Christian pollster sheds new light on what church-goers want preached
from the pulpit by Ted Wednesday, Sep 23, 2015 at 6:14 PM EDT
A prominent Christian pollster joined Glenn on his T.V. program Tuesday night to unveil
the findings from a new poll, which sought to identify the top issues church-goers want to
hear about from their pastors. The findings fascinated Glenn, who has been saying for a
long time the way to wake our country up should be through our churches. Joined by
historian David Barton, pollster George Barna from the American Cultural & Faith Institute
presented his research in which nearly 3,000 active church-goers were surveyed about the
issues they want to hear about most, in church. Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=42&v=87_Gy4t_Aq4
Top 12 Issues the Church Wants to Hear: (click either link to see video of this)
https://youtu.be/Xy7DhSvs_s0 or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xy7DhSvs_s0&feature=youtu.be
1. Abortion: Beginning of life, right to life, contraception, adoption, unwed mothers. 91%
2. Religious persecution/liberty: Personal duty, government duty, church response, global
conditions. 86%
3. Poverty: Personal duty, government role, church role, homelessness, hunger,
dependency. 85%
4. Cultural restoration: Appropriate morals, law and order, defensible values and norms,
self-government. 83%
5. Sexual identity: Same-sex marriage, transgenderism, marriage, LGBT. 82%
6. Israel: Its role in the world, Christian responsibility to Israel, US foreign policy toward
Israel and its enemies. 80%
7. Christian Heritage: role of Christian faith in American history, church role in US
development, moder-day relevance. 79%
8. Role of Government: Biblical view, church-state relationship, personal responsibility,
limitations. 76%
9. Bioethics: Cloning, euthanasia, genetic engineering, cryogenics, organ donation,
surrogacy. 76%
10. Self-governance: Biblical support, personal conduct, impact on freedom, national
sovereignty. 75%
11. Church in politics/government: Separation of church and state, legal boundaries,
church resistance to government. 73%
12. Islam: Core beliefs, response to Islamic aggression, threat to US peace and domestic
stability.
72% David Barton went on to present several Action Steps that church-goers can do right
now, to help get their churches off the sidelines and their pastors preaching about these
important issues.
Source: http://www.glennbeck.com/2015/09/23/christian-pollster-sheds-new-light-on-whatchurch-goers-want-preached-from-thepulpit/?utm_source=glennbeck&utm_medium=contentcopy_link
David Barton came to Glenn Beck’s studo to present some of the crucial issues the
preachers behind our pulpits MUST begin to confront. If your church is not talking about
these things, here are the steps to help turn your pastors and churches in the right
direction.
Action Steps:
1. Ask your pastor to preach on one of these important cultural issues (see “Top 12 Issues
the Church Wants to Hear”).
2. Give your pastor a copy of this survey. whole survey
http://www.wallbuilders.com/downloads/WhatChristiansWantPastorstoPreachAbout.pdf
3. Show group support for your pastor with a letter of encouragement (see sample letter
here). Watch conversation with David Barton below.
Video of David Barton talking about Action Steps: click on either link:
http://www.glennbeck.com/2015/09/23/action-steps-how-to-get-your-church-off-thesidelines?utm_source=glennbeck&utm_medium=contentcopy_link
or
https://youtu.be/cssRs-z8O5M
Sample letter encouraging pastors to preach more boldly on societal
issues by Glenn Beck Program Wednesday, Sep 23, 2015 at 3:58 PM EDT
Dear Pastor, We appreciate your love and service to the Lord – to the Body of Christ in
general and to us in particular. We are grateful for your commitment to improving our
spiritual well-being and strengthening our families. Thank you for serving and ministering
to us, often at difficult hours and in the midst of our diverse crises. We want you to know
that we understand you are in a very difficult position and under constant pressure – what
Paul described in 2 Corinthians 11:28 as the daily pressure of his concern for the church.
We also understand that because of the powerful influence the culture has on us today, it
is easy for our fellow church-goers to become offended and to make you the brunt of their
complaints. You are the first to hear their grumbles and their rumbles, and we apologize
for those who voice their negativity. We also apologize that we have not been more vocal
in expressing our support and appreciation of you. We want you to know that we do have
your back. We also want to encourage you to be bold in providing a Biblical perspective
and spiritual guidance on the important moral, social and cultural issues confronting us
today. As never before in our history, we are facing complex problems, and there is a
competing cacophony of voices telling us what to think about these issues. We need clear
guidance on what the Scriptures tell us about such issues such as abortion, religious
persecution, sexual identity, bioethics and so much else. Our thinking, our children and our
families are under attack from so many secular voices telling us how to think about these
issues. We understand many of these things will be seen as controversial to some, but this
is all the more reason we need a clear spiritual perspective on them. Everyone seems to
have their own opinion, but we want to know what the Bible says on each of these issues.
We have recently discovered we are not alone in our hunger for clear guidance on specific
issues.
Culture & Faith Institute shows that the overwhelming majority of serious Bibleminded church-goers are also hungering for relevant information.
In fact, the issues they said were “critically important” or “very important” for them to
receive guidance on from the pulpit included:
1. Abortion: beginning of life, right to life, contraception, adoption, unwed mothers – 91%
2. Religious persecution/liberty: personal duty, government duty, church response, global
conditions – 86%
3. Poverty: personal duty, government role, church role, homelessness, hunger,
dependency – 85%
4. Cultural restoration: appropriate morals, law and order, defensible values and norms,
self-government – 83%
5. Sexual identity: same-sex marriage, transgenderism, marriage, LGBT – 82% 6. Israel:
its role in the world, Christian responsibility to Israel, US foreign policy toward Israel and its
enemies – 80%
7. Christian heritage: role of Christian faith in American history, church role in US
development, modern-day relevance – 79%
8. Role of government: biblical view, church-state relationship, personal responsibility,
limitations – 76%
9. Bioethics: cloning, euthanasia, genetic engineering, cryogenics, organ donation,
surrogacy – 76%
10. Self-governance: biblical support, personal conduct, impact on freedom, national
sovereignty – 75%
11. Church in politics/government: separation of church and state, legal boundaries,
church resistance to government – 73%
12. Islam: core beliefs, response to Islamic aggression, threat to US peace and domestic
stability – 72% We have included a copy of this fascinating survey for your perusal.
(Available at www.wallbuilders.com)
We want – indeed, we need – to hear what God says about these things, which are
pressing in upon our thinking from so many directions. We want you to know that if you will
take leadership in teaching us about these things, we will have your back – we will
ourselves stand up to the critics – we will stand with you and for you. We want to become
better disciples and think like Jesus thought on all of these issues. Sincerely, [signatures]
Source of letter to pastors: http://www.glennbeck.com/2015/09/23/sample-letterencouraging-pastors-to-preach-more-boldly-on-societalissues/?utm_source=glennbeck&utm_medium=contentcopy_link