Revolution

Revolution is a tight, ripping-fast read, packed with content. My copy is heavily underlined and margin noted. A couple of other reviewers identified Mr. Barna's former embrace and now rejection of "seeker-sensitive" churches/congregations as a problem. I see this as the church adapting the never-changing message of the gospel of Jesus Christ to a changing culture. Seeker-sensitive churches have certainly been around long enough to have demonstrated success in reaching large numbers of people for Christ. The goal of seeker-sensitive churches is also equip their members to communicate with an emerging post-Christian culture. It may therefore be unfair to chide Mr. Barna for vacillation when he is instead recommending adaptation. Another reviewer cites early church leaders recorded in the book of Acts as "organizing the organism." Point well taken. Acts is a historical book recording the establishment of the first century church in strongly Jewish and later in "non-churched" cultures. Certainly the early leaders had to present a simple, core message of the gospel and keep it from being diluted or corrupted. That still needs to happen today as the professional and lay clergies accept that the culture is again changing. At the beginning of the book, the author makes a strong distinction between the local congregation and the Church universal. In no way is the Church universal in danger. Rather, the methods the current church (local congregations) uses are in question. Barna prognosticates a reduction in the number of congregations as Christians seek focused groups as arenas for personal growth and as common venues with non-Christians. Is there a danger here for wild doctrine? Sure, but we see wild doctrine now. On television. As Barna sees local churches diminishing in number and cultural importance, I have a couple of thoughts and concerns: 1. As this happens, assuming it will happen, will the ecclesiastical landscape in America look more like Europe or the new era Mr. Barna predicts? 2. The Church Mr. Barna sees emerging appears to me as a "leaderless movement." This will drive demographers nuts trying to identify Evangelical Christians as a market group. It will also allow small groups to be instantly responsive to the needs of the people closest to them without having to form committees, develop purpose statements, seek pastoral sponsorship and Finance Committee approval. Decentralization of the church will be a huge empowerment for believers eager to make a visible, immediate impact for Christ. Toward the end of the book, Mr. Barna plots three responses to the revolution he sees; early adopters, resisters and wait-and-seers. As soon as I read the book, I placed myself in the early adopter category. With a week's reflection under my belt, I'm not so sure. I am sure the Revolution is happening. We as local church attenders will be faced with one question: Do I go to church or am I the church? Two questions for me as a late-forty-something ar

First of all, Barna's style is not what I would recommend to the average Joe poking around for something to read besides his comic books. At times Barna's sentence structure is fairly complex, he has a large vocabulary, and a lot of the ideas he discusses are based on quite a bit of statistical analysis that he has attempted to (for the most part succeeded) break down to support his points. As an avid reader, I found all of these aspects enjoyable rather than challenging; I think that Barna's notions are things that all people would benefit from considering, but the writing style could get in the way for some. That should not stop anyone from picking it up and trying though, because the ideas are well worth it--I would hate to underestimate anyone! :) The ideas George Barna presents in this book may be seen by some as too radical and/or unbiblical. That objection is due mainly to the fact that he challenges the traditional organization of congregation and fellowship among Christians, and he specifically addresses that particular type of criticism. With some flexibility and willingness to explore ideas, however, I hope that most who read this book could gain a lot of insight into the current dynamics of Christianity and the church structure as a whole. It would be a mistake to read this book and assume that Barna has made a complete call to action. Indeed, he does admittedly promote the idea of being "revolutionary," however, much of what he has to say merely paints a picture of what is going on in the church right now. It is a "state of the union" address of sorts, discussing various maladies in the church. I believe it would be a very large mistake to read this as a cause-and-effect sort of book, where George Barna highlights maladies and discusses the cause of the problem in "the church" and how to solve it. What he does in this book is to describe what he sees in the church and use those perceptions to explain something that is already happening, something which he feels is important to point out--a trend of believers leaving established congregational populations in search of real spiritual meat, at times through alternative means. He examines the implications of such a retreat from institution and discusses in depth what it looks like to then be "revolutionary." I can see how some people would be offended if they feel that the current church structure is merely in need of reform rather than something as drastic as "revolution." As I read this book, it was not my understanding that he was saying the established church structure needed to be completely over-taken and revamped OR that he was saying all Christians should be "revolutionaries"; rather, he was suggesting that it IS possible to have a very rich spiritual life that doesn't look like the millions of other cookie cutter Christian lives and that there are a growing number of people out there doing just that. He was saying that within the church there are millions of peop

