Bible.
Most pastors struggle with articulating a specific set of objectives for spirituality and instead list activities over attitudes, the study said. Pastors are willing to acknowledge that a lack of spiritual maturity is one of the largest problems in the nation, but few of them say spiritual immaturity is a problem in their church.
via Baptist Press – CULTURE DIGEST: Spiritual immaturity stymies church, researcher Barna says – News with a Christian Perspective.
