Product Description
Worldrenowned pollster George Barna has the numbers, and they indicate a revolution is already taking place within the Churchone that will impact every believer in America. Committed, bornagain Christians are exiting the established church in massive numbers. Why are they leaving? Where are they going? And what does this mean for the future of the Church? Using years' worth of research data, and adhering to an unwavering biblical perspective, Barna predicts how this revolution will impact the organized church, how Christ's body of believers should react, and how individuals who are considering leaving (or those who have already left) can respond. For leaders working for positive change in the church and for believers struggling to find a spiritual community and worship experience that resonates, Revolution is here. Are you ready?
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 Best Barna Book, yet! ( jafarox )
Read so many barna books, but this one is so different. it is revolutionary! Here is a respected Christian writer from a traditional church background going truth and dare on the traditional church. Barna puts today's church into realistic perspective-- i.e. as seen thru the eyes of the greater population including those inside the church and Believers.
This book gives extarordinary one-of-a-kind insight and invocative data for 3 persons:
1. the Christian who is fed up with an incompetent, irrelevant modern church but doesnt want to be fed up, but would rather be involved but isn't afforded the opportunty to use their gifts.
2. The nonBeliever who is interested in the Christian church but wants to know if there are any Christians out there who can empathize with their disillusionment with their Grandpa's church.
3. The faithful minister who colors outside the lines and finds that the established church only allows those who color the same kind of Jesus, the same kind of pews, and the same kind of church with the same crayons of yesteryear, minister.
For the intelligent, truly creative, truly innovative minister (professional or nonprofessional) who is tired of being on the outside looking in on a church that, even when it thinks itself innovative, is just a retred version of Grandma's institution, Barna's Revolution is for you.
According to Barna, there is a revolution in the church, today, and you don't have to fly the banner of emergent church to be a part of it. Look out, emerging village, you don't own the corner on church revolution-- Barna's got you beat!!!
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Many Churches operate like a Business not a Ministry!
Many churches especally the larger they become are functioning like a big business enterprise and not a Ministry which was once relevant to the timeless Gospel message of the Cross. As an example in this consumer age of attracting self-focused & self-seeking crowds churches are now using big screens, lively Christian rock music, big named Christian celebrities who drain the church finances with mega salaries they are paid to attract a large crowd, in some cases wordly Arcade games for the youth, secular movies with so-called PG ratings replace the timeless Gospel message of Jesus Christ crucified for our sins. Now the church of this age feels the need for worldly strategies to reach an already lost & spiritually dead world. These appeals are base and carnal and only creates a thirst for more & more gimmicks and enticements to excite unregenerated, self-seeking crowds. Why has quantity replaced quality? No wonder outsiders looking in see no difference in the unsaved world from the saved church.
What is needed is that the higger ups & leadership should be more sensitive to the real needs of the congregation: such as being there to visit the sick in the hospitals or be there when a loved one passes away go minister and witness the family (often unsaved) left behind. Being sensitive to the needs of members is what makes a lasting impact. Complaints from Mega church members may range from the fact that no one calls to give comfort when a loved one died, or no help or resource referral was offered when there was a devastating job loss or other tragedy. Megachurches must stay on top of these things because they matter more than having a Christian celebrity give a seminar for a fee.
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 Good Observations --Questionable Conclusions
Barna claims to have synthesized years of research on American Christianity. His conclusion is that the institutional church is on the way out. Although not a pastor or theologian, Barna also argues that the demise of the institutional church should be encouraged. The author proffers three goals for Revolution. First, he seeks to describe how the American church is being reshaped. Second, he identifies who is doing the reshaping. Lastly, he invites dissatisfied believers to join the Revolution.
Revolution analyzes the social research, which provides the basis for the book's observations and conclusions about the Church in America. Barna observes that there is a disconnect between churched Christians and a biblical lifestyle. He asks: if the local church is God's answer to our spiritual needs, then why are most churched Christians so spiritually immature? The conclusion is that local churches are not doing their job.
