George Barna and Jim Wallis are introducing, at the same time, some stimulating reading and challenging thinking for the church to consider in these critical missional days. They have created an arena of discussion of what it means to be followers of Jesus in this century.

In Seven Faith Tribes: Who They Are, What They Believe, and Why They Matter, Barna seeks to categorize "religious America" into 7 groups. The church and Christians occupy the first two with a total of 82% of the population. Causal Christian are by far the largest group at 66%. Only 16% of Americans reported that they were "captive" Christians. Skeptics were not far behind with 11% of the polling.

So, while the culture is nominally Christian, the question of real discipleship and radical faith still dangles.

Barna suggests that "America's New Faith Tribes Hold the Key to National Restoration."

Barna is well liked by most Evangelicals. Not necessarily so, Jim Wallis of Sojourners. Kevin Lum recently set the stage for his book, "The Great Awakening," with a review of some recent Pew findings.

The New ‘Nones’ Aren’t Athiest–Just Unaffiliated – Kevin Lum – God’s Politics Blog

This is an interesting compliment to the Barna research. Lum's commentary on the Pew data has seemed true from my experience, from anecdotes, and from intuition for some time.

Once when the missionary E. Stanley Jones met with Ghandi he asked him, "Mr. Ghandi, though you quote the words of Christ often, why is that you appear to so adamantly reject becoming his follower?"

Ghandi replied, "Oh, I don't reject your Christ. I love your Christ. It's just that so many of you Christians are so unlike your Christ."

Lum says, "Young people are attracted to an authentic faith in Jesus, grounded in scripture that leads to social action."

Jim Wallis takes the subject to the next level of interpretation and application in "The Great Awakening."

Wallis has raised some ecclesiastical eyebrows in recent yours, but he is raising some important issues here. Namely, young people are looking to Jesus in a fresh way, directly from the scriptures. They are concluding that the Jesus of casual Christianity bears little resemblance to Jesus of Nazareth who walked among men in the first century and called for radical commitment and a lifestyle that defies norms and cannot be contained within existing formalized structures.

The implications for our politics may be something unexpected where neither party or camp can claim a corner on the loyalties of people of faith. The implications for the church are more profound and compelling.

There could be some head shaking, nay saying, and disheartened moods in rfesponse to these realities, but many will embrace them as opportunities to reconsider what is authentic and what is merely the traditions of men.