Since I am blogging from the land of revolutions, Mexico, I thought I’d do one on George Barna’s recent book, Revolution. George Barna is a Christian Pollster with the Barna Group. He studies social trends in American Christianity. He has written at least 35 books, including The Frog in the Kettle. This book was an examination of the American church as a result of societal trends he observed in the 1980’s, and made certain predictions about what life would be like in the year 2000. His latest book, Revolution, builds on this research and carries it to an even more radical conclusion. The local church as we know it will change radically or cease to exist in the near future. He calls this a revolution in the way we define faith and church in America. He says, “It is on track to become the most significant recalibration of the American Christian body in more than a century.”

Barna is writing this book to help a set of Christians he calls Revolutionaries. These are Christians who have found faith expression outside the walls of the local church. Many of these Christians are in the marketplace taking their faith to work. Barna has met these individuals during his research on various faith expressions inside and outside local congregations. They need to be affirmed and encouraged to exercise their faith to transform society without being beholden to the local church.

The bottom line of the book is that Barna has observed certain social trends that lead him to believe that the model we presently have of doing church is outmoded and needs to change. This is a Revolution in how church happens. It is about BEING the Church where ever Christians exist rather than DOING church in a local congregation.

To illustrate his thesis Barna tells two stories. The first one is about a Christian businessman who is living his faith in the marketplace and takes time to share it with others playing golf every other Sunday on the “church on the green.” This fellow has a vibrant walk with God but is no longer connected to the local church due to boredom and the realization the church can’t use his business gifting and ability. The second story is of a conversation Barna had with two pastors who he challenged with his thesis. The first pastor’s response is that he is called to be faithful not successful so whether or not his church is growing, he believes he has a job to do to help people draw near to Christ. In Barna’s view, this pastor “gets it”. The second pastor is upset by Barna’s conclusion and believes that the local church is God’s Plan A and that there is no Plan B. Barna should be helping the local church to succeed not giving permission for revolutionaries to abandon the local church. This pastor does not get it.

My comment is that I agree with Barna that we need to reconfigure the local church. One of the pet peeves of the Faith at Work blog is that there is a significant disconnect between what happens on Sunday in church and what goes on Monday to Friday in the marketplace. Christians are equipped to DO church well on Sunday, but they are not equipped to BE the Church Monday to Friday. Barna is picking this up in his research and he is basing some of his conclusions on this problem.

The present form has not changed much since its development as a result of the Protestant Reformation in the 1600’s. It depends upon voluntary association of a group of like minded believers around a set of doctrines. It requires certain structures to function effectively. One of those structures is denominationalism. That structure is in decline today as more Christians view faith as trans denominational activity and many local churches function outside of a denomination.

For example, the ministry organization I belong to is Youth With A Mission. (YWAM) It was founded by Loren Cunningham, the son of a Pastor with the Assemblies of God, a Pentecostal denomination. Yet, YWAM welcomes all believers from all denominations.

I disagree with Barna’s assessment of the local church though. I think local church is Plan A. So I think we need to DO church right so we can BE the right Church to represent Christ.

Certainly, there are many Plan B’s but these are a step down from God’s ideal. I think God’s ideal is that believers need to break bread together in a local fellowship that has some semblance of order and regularity. The local church provides that order; whereas, many of the Plan B approaches to fellowship do not.

For example, from my experience I would consider YWAM to be a Plan B approach to being Church. It organizes itself around operating locations called “Bases”. These bases are staffed by Full Time Christian service workers whose purpose is to train young people in the character and purposes of God. Young people attend a 3 month Discipleship Training School (DTS) and then participate in a 3 month evangelistic outreach to another nation usually overseas. My family an I went through this process in 1993. You can read about our mission adventure here.

YWAM is very good at inculcating a mission perspective into its staff and students. It focuses on training, evangelism and mercy ministry. These three emphasis’ are what defines the organization. YWAM has been very successful at accomplishing these specific goals. It has grown to be one of the largest non denominational mission organizations in the world with operating location’s in 149 countries.

However proficient YWAM is at doing missions, it does not function well as a nurturing environment for Christians over the long term. There is often a high turn over of staff. Students come and go every three months. Relationships are transitory. Accountability is strong while people live on base but declines when staff move off the base. YWAM has a specific purpose which it accomplishes well. It is not, however, a replacement for the local church.

In contrast to my YWAM experience, I consider the local church where I became a Christian, Granville Chapel. I was baptized there, married to my wife, Sue, and I dedicated my firstborn son, Sam there. Granville Chapel was founded in 1950 by a group of Plymouth Brethren. For its first 30 years it functioned without a pastor. It was led by elders who shared the teaching and pastoral responsibilities. Today Granville Chapel presents itself as a evangelical community church in Vancouver, BC.

Granville was a family to me. It modeled dedicated community. The members of Granville were intimately involved in one another's lives. Discipleship occurred through small groups, Sunday morning teaching and Sunday evening communion services and various ongoing relationships. I still consider Granville to be a church family even though I have not attended there since 1988 due to the fact my family moved to another city in British Columbia.

Granville has changed significantly since I attended but it continues to provide that sense of an extended Christian family. Granville has been there over the long haul and has proven itself to be faithful in the little things of providing stable, consistent and reliable Christian relationships. It is a treasure to be highly valued not an outmoded structure to be abandoned.

The solution to Barna’s challenge is not to abandon the local church but to reform it. In the next few posts I will comment on Barna’s ideas, interact with them and offer my thoughts on how the local church can be reformed.

Others who are commenting on Barna’s book Revolution

It Takes A Church...: Revolution or Retreat? (HT: revkasedoggy: Revolution...)

JOLLYBLOGGER: Book Review - Revolution by George Barna

ONE: thought, word, action: A Conversation on "The State of the 'C'hurch"

Because God Doesn’t Always Fit at djchuang.com:: writing since 1969. blogging since 1999.

lifeasmission » Revolution or Revolt

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