Some interesting new data coming from the Barna Research Group:

this month, comes a new Barna survey loaded with data that suggest the direction of the contemporary church is the wrong one. New Barna data suggest that “born again Christians” have a reputation slightly better than that of prostitutes, but lower than that of lawyers. And Barna, who is often quoted by the “seeker” crowd, for the first time came out with a statement explicitly saying that “seeker” approaches do not attract the unchurched. Instead, he says, the unchurched are seeking God’s presence. “The one thing that the local church can provide that no other social institution does is the tangible, palpable presence of God,” Barna says. “Trying to help people understand who God is, and ushering them into His presence is what we need to be aiming at,” he says.

I think it’s fair to say that the Seeker Movement is officially dead. It was preceded in death by its older sibling the Church Growth Movement.