no church? no problem

By Jason

20 Jan 2006


I’ve already written about George Barna’s new book revolutions, and why I found it less than hopeful. Thanks to Purple Pastor I came across this review by Kevin Miller over at Christianity Today. Here is a qoute from the end of the piece:

“Do you want to become a Revolutionary? First, trade your copy of Revolution for Life Together, the manifesto written by Dietrich Bonhoeffer during the dark days of Nazi Germany. Then, if you want to do heroic and revolutionary exploits, go back to your local church. That’s something so spiritually challenging that several million people no longer want to do it.”

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  1. Comment by erickeck

    6.25 pm on 20 Jan 2006

    bummer i just ordered that book on toddly’s persistent support of it…

    mnnnm, now i can’t wait to read it..

  2. Comment by PurplePastor

    11.51 pm on 20 Jan 2006

    Hey, Jason, Miller did post a follow-up to his first review of Barna’s book. He took some of the edge off, which was probably wise in a “purplish” sort of way.

  3. Comment by Jason Clark

    8.20 am on 21 Jan 2006

    Hi Eric, it’s a must buy and read, I’d be interested to know what you make of it.

    Purpple, thanks for the follow up link.

  4. Comment by graham

    1.21 pm on 21 Jan 2006

    I think that there’s something really unhelpful about that Miller quote.

    ‘…go back to your local church. That’s something so spiritually challenging that several million people no longer want to do it.’

    When I read that it almost sounds like Miller’s suggesting that the reason ’several million people’ no longer go to a local church is because it’s too spiritually challenging and they are not ‘heroic’ enough.

    I believe that we should be pushing the local church in these days and calling people into counter-cultural (for want of a better term) communities of disciples. However, there are a great deal of people who have left local church precisely because it is not that.

  5. Comment by Jason Clark

    2.53 pm on 21 Jan 2006

    Isn’t it a case of both? Churches that are non missional, and christians electing not to gather with others because of indiference and apathy.

    I get tired of the endless litany of how bad church is, as if only church needs to change. How about christians changing too, with them taking mission seriously through local churches and if needed new forms of local communities, and existing churches take mission seriously too.

    Jase

  6. Comment by Timothy Wright

    5.44 pm on 21 Jan 2006

    I think one of the ways forward is with the house church. Emergent may have a way forward depending on how liberal each church becomes. Liberal churches become social clubs and are no help in advancing the gospel or a threat to the real church. Even though I am part of a New Frontiers church, I think the house church has a lot more mileage than spending time and energy trying to get an older church to change. Start something new. Read Neil Cole and visit this web site. http://www.cmaresources.org/

    Tim

  7. Comment by Caroline

    4.00 pm on 22 Jan 2006

    Isn’t there a middle course here, it’s not about going back to a local church or about heading off to do something revolutionarry

    it’s about doing local church in a different way.

    Just because some of us are not enchanted with the potential of ‘gathered’ local churches doesn’t mean that we’re not a part of them.

  8. Comment by Jason Clark

    12.49 pm on 23 Jan 2006

    Caroline, I agree. I don’t much like the word revolutionary, it usually gets used to cover ‘reactionary’ most of the time.

  9. Comment by Zane Anderson

    5.27 pm on 24 Jan 2006

    Ironically, Barna does list Bonhoeffer in the short resources section in the back of the book.

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