Over at http://www.philocrites.com/archives/003409.html#8657, (one of these days I will take the time to learn how to link without writing out the url) in a post about the UUA Board meeting that became quickly about diversity which became about classism which became about small groups (I love the blogworld :) Peter Bowden mentions how many UU churches are still struggling with SGM 101. I hear a lot of this also from colleagues. I also hear a lot of "success stories." I'm all for this movement, remember that.
I know there are many many reasons why this struggle might be, but my immersion in more organic, etc. church has got me to wondering, just speculating really--are we trying to put square pegs in round holes? If we embed the small group experience within the larger church experience are we somehow domesticating the small group experience, as if making a hobby out of it instead of the life transformation it is intended to do, and/or is the struggle of small groups in larger churches, perhaps especially in mid-size (and we do have to take into account what actually sizes these categories represent), a struggle over wanting life transformation to happen and also not wanting it to happen for what if it happens and wants to multiply and think of the pressures that puts on the dynamics and family system of the larger church body? Is there something organic speaking about the struggle of small group in a larger group? Are we in a transition period where small groups as we have known them are the cocoon in which micro-churches and organic movements might actually emerge, from the ruins to come of the church as we have known it?
By the way head over to http://smallgroupministry.net/. And you UU Christian folks particularly might find useful this small group resource connection from the United Church of Canada at www.united-church.ca/smallgroup/.
Friday, February 09, 2007
First Organic Church Movement Conference
I wasn't there, but wish I had been. So, here are some reflections I found interesting and you might too. The conference organized, organically I hope :), by Neil Cole of Church Multiplication Association. Go to the conference blogging at:
http://fanster.net/
http://sentralized.typepad.com/
and for the background go to the CMA site at http://www.organicchurchplanting.org/
Let me know if you come across other posts or reflections on what went on at the Conference.
http://fanster.net/
http://sentralized.typepad.com/
and for the background go to the CMA site at http://www.organicchurchplanting.org/
Let me know if you come across other posts or reflections on what went on at the Conference.
From Submergent Church to Name Tags
The latest issue of The Christian Century has an article about the "submergent" church. Similar to the ways of the organic church as Neil Cole has written about. The CC article isn't up yet at www.christiancentury.org but it probably will be within a week or so. The article depicts a local church that is hidden not only in mission but purposefully keeps the public unaware of its existence, the opposite of the attractional model of the church. It is a kind of mimicking of the underground church movement of China, and the first couple of centuries of the common era. People are taken to the location of the church gathering without knowing themselves ahead of time where it is. This dis-orientation and then re-orientation at the submergent church Event, often musical, can be seen as symbolic of the person in the world today, and of the way the church itself needs to be led from a false orientation through dis-orientation (where most are today) to a re-orientation of itself in the 21st century. For those of you who know Walter Brueggeman's work on the Psalms, this spiritual odyssey of the three steps of orientation, dis-orientation, re-orientation would seem familiar. So the submergent church can be seen as a kind of Psalms Church. It can also, as the article implies, be seen as a kind of corny, intentionally contrarian, church, but then such a risk runs through the Psalms too...
Some of the comments by the pastor about how the church defies everything that people come to assume of the church today, and of "success", sure resonate with me. I have found people flabbergasted by how much "so few" can do; by how much a few can give of themselves to mission; that they would think a church like our Living Room Church must have many more people present to have such a vision and mission. When they ask, "did you have a good turnout at church today?" my response is always, truthfully, the same: "It was great. You should have been there." If they follow up and ask, "how many were there?" I often reply by pausing to reflect for a second and then speaking the names of everyone who was there, whether it was one or a dozen or more. There is something powerful in that reciting of the names of who was there. It alone shifts the focus.
