Brad Waggoner is vice president of B&H Publishing Group, and formerly served as dean of the School of Leadership & Church Ministry at Southern Seminary He holds a Master of Arts degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and a Master of Religious Education degree and Ph.D. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Brad's book, The Shape of Faith to Come: Spiritual Formation and the Future of Discipleship uncovers the ugly truth that many professing Christians live lives that are not qualitatively different in character and practice than that of nonbelievers. Even as many of our churches are growing in number we need to take time to consider what kind of Christians we are actually producing.

In The Shape of Faith to Come, Brad looks at the beliefs and actions of 2,500 active Protestant churchgoers from across the country against seven key standards of biblical spiritual formation: learning the truth, obeying God and denying self, sharing faith, serving God and others, exercising biblical faith, building solid relationships, and seeking God. The research itself is challenging, and Brad pushes back on the apparent weaknesses in our disciple making processes.

This book is one of our first "LifeWay Research" related book line.

I recently had the chance to talk to Brad about his new book. Below is the interview and Brad will be around all day to answer questions in the comments.

Ed Stetzer: What prompted you to write Shape of Faith to Come? What is the book about?

Brad Waggoner: Having been in the ministry for many years I know how easy it is for churches and church leaders to become distracted from the real task of equipping and forming spiritually mature believers. I also know it is easy to fall prey to using other forms of measurement to determine success.

I wrote The Shape of Faith to Come to draw attention to the current crisis: that many of our churches are not using biblical standards to make God-honoring disciples.

ES: Discuss the research. Who/how many sampled.

BW: To address this crisis, we created a study that surveyed 2,500 Protestant churchgoers, people who said they attended a Protestant church at least once a month. Then a year later, we sampled more than 1,000 of the original group to determine if they had matured in their faith over the course of the year.

ES: What kinds of questions were asked?

BW: The survey was designed to determine the degree to which churchgoers believe, think, perceive and act like a biblical disciple. We asked questions about their beliefs and their perspective on certain points of doctrine. Key categories covered: Learning the Truth, Obeying God & Denying Self, Exercising Faith, Sharing Christ, Seeking God, Serving God & Others, and Building Biblical Relationships. We also ask several questions to determine the nature and frequency of many behaviors.

ES: What was the most surprising to you?

BW: I was most surprised by how compromised the belief systems are for many people who claim to be Christians and who attend church on a regular basis. For example, in our survey only 70 percent agreed strongly in the doctrine of the Trinity and only 72 percent agreed strongly that Jesus died on the cross and was physically resurrected from the dead.

ES: What, in your opinion, is the bad news from the research?

BW: That many self-professed Christians and churchgoers hold to beliefs and perspectives that are clearly unbiblical. And that overall the sample of churchgoers did not grow or mature over the course of a year.

ES: What, then, is the good news?

BW: The good news is that many people are interested in spiritual things. They want to know and love God. This study enables us to affirm what many leaders have known for centuries- it is the Word of God that transforms hearts, minds and character. In our study, the number one predictor of spiritual maturation was the daily discipline of reading the Bible. In other words, the most common trait of those who did grow over the course of a year, were those who had the practice of reading the Bible on a regular basis.

ES: What would you say to the pastor who responds, "not in my house," "this is not what people in my church believe?"

BW: Well, I would ask every leader, "Do you know what your flock actually believes and how they act on a daily basis?" From what we saw in our study, I think most pastors would be surprised to discover what their regular churchgoers believe and how they live. For example, 54 percent of those surveyed do not participate in church outside of worship service, and that during worship service 47 percent admit they are only going through the motions.

ES: What hope can you offer for those pastors who think they are fighting a losing battle?

BW: The good news is that God's Word makes it clear how we are to go about making disciples. We are to model and teach His eternal principles. This isn't easy, nor is it mysterious or overly complicated. No human leader can transform another person. But God, through His Word and through the work of the Holy Spirit, does change hearts, minds and character. I encourage pastors to be faithful to what God says we are to believe and how we are to act.

I always find hope in what the Apostle Paul said in Philippians 1:6, "I am sure of this, that He who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

ES: So how can churches become more effective in making disciples?

BW: One of the things I tried to avoid in the book is a "one size fits all" approach to making disciples. But the book does contain prescriptive content that provides practical steps for spiritual formation and discipleship.

We have also provided access to the Spiritual Formation Inventory, the very same survey we used for the book, for both personal assessment and for use by pastors to assess leadership at www.lifeway.com/sfi. Also, several places within the SFI summary report, you will be directed to the SFR (Spiritual Formation Resources) for additional guidance and resources both for personal spiritual formation and for the discipling of others.

Over the centuries many churches and individuals have been used of by God to equip others in their pursuit of knowing, loving and serving God and others. Every church and properly motivated and equipped leader can be a tool in the hands of God.

Be sure to weigh in below with comments or questions.

Flying home today on the airplane, I read about my home county (Sumner County, TN) on the front page of the USAToday. You can read the article here.

Seven people died in these tornados in my county alone. Tomorrow, my family and I will see how we can help.

Union University

I also read about, and saw pictures from, Union University. The picture here of the dorm tells a powerful and tragic story.

Brad Waggoner (my boss) told me today that his son was in the dorm as it came apart.

My friend David Dockery is the president of Union and I know many of the faculty there. You can keep up with their situation through their disaster blog (http://www.bpnews.net/blog). Also, our friend Tim Ellsworth has updates at his blog (http://www.timellsworth.com/).

I am a big fan of Union and its president, David Dockery. David recently asked me to speak in chapel, and I could not work out the date he suggested, but I am now even more motivated to get there. I will work harder to make that happen.

Please pray for Union, its students, and its future. We can rejoice that no one died at Union, though some came close and are still recovering from injuries, both physical and emotional.

I hope you will join me in sending a check to:
"Union University Disaster Relief Fund"
1050 Union University Drive
Jackson, TN 38305

Update:

You can view a powerful video here:

And visit www.timellsworth.com for more videos.

Uberblogger Tony Kummer interviews my boss, Brad Waggoner, who says some reasonable things which, of course, will get him in trouble. He also talks about our vision here at LifeWay Research. You can find the podcast here.