This book is an exceptionally well written account of something we are already know is happening. There are highly spiritual Christians all around us who are not connecting with a local church. Why? Not because they are selfish, or sinful, but because God is moving in them and drawing them into a life which goes far beyond what our traditional church structures have allowed. Along with noting this trend, the book goes into a number of great questions church leaders should be asking about this trend, and the revolutionary thinking that is necessary to see God's people use their gifts in ministry together.

Folks, Mr. Barna has stuck his neck way out and is getting lots of flack from 'important' people because of it. Let's be thankful he is risking his reputation to tell it as he sees it. Ditching traditional churches and meeting and fellowshipping in more Biblical and sensible ways cannot be compared to backsliding or a denial of the importance of the 'local church'. The real revolutionaries want to see a true local church body developed, not the opposite. The theologians reviewing this book need to study more church history and get some better experience of church outside their ivory tower. Theology is worthless without experience. The church doesn't need more theology but more LIFE. History shows the old wineskins do not change. Is there a single move of God in history that did not involve a coming out of the immovable, unbiblical traditions of the day? Try Pentecost! No one of any character is advocating loner Christians with no fellowship. But there is nothing sacred about the typical American way of 'doing church.' Let this be a wakeup call to examine where those traditions really came from and what the Bible truly says about the church. Regardless of how/where you meet, if you aren't centered on Christ and exalting Him above all else, you aren't healthy. The church didn't just start after Pentecost, it was begun with the disciples following Jesus around for 3 years and fellowshipping with Him informally as much as possible. Start with some Frank Viola books if you want very well documented, historical research informed by actual long - term experience with healthy house churches.

Somehow, the other day, I happened to pick up a copy of George Barna's new book called Revolution. For those of you who are unfamiliar, George Barna is the founder of Barna Research Group (now called The Barna Group), which was created more than two decades ago with the intent to help ministries facilitate strategic decision-making. Much of this was accomplished through detailed statistical research provided by the Group. Over the course of that 20 years the Barna research team interviewed nearly a half million people in the course of hundreds of research studies, provided seminar-based training to leaders from more than 50,000 churches, produced more than 60 books and syndicated reports, and developed a website that provided free information to hundreds of thousands of people every month. Barna became one of the most (if not the most) trusted resource for church-related statistical research in the United States and has often been hailed as "the most quoted person in the Christian Church today"! But, as I found out reading this book, a drastic change occurred in George Barna's life (about 2003) as a result of his countless hours of researching the effects of organized religion; he realized that very little actual life transformation appeared to be occurring in churched believers all over the country. Even worse, he realized that his own efforts in research were being used by pastors mostly for the purpose of seeking statistical evidence to support their teaching. To his surprise, however, the same research Barna had been conducting over the years led him to a discovery of the fact that God was moving in mighty ways OUTSIDE the four walls of the Institutional Church! In fact, Barna was so impacted by what he observed in the lives of "churchless" Christians all over the U.S. that it convinced him to give up what he had done for 20 years and refocus his attentions. He changed the name of his organization from the Barna Research Group to simply the Barna Group, downsized his organization from 100 employees to eight, moved out of their large office space into a compact area, sought to become more partnership based, and chose to raise the level of risk they were willing to take in new ventures, determining that it would be better to go broke in the pursuit of true life transformation than to remain financially safe but without any gain for the kingdom. All of that to say that George Barna no longer has interest to merely help grow the Institutional Church. His new passion is solely to see God's true Church, who are His very people (His body), walk into the fullness of what God intends for them without obstacles, without distractions, without religious strings attached - and to see them live life to the fullest in Christ and minister truth to a lost and dying world who desperately need Him. George was humbled to find that this is already happening without the aid of churches and formal religious organizations or "official" leadership. In fact, one of