What can the Church do to turn the tide of culture and put God back to His rightful place?

George Barna says that before we try to change the world around us, we should seek to change ourselves and everything will follow.

“First of all, you have to realize you can’t give what you don’t have. If you want to make other people’s lives better you have to get your own life together first. You’ve got to know who you are, why you were made, what you believe in, what matters in life, and then you have a basis from which to reach out to other people and try to bless them.”

While it’s good to get our own beliefs in order, we can’t sit on the sidelines until we’re perfect because Scripture tells us that will never happen.

“We do want to figure out how we can best serve Christ. He made each of us to attack one part of the problem in the culture in which we live.”

We often fail to even try to make a difference because we are overwhelmed by the task before us.

“None of us have been called to solve it all. If each of us in the church does our little piece, God brings it all together in an magnificent tapestry of transformation, that’s His job, but we’ve got to do our own part in that piece.”

Research indicates the family, government, and media have the biggest influence on us as human beings. Therefore, we must be able to influence those spheres for God’s Kingdom.

“Looking at our families, looking at media, and the laws that are passed by government, all of those things make a huge difference. What can we do to effect that as well as to do something in the lives of those that God puts in our path?”


George Barna founded The Barna Group in 1984. He currently serves as the executive director of the American Culture and Faith Institute, conducting research on governance, elections, worldview, and cultural transformation.

Key Scripture: 1 Chronicles 12:32

Featured Songs: Start a Fire – Unspoken; We Will Not Be Shaken – Bethel Music; Eye of the Storm – Ryan Stevenson

America at the Crossroads