The Barna Group has just added a survey report to their website entitled “Americans Say Serving the Needy is Christianity’s Biggest Contribution to Society.” Some interesting results from the survey that I found interesting:

“In response to an open-ended question… one out of every five adults (19%) mentioned how Christians in the United States have helped poor or underprivileged people to have a better life.”

“The most frequent response, however, was the inability to think of a single positive contribution made by Christians in recent years. One out of every four respondents (25%) said they could not recall anything of this nature. Skeptics (34%), unchurched adults (33%), and Independent voters (29%) were more likely than other people to fall into this response category.”

The survey also pointed out some interesting patterns and connections.

• Although many churches are worried about offending people by sharing the gospel, less than 1% of the population complained that Christians are too aggressive in their evangelistic efforts. This corresponds with recent Barna studies that have shown that relatively few Christians discuss their faith with non-Christians in ways intended to encourage non-believers to adopt the Christian faith.
• The people who seemed least aware of either the positive or negative contributions of Christians were the largest segment of Christians: Notionals. Along with the unchurched, Notional Christians were the segment most likely to not be able to identify either a positive or negative contribution of American Christians. Notionals currently represent about half of all Christians in the U.S.
• Most of the non-Christian segments of the population cited serving the poor and underprivileged as the best thing that Christians have done.
• Overall, there was a more extensive and diverse list of complaints about Christians and their churches than there was of examples of the benefits they have provided to society.
• It is ironic that Baby Boomers – the generation famous for Woodstock, sexual liberation, the rise of recreational drug use, introducing the culture of narcissism, and the explosion in the number of divorces – was also the generation most likely to applaud the morals and values that Christians have stood for in the U.S.

I had never heard the term “Notional” Christians before. “Notional Christians” are defined as those who consider themselves to be Christian but do not meet the born again criteria: made a personal commitment to Christ that is important in their life today and believe they will go to Heaven after they die because they confessed their sins and accepted Jesus Christ as their savior.

Some Personal Thoughts

It seems to me that perhaps Evangelicals have over reacted to the very small percentage in our society who complain about evangelistic efforts (less than 1%). Perhaps we need to be more bold in our willingness and approach to share our faith with others?

Perhaps my generation (Baby Boomers) applaud the morals and values that Christians have stood for because we are now reaping the consequences of the choices we made, and are realizing what moral bankruptcy produces?

The “Notionals” who are unable to identify either a positive or negative contribution of American Christians are living out their label. They seem to have no “notion” about what it means to be a Christian (a follower or imitator of Jesus Christ). I wish they would realize this and either become a real follower, or find another term for themselves other than “Christian.” It is people who call themselves “Christian” but who do not live like a “little Christ” that confuse the meaning of the term and make it harder on those who are serious about following Christ.