Revolution or Retreat?

I am a church guy. 

Twenty years of pastoral ministry, two books and a Ph. D. on the subject and I still have trouble recognizing myself as such, but it is true.  I remember being a young youthworker running Campus Life clubs for Youth for Christ and talking passionately about the difference between “religion” and “relationship”, about the need to be a disciple of Jesus and that there is “no church to join, no institution to support, nothing to do but believe and follow Jesus.”  If you had told me 25 years ago that I was going to be the pastor of a church I would have laughed.  I figured it was far more likely that I would end up a flamenco dancer.  Youth evangelist? Sure.  Missionary?  Ok.  Urban social worker, leader of a parachurch organization or movement or radical group?  Possibly. 

As a young Christian, I was weaned on ideas like living on the “cutting edge” of the faith, the “frontlines” of mission, about being a “pioneer” and not a “settler”.  I really considered myself as part of the “radical” maybe even “revolutionary” fringe of followers who lived out our faith and didn’t just “go to church.” 

To me, back then, church was boring, status quo and conservative.  So what happened to me?  How did I become “The Reverend Doctor”, rightly ordained and installed as a pastor in a mainline denomination?  Is it just that I settled or was there something more, something of God’s own spirit that led me see that now that the church, the local church, the often dysfunctional, frequently disappointing, and regularly dull gathering of people in every town and community is in fact the “cutting edge,” the “front lines” and indeed, in the words of Bill Hybels, “the hope of the world.” 

Indeed, that is why I started this blog a little over a year ago: to offer my voice, theological training and pastoral experience so that the Church universal would be strengthened through strengthening the local church. 

And as this New Year dawned, I took some time to do some thinking and prepared a series based on conversations with two vehemently unchurched people who spoke long and loud about how the church is irrelevant, hypocritical and all the rest.  That will have to wait a bit.  Just when I thought that the church needed to answer the challenge of the world, I found myself facing a most unexpected salvo from a brother in Christ whose work I have long admired.

George Barna has recently released a new book called Revolution, in which he declares that there are 20 million Christians out there who are “reshaping Christianity” and “rocking the nation”.  Barna’s intention in the book is to go from pollster, surveyor and equipper of church leaders to advocate for this “new breed” of Christians who are part of an “under-the-radar but seminal renaissance of faith that will remake the religious contours of this country over the coming quarter century” (p. 15). 

Who are these Revolutionaries?  They are people who are deeply committed to Christ, who are “confidently returning to a first-century lifestyle” and are those who see the local church as nothing more than one of many potential “mechanisms” that “can be instrumental in bringing us closer to (Jesus) and helping us be more like him.”  In other words, in Barna’s revolution, the local church is no more important than one of his books. 

Over the next few posts I will give Barna’s arguments the attention they deserve.  I believe he has thrown down a gauntlet that deserves to be taken up and that his challenges require biblically rooted responses.  I do not question his faith, his sincerity or his skills as a researcher, I have never met George Barna, but maybe through the power of the internet I will. So, here is my introduction.

Mr. Barna, Thank you for you work over the years.  I for one, am a better pastor and leader because of your writings.  I am grateful for your passion, your conviction and this challenge.  But, Mr. Barna, this is not a revolution, it is a retreat.  You and I share the same passion for the spiritual battle that rages around us.  And in your descriptions of the state of the church and faith in our culture, I have great confidence. 

But, in your prescriptions, Mr. Barna, you are wrong.

P.S. For some other reviews and thoughts see Jollyblogger, a recent article in CT, DJChuang offers even more links all worth as well including a quote from a blog that is so good, I wish I had said it.

Comments

[James]

I look forward to this discussion of Barna's book. While I haven't had the chance to read it as of yet (graduate studies limit my time for casual reading), I am very familiar with Barna's work, and the sometimes heartbreaking results of his studies of religion in the U.S.

