The Barna Group – George Barna

A native New Yorker, George Barna has filled executive roles in politics, marketing, advertising, media, research and ministry. He founded the Barna Research Group (now The Barna Group) in 1984 and helped it become the nation’s leading marketing research firm focused on the intersection of faith and culture. The company has served several hundred parachurch ministries and thousands of Christian churches throughout the country. It has also supplied research to numerous corporations and non-profit organizations, as well as to the U.S. Navy and U.S. Army.

To date, Barna has written 48 books, mostly addressing leadership, trends, church health and spiritual development. They include best-sellers such asRevolution, Transforming Children into Spiritual Champions, The Frog in the Kettle, and The Power of Vision. His most recent book is Revolutionary Parenting. Several of his books have received national awards. He has had more than 100 articles published in periodicals and writes a bi-weekly research report (The Barna Update) accessed by more than a million people each year, through his firm’s website (www.barna.org). His work is frequently cited as an authoritative source by the media. He has been hailed as “the most quoted person in the Christian Church today” and has been named by various media as one of the nation’s most influential Christian leaders.

He is a popular speaker at ministry conferences around the world and has taught at Pepperdine and Biola Universities and several seminaries. Barna served as a pastor of a large, multi-ethnic church and has been involved in several church start-ups.

After graduating summa cum laude from Boston College, Barna earned two Master’s degrees from Rutgers University. At Rutgers, he was awarded the Eagleton Fellowship. He also received a doctorate from Dallas Baptist University. He lives with his wife (Nancy) and their three daughters (Samantha, Corban, Christine) in southern California. He enjoys reading novels, watching movies, playing guitar, and relaxing on the beach.

Background
Barna grew up a Catholic in New York City and Princeton, New Jersey, but has since engaged with evangelical Christianity.[3] He graduated summa cum laude from Boston College with a Bachelor’s degree in sociology (along with a minor or secondary focus inreligion), and holds two master’s degrees from Rutgers University and a doctorate from Dallas Baptist University.
Barna leads seminars for church leaders, speaks at ministry conferences, has taught at seminaries, and has been a pastor. As an author, he has written more than four dozen books on contemporary Christian issues, with topics ranging from worldviews, trends and children to church life, spiritual growth and leadership. He also writes columns which are published on the website of The Barna Group. As a result of his work, Barna has coined several terms, including:
Mosaic Generation – the demographic profile of those born between 1984 and 2002. According to Barna, this generation is “very mosaic in every aspect of their life.” He continues, “There’s no attribute that really dominates like you might have seen with prior generations.” Barna also describes this group as “comfortable with contradiction”, “post-modern” and exhibiting “non-linear” thinking.
Theolographics – the theological perspectives and applications of people;
Spiritainment – a portmanteau which refers to the blending of spirituality and entertainment, toward influencing people’s spiritual perspectives.
He is married to Nancy Barna, and they have three adopted daughters — two from Guatemala, one from Russia.
[edit]Findings
Barna is known for providing extensive surveys regarding Christianity and the state of the church. Among his findings that have generated substantial interest or controversy in recent years include:
children are the most important population segment to minister to because of their spiritual teachability and developmental vulnerability;
God transforms people’s lives in connection with a 10-stop journey that is surprisingly consistent across people groups [4]
Christian churches in the United States have been generally ineffective vessels for evangelism and discipleship;[citation needed]
most Protestant pastors are neither called to nor competent in leadership;[citation needed]
less than one out of every five born again adults possesses a Biblical world view;
every church engages in marketing, but few do it well;[citation needed]
mass media has the most dramatic effect on people’s behavior and beliefs;
alternative forms of church life — including house churches — are growing rapidly;
a growing group of spiritually devout Christians, known as Revolutionaries, are embracing a post-congregational narrative that is reshaping spiritual life in the U.S.;[citation needed]
most “church growth” is simply the recycling of church-goers from one congregation to another.[citation needed]
divorce rate amongst born-again Christians is significantly higher than that for atheist/agnostics.[5] A more recent 2008 Barna report shows a closer divorce rate gap between born-again Christians (32% had been divorced) and atheist/agnostics (30% had been divorced).[6]
Barna considers Maximum Faith to be his most significant book. Others that he cites as being especially valuable include Transforming Children into Spiritual Champions, Think Like Jesus, The Power of Vision, and Revolution. Since 2009 he has been a writer for hire, penning books such as The Cause Within You, for Matthew Barnett, which became a New York Times bestseller in 2011.
[edit]Selected publications
Maximum Faith
Futurecast
Master Leaders*
Pagan Christianity with Frank Viola
Revolution
The Frog in the Kettle
The Power of Vision
Transforming Children into Spiritual Champions
The Seven Faith Tribes