[Roundtable] An Encouraging word on the house church

[Jefferis Peterson]

Barna's new book helps us understand why we have been led to isolated places
to find communion with others who have a hunger for God, and are frustrated
by church as usual.  Thought I would pass this along.

Jeff
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jefferis Kent Peterson
http://www.scholarscorner.com
jefferis at scholarscorner.com

  
From: David Kirkwood [mailto:david at shepherdserve.org]
Sent: Thursday, October 20, 2005 7:04 AM
To: david at shepherdserve.org
Subject: The Future of Church in North America [An Encouraging Word]

 
Dear  Friends, Below is an article  about George Barna's latest book, in
which he uncovers a growing movement  in American Christianity. Titled
Revolution, Barna makes some  startling predictions based on trends he has
been tracking. My own heart  resonated with what Barna has discovered,
because I have also been happily  discovering the same thing. Although much
of the church in North America  is lukewarm, there is a rising tide of
Christians whom Barna terms  "revolutionaries," who are no longer satisfied
with the status quo. They  want nothing less than New Testament Christianity
and are willing to pay a  New Testament price for it. If the trend
continues, according to Barna, it  will change the face of Christianity over
the next two decades in North  America. I also liked this  article because
it affirms what I have been saying to thousands of pastors  around the
world, and what I'm saying to pastors in El Salvador even as  you are
reading this: Don't focus in gathering bigger crowds---focus  on making
disciples! This is the overriding theme of The  Disciple-Making Minister, a
book we are putting into the hands of  thousands of pastors all around the
globe, and which is being read on our  website by believers and Christian
leaders every day by the hundreds, and  from over 60 countries. I receive
e-mails from "revolutionaries" all the  time. I know so many pastors who are
frustrated with the lukewarmness of  their parishioners, but the problem
often lies with those pastors  themselves, who have compromised the biblical
gospel and strayed from  Christ's mandate to make disciples who love Jesus
more than their own  lives, as He requires (see Luke 14:26). Consequently,
they attract the  lukewarm and repel the white hot. As Charles Finney said,
"You can't put a  live chick under a dead hen." Many good pastors  feel that
they have no choice but to follow the church growth fads that  often amount
to nothing more than compromise under the guise of  culturally-relevant
evangelism. Unless they play church games, they're  afraid no one will come.
But they should take courage from what George  Barna has discovered. There
are millions of dedicated, on-fire Christians  who don't go to church
anywhere...because they can't find one where they  fit in. And their number
is increasing. Pastor, you don't have to  compromise. The goats may run from
you if you start telling them the  truth, but the sheep will soon take their
places. Be blessed as you read  the article that follows. If you are not a
pastor, you may want to forward  this to your pastor. David

 A FAITH  REVOLUTION is REDEFINING 'CHURCH'
-The Barna Group For decades the  primary way that Americans have
experienced and expressed their faith has  been through a local church. That
reality is rapidly changing, according  to researcher George Barna, whose
new book on the transitioning nature of  America's spirituality, entitled
'Revolution', describes what he believes  will be the most massive reshaping
of the nation's faith community in more  than a century. Relying upon
national research conducted over the past several years, Barna profiles a
group of more than 20 million adults throughout the nation labeled
'revolutionaries'. He noted that although measures of traditional church
participation in activities such as worship attendance, Sunday school,
prayer, and Bible reading have remained relatively unchanged during the
past twenty years, the Revolutionary faith movement is growing rapidly.
"These are people who are less interested in attending church than in  being
the church," he explained. "We found that there is a significant
distinction in the minds of many people between the local church---with a
small 'c'---and the universal Church---with a capital 'C'. Revolutionaries
tend to be more focused on being the Church, capital C, whether they
participate in a congregational church or not." "A common  misconception
about revolutionaries," he continued, "is that they are  disengaging from
God when they leave a local church. We found that while  some people leave
the local church and fall away from God altogether,  there is a much larger
segment of Americans who are currently leaving  churches precisely because
they want more of God in their life but cannot  get what they need from a
local church. They have decided to get serious  about their faith by piecing
together a more robust faith experience.  Instead of going to church, they
have chosen to be the Church, in a way  that harkens back to the Church
detailed in the Book of Acts."

