Revolution by George Barna

I know this book review is a little late out of the starting gate. Revolution is required reading for my students this quarter, and I thought, if they need to review it, then it is only fair that I review it too! So here goes. I begin with an overview of what I see Barna saying followed by some interaction with his thesis.

Overview of Revolution
George Barna, in Revolution, touts a new form of church that recently developed in the United States. Dissatisfied with local churches, twenty-million “revolutionaries” created forms of spirituality outside organized religion. This spiritual revolution came about because of seven trends in society: the increase of Busters and Mosaics, moral relativism, dismissal of the irrelevant, advent of technology, priority of relationship, participation, desire for meaning.

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Barna traces the revolutionary life to Jesus and categorizes the
radical traits in Jesus’ life. Barna identifies the life of a
revolutionary, how it is Americans might become revolutionaries, how
revolutions shapes revolutionaries, and how one might know if he/she is
a revolutionary. Barna sees the characteristics of revolutionaries as
rooted in the activities of the early church. These modern-day zealots
give supreme allegiance to the Bible while possessing seven passions:
daily intimate worship, faith-based conversations, the centrality of
faith, a life of servanthood, generosity, spiritual friendship, and the
important spiritual role of the family. Throughout the book, Barna puts
the onus of holy living on the individual Christian --  that a right
relationship with God and with others is the ultimate responsibility of
the Christian.

These seven trends in society, combined with the fact that local
churches fail to foster these seven passions in their congregants’
lives, caused local churches to decline. Barna refers to these failing
forms of church as “macro” types: local church, house church, family
meeting, and cyber church. He does not believe any form of macro church
has any hope for the future. Instead of macro forms of church, American
Christians are moving towards micro forms, what Barna labels
distributed models of faith. These mini-movements provide ways for
revolutionary Christians to practice their faith. Mini-movements
include worship events, marketplace fellowship groups, and Internet
connections, to name a few. Instead of working within local
congregations (small-c church), these revolutionaries connect more
widely with Christians in various locations (large-C church).

Barna imagines what critics might say of his proposal. They might
point out that abandoning the local congregation equates to foregoing
assembling together. Barna “responds” that assembling happens in many
ways. Other critics might say it fosters laziness, but Barna “counters”
that existing congregations are not exempt from laziness.  Finally,
some critics might say that the lack of local churches will destroy the
institution of church itself, but Barna points out that the church has
little influence over the culture anyway.

Barna writes that American religion will shift dramatically over the
next twenty years. Churches will lose 50% of the their attendance. In
their place, alternative, revolutionary  “communities” will form.
Although they make up only 5 percent of the population today,
revolutionary-like formations will become 33 percent of the American
population by 2025.   

Barna concludes with an exhortation for all to become
revolutionaries. He hopes that those alienated from church will gain
hope from this book and choose to do likewise. He hopes that many will
hear the call to be the church rather than go to church.

Stop, you had me at Revolution!
I
agree that a revolution is occurring. No doubt, dramatic shifts
occurred in the lives of local churches in the West. I’m not sure I
agree with Barna’s reasons for why it happened, the description of it,
or even the remedy. However, I applaud Barna for connecting the dots
for the rest of us.   

Since the 1960s, Christians in the US have increasingly moved away
from institutionalized forms of church. Spirituality is up, practice of
religion is down, many churches have lost numbers, especially the
oldest denominations. Increasing moves towards intentional communities,
small groups, alternative spiritualities, abound. The American church,
weighed down from the bureaucratization and institutionalization of
modernity, couldn’t cope with the cultural changes of a very mobile
population abandoning connections to their parent’s forms of faith.

American Christians, moving towards organic forms of spirituality,
felt increasingly alienated from institutional expressions of church.
Not only from the US, but reports from Australia, New Zealand, and the
UK reveal that the fastest growing wing of the church are those
Christians who are leaving institutional church. They are not
abandoning their faith or even church itself but feel that “organized”
church is not helping them worship God and serve others. I do believe
Barna’s seven reasons have something to do with this change. However, I
believe they are subsets of much larger developments, most specifically
post-Christendom, postmodernity (alluded to above), and globalization.

To be honest, I found much of Barna’s approach to the data
difficult. I felt that things were too simple. He listed seven reasons
for the spiritual revolution, seven passions of revolutionaries, and the
revolutionary aspects of Jesus. These all seemed proof-texted and
interpreted through individualistic notions of faith. I am not against
simple – I prefer simple solutions. But he doesn’t tell me how he gets
to the simple, so I remain unconvinced. However, I do want to listen to
Barna – he has listened to the American church perhaps more than any
other researcher, and even if he is not forthcoming with stories to
substantiate his points, his intuitions are worth consideration.

Tomorrow I will write about Barna's idea of little "c" versus big "C" church...

