Steve & Mary-Anne’s Weblog

Barna’s examines why the congregational church is declining, suggesting that it is a consequence of the specialisation of the church: churches for different generations, different worship styles, outreach to specific parts of the population and so on. (Aren’t these the very things promoted by much church growth literature? It seems rather ironic that Barna is suggesting that these are factors in the decline of congregational church.) He continues by examining newer, focused ‘micro’ models of church.

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Barna writes about his observations of where and how God is working in people’s lives, identifying mini-movements as the prime source of transformation, including house churches in his list. In my opinion, most house churches do not share one of the five characteristics he attributes to these mini-movements.

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Barna describes societal trends which have an impact on how people approach faith and spirituality. In such a short space, his treatment of each trend is naturally rather superficial. He writes very succinctly, though, giving much food for thought.
“The more you can anticipate some of the transitions resulting from these trends, the greater will be your ability to help shape the world in ways that are likely to honor God and advance your spiritual maturity. This will impact your own life and the lives of others with whom you interact.” Let us take that to heart.

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In chapter 4 of ‘Revolution’, George Barna takes a look at how the church fares in fulfilling the seven passions which he has identified in Revolutionaries. According to his research, it is generally doing badly.
The chapter ends with the statement “The Revolution is about recognizing that we are not called to go to church. We are called to be the Church.” (In his terminology, ‘church’ means the local church, ‘Church’ the global body of Christ).

This was a good presentation of the general state of the traditional church, managing to both recognise its achievements in the past and clearly present a rationale for desiring change.

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I’ve started reading George Barna’s upcoming book ‘Revolution’, which I picked up at the house church conference last weekend. It’s a light read, but I’ve only had time to get through to chapter 4; so far, it has been mostly introduction to the topic. I think he is painting a rather rosy picture of what [...]

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