Christian Leaders: Unknown to Most
by AFA Journal
January 2, 2007
(AgapePress) - - According to a recent study from The Barna Group, major Christian leaders are widely unknown -- even among fellow Christians.The findings are from a national survey conducted in October 2006 in which 1,003 random adults were interviewed about their feelings toward 16 public figures, including politicians, entertainers and ministers. Of the figures assessed, actor Denzel Washington received the most positive feelings while pop singer Britney Spears was tagged as the least favorable image.
The study also reports that 72 percent of adults and 63 percent of born-again Christians have never heard of Rick Warren, megachurch pastor and author of the bestselling book The Purpose Driven Life.
Approximately 57 percent adults had never heard of Dr. James Dobson, Christian founder and chairman of Focus on the Family, and nearly half of all born-again Christians did not know who he was.
There were similar findings for T.D. Jakes, African-American clergyman; Tim LaHaye, author of the Left Behind book series; and Joel Osteen, featured television speaker and pastor of one of the largest churches in the nation.
Despite being widely unknown, all five Christian leaders received a favorable impression from those who actually knew of them. However, George Barna, director of the study, said the low visibility of Christian leaders coincides with other studies that indicate Christianity is losing its hold on American culture.
"The survey statistics suggest that perhaps Christian individuals are more attuned to matters of culture and entertainment than to matters of faith," Barna said.
"People pay attention to what they deem important," the researcher continued. "These figures may be another indicator that millions of Christians invest more of their mental energy in cultural literacy than in biblical literacy."
He also suggests that one reason individual faith struggles to remain prominent in a person's life is because even Christian leaders who have high public profiles have a "limited resonance" with the population.
Read Barna's complete report on this topic
This article, printed with permission, appears in the January 2007 issue of AFA Journal, a monthly publication of the American Family Association.