Comments

[Glenn]

Barnas book recognizes a response in the church to something... but I think he trys to build this new "revolution" into just another set of rules and definitions. I don't know if what is happening fits into some definable box like that. Take a look at a few websites that talk about a life with The Father and Jesus and the Holy Spirit outside of the institutional church: http://www.lifestream.org
http://www.thegodjourney.com
http://www.jakecolsen.com
http://www.thepilgrimpath.co.nz

Some great stuff on these sites!

[Ryan]

Agreed -- it is boxy and reductionistic -- I looked to see what I could take away from the book...

[Tyler Watson]

Thanks for the review, Ryan. I agree that there is much to appreciate and critique about Revolution. My main criticism -- I wrote my review here -- is that I thought Barna discounts community. Communities seem to have a pragmatic purpose for Barna in that they can help individuals become more devout revolutionaries, i.e., to help persons develop their personal relationship with Jesus. There really isn't any discussion that Christ calls people into community or what God expects of communities.

[Ryan]

Tyler, I agree -- Barna retains an individualistic focus on faith -- he doesn't describe what it might mean to be the corporate people of God...

Good to hear from you, by the way!

[Glenn]

Tyler... I don't think Barna is discounting community. I think he is just reporting what he sees out there.

[Tyler Watson]

Glenn, I disagree. It's been over a year since I read the book, so take what follows with a grain of salt. I think Barna's discussions of what it means to be a revolutionary are more than reporting what he sees; he is also making an argument. His reading of the gospel and the life of faith focuses on the individual. Community is good for Barna because it helps the individual grow closer to God. To an extent he is reporting the dominant evangelical understanding of being a Christ-follower, i.e., it is about Jesus and me. Barna doesn't challenge this assumption. He challenges the assumptions that we can stop in at a church worship service once a week and get our shot of spirituality with statistics and exhortations for service, stronger biblical study, new expressions of worship. He challenges the idea that traditional congregations are and will remain the primary loci for Christians to gather with discussions of small groups, house churches, other grass roots organizations, etc. I agree with these challenges. But he never challenges the individualism of discipleship with biblical discussions of God gathering a people, of Christ calling people into community, or with stories of Christ-followers who have decided to work against the fraying tendencies of our society by living life together.

[revolutionfl]

a little late, yes. but pertinent all the same. i read this book when it came out, but it didn't really hit me then. i've since recently re-read it, resigned from my position at a declining southern baptist church, and i'm starting over....

REVOLUTION

[Mike G]

Oh for goodness sake. We work so hard to give so much credit to those whose idea we oppose. Too hard.

Barna, regardless of what he does with his social statistics (a dubious science in itself, not given to the exactitude of math or physics, to be sure) is a poor student of church history and certainly of theology.

He paints these "revolutionaries" with rose colored glasses, as if there is a pure group of true Christians out there, doing the real thing. Silliness. All serious Christians know that the Christian life is a very imperfect path that requires quite a bit of insecurity and perseverance. I don't think this class of uberChristian revolutionaries exist. My guess is that many people just can't get along with others so they go home.

Secondly, what is missing, that any freshman Bible College student should be able to get, is the leadership that God establishes through the assembled church. The unmanagable mess that results from the 20 million free agents would not bring the Kingdom forward, but would put it on its ear.

One of the major failings of the modern church, perhaps, is we have quoted Barna's statistics so often that we give him credibility as a leader in the church. He is not.

This strange book will soon be on the rubbish heap of history. It is not a new idea and it is one that will not stand the test of time.

Now, you students out there, dispense with it, and get on with the real work of the Kingdom!

[RealWomanForJesus]

I agree with Barna that the church is facing change. In the age of immediate information - how can it not? My opinion is that the book was best when it focused on the data. When Barna started extrapolating, I think he came off as highly optimistic.

But, if nothing else, we should take it as a reaffirmation that the internet community is a powerful force and should be utilized as a tool for Jesus.

I was inspired by this book to start an online community for Christian women. In today's society, women are pressured to be perfect in everything. This site gives them a chance to discuss things anonymously with other Christian women for advice and support.

I am a part of The Revolution. RealWomanForJeus.com

[Mary B]

Statisitcs or not, I am a Revolutionary and I wasn't influenced by any book or person. Just a desire to live this life not go through the religious motions anymore. I and my husband have been in the Church for twenty years and it took a crisis of faith in my teenagers to see what a pharisee I was. Our rules and judgementalism is not changing the world. This is a huge change in my life because I was so dogmatic. Now I am growong close to God intimately without the distractions of C and all the duties. The Lord brought seven different people across my path just last week to share his love and not his rules with them. Its His kindness that led me to repentance not the threat of hell. I am...

Returning to My First Love,

Mary

[Bart Breen]

I'm late to this party.

Good conversation. I would just add that there are two books out subsequently that fill in the blanks I think to the elements that some may be struggling with both in terms of the assessment of the traditional institutional church and more positively what Barna might be saying about community and body life.

Barna is the co-author with Frank Viola of Pagan Christianity and then Viola has a partner work to PC which is called Reimagining Church which might, by association anyway, reflect some of what Barna is trying to say within Revolution.