relationships in church

A new Barna study focuses on people's most important relationships. There are a lot of interesting numbers at Barna's website, but what caught my attention was an observation from Mr. Barna,

People were more than 50% more likely to say that their church’s congregation is their most significant group than to say that God represents their most important personal connection. That certainly reflects the interpersonal comfort that millions of people have developed at their church, but also indicates that people may have forgotten the ultimate reason for belonging to a Christian church.

I wonder if that is what it indicates.

Maybe I'm just feeling optimistic this morning, but I think those numbers could be a good sign. He could be talking about lazy "Christians" with no interest in discipleship, but he could also be talking about the spiritually-curious. Those people whom we assume have "forgotten the ultimate reason for belonging to a Christian church" may just be coming to the faith.

If the later were true, what a testimony those numbers would be to the power of third place spaces and small group communities within a church! People who do not yet list God as their BFF are at least naming their church congregation as their most significant network!

Because, remember, a digital society behaves differently from a broadcast one. In broadcast, you have to subscribe to HBO before you can talk about the shows around the office water cooler. Believe comes before Belong. In a digital society, you can sign up for a dozen social networking sites and never create a profile on half. Belong comes before Believe.