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,” said David Kinnaman, Barna’s president. “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 are 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.
When Barna asked the 600-plus pastors who were part of the survey to identify biblical references to chart spiritual maturity, most gave generic responses such as “the whole Bible,” “the Gospels” or “the New Testament.”
Just 2 percent mentioned the Galatians 5 passage listing the fruit of the Spirit.
Also, while most Americans are relatively content with the current state of their spiritual maturity, millions aspire to grow, Barna said.
Christians under the age of 40 are less satisfied with spirituality and less “rule oriented” compared to older believers. (BP)
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