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.
“If the local church is God’s answer to our spiritual needs, then why are most churched Christians so spiritually immature and desperate?”
“One of the greatest frustrations of my life has been the disconnection between what our research consistently shows about churched Christians and what the Bible calls us to be.”
Having said that, he recognises that the local church has made a valuable contribution throughout its history; to dispute that would be tantamount to claiming that God does not have the power to work even through imperfect channels:
“Christian churches have an incredible two-thousand-year legacy of pursuing God and doing his work. … It is horrifying to imagine what the world would be like if the local church had not been present to represent Jesus in manifold ways.”
He goes on to point out that “the Bible does not rigidly define the corporate practices, rituals or structures that must be embraced to have a proper Church. It does, however, offer direction regarding the importance and integration of fundamental spiritual principles into one’s life,” and recognises that much of what we now see in local churches is the result of long experience in things which helped bring people closer to Christ. In many cases, though, these things have become tradition or program, losing their original effect. The Revolution he is talking about is simply a quest to discover, or rediscover, practices which now have that effect. In his words, “Revolutionaries realize – sometimes very reluctantly – that the core issue is not whether or not one is involved in a local church, but whether or not one is connected to the body of believers in the pursuit of godliness and worship.”
Barna referrs to the often-quoted phrase “the local church is the hope of the world;” He says “The local church is one mechanism that can be instrumental in bringing us closer to him and helping us be more like him,” but “Jesus, and Jesus alone, is the hope of the world.“ Very true.
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.
Comments, anyone?