"New models" of spiritual community are developing at the expense of the traditional model of church. The reasons for this shift include the desire for more choices, specialization of purpose, flexible scheduling and the quest for a deeper spiritual experience. Barna's criterion for determining the validity of any particular church "option" is simple: "does the mechanism provide a way of advancing the believer's faith, without compromising Scripture or any of the passions of the true believer?"
The impact on the local church, as Barna sees it, is one of three possibilities: "to ignore the Revolution and continue business as usual, to invest energy fighting the Revolution as an unbiblical advance, or to look for ways of retaining their identity while cooperating with the Revolution as a mark of unity and genuine ministry." Churches that respond in the two former ways can expect declining attendance, a continued drop in donations, cutbacks in staff and salaries, and a reduction in political influence.
Barna anticipates critics; those who will balk at anything that jeopardizes the traditional church model. But for Barna, church should be defined by result, not institutional characteristics. He argues there is no Scripture prohibiting these new models of church or any Scripture that requires the retention of the current institutional model for that matter. In fact, Scripture never describes church as it is currently practiced; indeed it provides very little structure for church. For Barna, this observation is a green light to advocate a broad range of possibilities.
The Revolution can be divided into two basic impacts for the Church in America. The first is Barna's conclusion that the era of the local church is waning. The second is his argument that the local church's demise will make way for better expressions of Christ's Church. Both claims should be taken seriously, but for different reasons.
There are indications that if not waning, the local church in America is at least undergoing an identity crisis. It's hard not to conclude from Barna's evidence that American churches are diminishing in their spiritual influence. The observations that there is no difference in behavior between the churched and the unchurched as well as the growing trend by American believers to seek alternatives to the local church, is evidence that something has gone awry. Because this evidence is the result of valid social research in Barna's field of expertise, his conclusions should be taken seriously and addressed.
The second impact of Barna's Revolution for the American Church is his advocacy of new "options" for spiritual expression for believers. This is where Barna skates onto thin theological ice. If we start with the premise that spiritual growth begins with correct application of Scripture, Barna's argument is found wanting. His criterion for determining a valid option (that it simply not violate Scripture) begs the question. What is a biblical definition of church? Is an option viable simply because it does not expressly violate any of the Ten Commandments or are there biblical characteristics that define a church? Revolution never defines the visible local church nor does it help the reader identify a Scriptural basis for creating one.
In fact, Barna's ecclesiology leaves open the possibility that these church "options" and "Mini-movements", while they may not expressly violate any particular Scripture, will nonetheless militate against the biblical process of how people grow closer to God. What Revolution should have provided readers is analyses of the various church options in the context of the biblical process of sanctification and discipleship.
Barna offers no assurance that Revolutionaries are establishing biblical options. For example, there is no inherent requirement that options ensure that those who are more spiritually mature disciple those who are less spiritually mature (I Peter 5:1-5), or that believers be equipped to recognize and correct false teaching (II Tim. 2:15). Absent in The Revolution's description are the historically orthodox marks of the church -The Word, Sacraments and Discipline. If the Bible does not define the Church, what does? Apparently, in The Revolution, the individual believer does. Barna states that, "the individual believer now has sole responsibility for his or her own spiritual growth, the discipleship of others and promulgation of ministry." Another concern is that Revolution advocates "doing" church by identifying and imitating Jesus good works while Scripture clearly identifies that church is premised on the believer identifying who Christ is and being related to Him. [Matt. 16:18; II Pet. 1:3.]
Finally, Barna fails to preclude alternative causes for the loss of influence by the local church. It does not necessarily follow that a loss of influence means the local church model has become outdated. It may be, for example, that the local church is biblical but that American culture is drawing believers away from correctly promulgating church. By contrast, the local church model appears to be flourishing in countries lacking America's wealth and culture of choice. If the "future models of church" offered in Revolution have a biblical basis, Revolution fails to articulate it. Barna's approach to church is particularly American - highly individualistic and independent. It may be that our culture's overvaluing of individualism and independence is influencing how we view church. Nonetheless Revolution does correctly observe that churches in America would do well to acknowledge their spiritual disabilities.