BIG CHANGES in  the MAKING One of the most  eye-opening portions of the
research contained in the book describes what  the faith community may look
like twenty years from now. Using survey data  and other cultural indicators
he has been measuring for more than two  decades, Barna estimates that the
local church is presently the primary  form of faith experience and
expression for about two-thirds of the  nation's adults. He projects that by
2025 the local church will lose  roughly half of its current 'market share'
and that alternative forms of  faith experience and expression will pick up
the slack. Importantly,  Barna's studies do not suggest that most people
will drop out of a local  church to simply ignore spirituality or be freed
up from the demands of  church life. Although there will be millions of
people who abandon the  entire faith community for the usual reasons -
hurtful experiences in  churches, lack of interest in spiritual matters,
prioritizing other  dimensions of their life - a growing percentage of
church dropouts will be  those who leave a local church in order to
intentionally increase their  focus on faith and to relate to God through
different means. That growth  is fueling alternative forms of organized
spirituality, as well as  individualized faith experience and expression.
Examples of these new  approaches include involvement in a house church,
participation in  marketplace ministries, use of the Internet to satisfy
various  faith-related needs or interests, and the development of unique and
intense connections with other people who are deeply committed to their
pursuit of God. 

SEVEN PASSIONS of  the REVOLUTIONARY In the effort to  increase their
obedience and faithfulness to God, Barna discovered that  Revolutionaries
are characterized by what he identified as a set of  spiritual
passions---seven specific emphases that drive their quest for  God and a
biblical lifestyle. Although these are areas of spiritual  development that
most local churches address, millions of adults who are  the most serious
about their faith in God were the ones least likely to be  satisfied by what
their local church was delivering in terms of resources,  opportunities,
evaluation and developmental possibilities. The consequence  is that
millions of committed born again Christians are choosing to  advance their
relationship with God by finding avenues of growth and  service apart from a
local church. Asked if this meant  that the Revolution he describes is
simply a negative reaction to the  local church, he suggested that most
Revolutionaries go through  predictable phases in their spiritual journey in
which they initially  become dissatisfied with their local church
experience, then attempt to  change things so their faith walk can be more
fruitful. The result is that  they undergo heightened frustration over the
inability to introduce  positive change, which leads them to drop out of the
local church  altogether, often in anger. But because this entire adventure
was  instigated by their love for God and their desire to honor Him more
fully,  they finally transcend their frustration and anger by creating a
series of  connections that allow them to stay close to God and other
believers  without involvement in a local church. One of the hallmarks  of
the Revolution of faith is how different it is for each person. "It  would
be wrong to assume that all Revolutionaries have completely turned  their
back on the local church," the researcher stated. "Millions of
Revolutionaries are active in a local church, although most of them
supplement that relationship with participation in a variety of
faith-related efforts that have nothing to do with their local church. The
defining attribute of a Revolutionary is not whether they attend church,
but whether they place God first in their lives and are willing to do
whatever it takes to facilitate a deeper and growing relationship with Him
and other believers. Our studies persuasively indicate that the vast
majority of American churches are populated by people who are lukewarm
spiritually. Emerging from those churches are people dedicated to becoming
Christ-like through the guidance of a congregational form of the church,
but who will leave that faith center if it does not further such a
commitment to God. They then find or create alternatives that allow that
commitment to flourish." How do most  Revolutionaries justify calling
themselves devoted disciples of Christ  while distancing themselves from a
local church? "Many of them realize  that someday they will stand before a
holy God who will examine their  devotion to Him. They could take the safe
and easy route of staying in a  local church and doing the expected programs
and practices, but they also  recognize that they will not be able to use a
lackluster church experience  as an excuse for a mediocre or unfulfilled
spiritual life. Their spiritual  depth is not the responsibility of a local
church; it is their own  responsibility. As a result, they decide to either
get into a local church  that enhances their zeal for God or else they
create alternatives that  ignite such a life of obedience and service. In
essence, these are people  who have stopped going to church so they can be
the Church." 