[Jason Clark]

Looking forward to your thoughts Todd. I got a pre-lease copy of the book and reviewed it, and I found it less than helpful

http://www.jasonclark.ws/jasonclark/2005/08/revolutions_bar.html

Thanks, jason

[Eric Wilbanks]

Thanks for your blog. I subscribe to it via Google Reader and always enjoy your comments.

Although relatively young (turning 38 next month), I have served on pastoral staffs for more than 12 years. It also happens that I have spent the past 5 years researching this thing that Barna is calling the Revolution. And the reality is that Barna deserves absolutely no credit for it's existence or growth. He's merely a statistician trying to interpret the data. (More readers should wake up to this fact.) Barna is an old-school, hard-core lover of the traditional, institutional church. But he has finally come to terms with the same things I've wrestled with for years: Ineffectiveness, hypocrisy, legalism, consumerism, and a list a mile long that plagues churches today. That realization lead him to begin researching this quiet movement that has been growing at the grassroots level in America for well more than a decade!

Why do I say all of this? Because my own research has led me to many of the same conclusions that Barna reached. (For the record, I am currently on staff at a local church.)

The only difference is that my research began as a theological journey, reading the Bible without the aid of popular Christian books and traditional mental models. What I found were disturbing discrepancies between the Church of the Bible and the church(es) to which I dedicated my life. And when I went to others with these things, I was met with close-minded ignorance. I found almost no one willing to engage in intelligent, theologically grounded conversations concerning the form and function of the Body of Christ.

I'm no expert by any means, but I applaud Barna's gutsy move to report on this "revolution." Yes, the ideas espoused by Barna in his book are ideas that deserve serious and intelligent debate. Unfortuantely, yours is the first response I've read that is not a violent dismissal as if the ideas were heretical notions formed out of dark and demonic ideologies.

Here's a question for pondering: Is it possible, both practically and theologically, to be committed to the "organism" while rejecting the "organization" that controls it? I think that may sum up (simplistically) the ideas in Revolution.

I look forward to reading your thoughts as you begin this journey of exploration.

[Rev. Mike]

Tod, I have not had the opportunity to read Barna's book, mostly coming out of my own prejudice. Barna lost me a couple of years ago when he declared in what I considered an absurdly skewed poll that most Christians in the U.S. did not hold a biblical worldview.

However, I find myself echoing some of the thoughts expressed by Eric. I hope that not only will you provide an insightful analysis as you invariably do here, but it would also be quite interesting if you were able to contact Barna directly and get him to comment in response to your analysis.

I look forward to your review!

[KC]

I heard Reggie McNeal refer tot hat book today at his present-future seminar at Fuller. I will have to pick it up. Sounds like a good read...hard to believe Rev Doc that I remember you way back when...I just saw your little red car you used to have driving around here in sacto. hehe.

[Dennis]

Tod... I am excited to read what you have to say about Barna's book. I think he is on a very dangerous course. To ignore most of the N.T. and 2000 years of history is unwise. It seems Barna is building a Ecclesiology on his reasearch rather than the Holy writ! Keep up the good work.

[David M. Smith]

Hi Tod,

I also am looking forward to your comments since I see very little on Sunday morning or throughout the week that conforms to my understanding of the body of Christ.

I am starting with the bias that the Church is in a state of disrepair and needs some serious upgrades, but that it shouldn’t be discarded completely. I expect your comments to challenge my assumptions.

[Tim C]

Is there a good overview or outline of Barna's thesis online in his own words? Or a good interview where we can understand his argument directly rather than through reviewers?

(Or we could break down and buy the book, I suppose)

Tim

[Bumble]

Tod, check this one out about Barna's book from the Wesleyan's camp: http://www.drurywriting.com/keith/revolution.barna2.htm

[zane anderson]

"Revolution" will be discussed this Friday night (2-3-06) on the nationwide Moody Broadcasting Network. "Open Line" is a call-in show which is aired at 8-8:55 pm CT. The phone number is 312-329-4460.

The programs are archived for download.

For station and time of broadcast information see http://openlineradio.org.