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The Face of the Church is Changing
This is a groundbreaking book. George Barna, who is esteemed by the evangelical Christian world, lays it all on the line and the numbers reveal the sad truth that the present form of the traditional church is not getting the job done. It's failing to change lives and it's failing to influence the culture that surrounds it.
There is a revolution happening and it has to with the changing form of the church. Those Christians who are tied to the status quo will resist it. Those who want more of God, no matter what it costs or where it leads, will welcome it.
Barna does a great job building his case by showing how the present form of church is failing and why. He then discusses the key features of every revolution and explains that the Christian faith is experiencing one in our time. In the next 20 years, the face of the church will change in some major ways.
I recommend this book along with the follow up books, "Pagan Christianity?," where Barna traces how the traditional church got its present form and why it should be questioned, and "Reimagining Church," which presents a fresh vision of the church based on the Bible.
These three books make a great set for revolutionaries young and old.
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 Church & church ( chessed1 )
First, by way of introduction, let me say that I have almost everything George Barna has written, and I stay up-to-date on his research by receiving mailings from his email list. Mr Barna's work is a revolution, and if the Church universal isn't listening, then it will continue to be in the doldrums as he describes it.
I come from an areligious background. That has been advantageous in that I don't have emotional baggage that keeps me bonded and protective of a certain theological model of the church local or Church universal. I am pretty free to evolve with G-d's plan for planet earth. But I do have certain Biblical convictions that I think that Mr Barna is missing in this book.
I'm not sure of Mr Barna's theological studies and background, but this text seems to major in Biblical references to explicit passages about what the church is and isn't. There's a whole lot of implicit teaching that leads down a different path in describing church polity.
In Mr Barna's vision of how the "revolution" is unfolding, he sees the majority of the "revolutionaries" operating outside of the historical church structure. Yet, much of the New Testament teaching on that structure is taught based on an understanding of what it already was in Jewish tradition. And that tradition was the synagogue.
Next, Paul teaches about deacons and elders. Jesus taught in Matthew 18 about how to handle the sinfully rebellious. None of that teaching is possible in Mr Barna's "open structure" of the local church.
Letters from Paul and the other New Covenant writers don't make sense with Mr Barna's lack of any structure in his vision of what the church should be. All of life has organization and rules. The local church is no different.
I'm sympathetic with Barna's vision of what the church is and should be. I can't argue with his thesis in any way when we examine where we are, and where we need to be. I agree that present church denominational setup and control can militate against the evolution he prophesies. But I don't agree with throwing the baby out with the bath water.
How can I be accountable to other brethren unless there are those who are officially recognized as having the giftings who can disciple me? Where are the elders who can lay hands on those they recognize are called to certain ministries as the elders laid hands on Paul and sent him out? Where are those who have a depth of Scriptural knowledge that can keep His people from straying into cultish behavior?
Stepping outside the established church may in some cases be the right thing to do. It's very difficult to "build on someone else's foundation." If my local congregation isn't operating in a Biblical manner to achieve the objectives that Barna is advocating, the I would suggest it's time to move, but I would stop short of moving to a group of people that don't have the structures in place to to effect the Scriptural model of a local congregation.
If I had any recommendations for George Barna, it would be to examine what I call the "missing theology." What is missing in the local congregation is COMMUNITY LIFE. Much of what George Barna is describing is that which can't possibly be accomplished unless an intimacy between believers is established that is much more than "hello's" and "good-bye's" that are built around the Sunday morning services. Little in the New Testament can be operationally applied and lived without a serious community life that forces believers to be accountable to one another. Without community life, I can't confess my sins "one to another," and find the healing that James suggests is available in the Body dynamic.
A simplistic viewpoint? Yes. But relationships are not simple. Relationship is the basic Biblical teaching on which all other theologies depend. Relationship on the vertical and the horizontal is why G-d sent His Messiah to save us, so to reconcile us to one another, and to Him. Only a return to the realities of relationship will accomplish what George Barna is looking for. Barna has the right answers, but it appears that his questions need to be reframed.
With these caveats in place, I heartily recommend this book.
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