CHALLENGES and  OPPORTUNITIES While the Revolution  brings with it some very
promising qualities---an intense pursuit of  godliness, new networks of
believers supporting each other, heightened  financial giving to ministry
endeavors, greater sensitivity to the  presence of God in the world, a
greater sense of freedom to be a genuine  disciple in the midst of a secular
society---Barna also pointed out that  the Revolution brings great
challenges to those who choose that  pathway. "There is the danger  of
exposure to unbiblical or heretical teaching. There is the possibility  of
experiencing isolation from a true community of believers and the
accountability and support that can provide. It could become easier to
hoard one's treasures rather than giving generously. Some might find it
more difficult to sustain a life of worship without a place or means of
expressing that praise to God." Barna contends that  these are very serious
challenges faced by Revolutionaries---but that they  are no more serious
than the threats to the spiritual health of regular  church-goers.
"Objectively speaking, these are the very same problems that  we identify
among people who rely upon the efforts of a local church to  facilitate
their growth. We find plentiful evidence of unbiblical teaching  in small
groups, Sunday school classes and other local church venues. We  know that
few churched Christians give 4% of their income back to God,  much less 10%.
We recognize that most people attending worship services in  a church
sanctuary leave feeling that God was not present and that they  did not
personally connect with the living God through that experience. We  have
identified the relative absence of accountability within most
congregations. So even though Revolutionaries face serious challenges in
blossoming into the fervent God-follower they hope to become, perhaps the
main difference is simply that they have a wider range of options for
achieving their faith goals than do people who are solely focused on faith
delivered through a local church. In either case, it is ultimately up to
the individual to make sure that they have their spiritual priorities
right, that they are investing themselves in activities that draw them
closer to God, and that they stay focused on pleasing God more than
themselves or other people." The explosion of  Revolutionaries in the U.S.,
however, raises new challenges for people  involved in ministry. "This new
movement of God demands that there be new  forms of leadership to
appropriately guide people in their faith journey,"  Barna said. "It
requires new ways of measuring how well the Church  at-large is doing,
getting beyond attendance figures as the indicator of  health. And it
demands that new tools and resources be accessible to a  growing contingent
of people who are seeking to introduce their faith into  every dimension of
their life." 

AN INTRODUCTION  to the REVOLUTION Having written  three-dozen previous
books about faith and culture, Barna feels that this  book may ultimately
wind up being the most significant volume he has  written. In the course of
doing his customary national research studies,  he stumbled onto the
Revolution. "Having been personally frustrated by the  local church, I
initiated several research projects to better understand  what other
frustrated followers of Christ were doing to maintain their  spiritual edge.
What emerged was a realization that there is a large and  rapidly-growing
population of Christ---followers who are truly want to be  like the church
we read about in the book of Acts. We began tracking their  spiritual
activity and found that it is much more robust and significant  than we ever
imagined---and, frankly, more defensible than what emerges  from the average
Christian church. But, because the Revolution is neither  organized nor
designed to create an institutional presence, it typically  goes
undetected." Revolution,  published by Tyndale House, is what the author
calls "a brief introduction  to the most important spiritual movement of our
age." He believes that  fifty years from now historians will look back at
this period and label it  one of the most significant periods in American
Church history. "I would  not be surprised," the California-based researcher
noted, "if at some  point this becomes known as the Third Great Awakening in
our nation's  history. This spiritual renaissance is very different from the
prior two  religious awakenings in America, but it may well become the most
profound." LINK: http://www.barna.org




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