In the meantime until the CC gets the submergent article online, here are some links you might find of interest in a variety of ways on submergence: www.submerge.typepad.com/
www.tallskinnykiwi.typepad.com
And yet my learning curve, my own necessary dis-orientation, continues to widen before me. The other night at one of our gatherings I was talking with one of the first-time folks and I happened to mention at then end they might want to sign the guestbook even though we had made contact by email, and I noticed there were name tags out by the guestbook. But of course no one had any name tags on and we hadn't used name tags in "like forever." And so we started talking about the uselessness of name tags and how they kind of stood for the opposite of what we were striving for. and I put the name tags away for good. I am also putting the guestbook away for good too; we also didn't make much of it and so it has sort of quiety died away over the months. Maybe just bring it out for a special occasion sometime for the benefit of those who ask for it.
Some of the comments by the pastor about how the church defies everything that people come to assume of the church today, and of "success", sure resonate with me. I have found people flabbergasted by how much "so few" can do; by how much a few can give of themselves to mission; that they would think a church like our Living Room Church must have many more people present to have such a vision and mission. When they ask, "did you have a good turnout at church today?" my response is always, truthfully, the same: "It was great. You should have been there." If they follow up and ask, "how many were there?" I often reply by pausing to reflect for a second and then speaking the names of everyone who was there, whether it was one or a dozen or more. There is something powerful in that reciting of the names of who was there. It alone shifts the focus.
In the meantime until the CC gets the submergent article online, here are some links you might find of interest in a variety of ways on submergence: www.submerge.typepad.com/
www.tallskinnykiwi.typepad.com
And yet my learning curve, my own necessary dis-orientation, continues to widen before me. The other night at one of our gatherings I was talking with one of the first-time folks and I happened to mention at then end they might want to sign the guestbook even though we had made contact by email, and I noticed there were name tags out by the guestbook. But of course no one had any name tags on and we hadn't used name tags in "like forever." And so we started talking about the uselessness of name tags and how they kind of stood for the opposite of what we were striving for. and I put the name tags away for good. I am also putting the guestbook away for good too; we also didn't make much of it and so it has sort of quiety died away over the months. Maybe just bring it out for a special occasion sometime for the benefit of those who ask for it.
Heretic's Guide to Eternity
I mentioned below that I was reading Spencer Burke and Barry Taylor's book, "Heretics Guide To Eternity." It was a kind of fun reading for me as I didn't think it would be "as useful" as the other reading I was doing at the same time in Michael Frost's book "Exiles" or Alan Hirsch's book "The Forgotten Ways." I meant that skimming through it I could see that it covered a lot of old and familiar, and wonderful, ground for me and for many who have been particularly a part of the Christian tribe among the Unitarian Universalists lo these many decades and centuries. Like McLaren's The Secret Message of Jesus. McLaren, btw, does a nice spin of summarizing the "how we got to where we are today" situation in a foreword to Burke and Taylor's book. Anyway I looked forward to just resting in the book, not being challenged by it per se. Even the cultural studies part of the book seemed to tread good fertile and familiar ground that I had been walking on with Leonard Sweet, Easum and Bandy, and Slaughter and all for some time since seminary days in the 90s. Speaking of Sweet, I will be blogging soon too on my "airplane read", his new "The Gospel According To Starbucks."
And I wasn't challenged by the book; it wasn't aimed at me anyway. But I did find it "useful". Like McLaren's work it would be easy to use as a read-and-discuss work, and I really recommend it to our UUCF groups and others who want to get beyond Borg, Spong, Crossan, et al in the Jesus Seminar. And I have already made reference to the book here locally with others at The Living Room to the mini-guide to living spiritually that Burke and Taylor include at the end of the book: don't just search for information but for wisdom, break your own rules, and get connected.
The page I dog-eared is this one: It is the challenge posed to the default mode of church as we have come to so often embody it, especially those churches of the liberal stripe who in other ways see themselves as moving past the church of the past---
"I mentioned earlier that our church--a house church, more than anything--often brings food to a nearby park and shares a meal with whoever happens to be there that day. Many of the people we meet rely on public organizations or churches to provide food, and they know how the game is played, so to speak. They've come to understand that there are certain expectations for their behavior and have learned to act accordingly. Consequently, once they find out we're a church, they automatically move into a rote speech they think we want to hear. It usually begins with something like this: 'I used to have a successful business, a family...' or some other rosy story of the past. Then, if that doesn't seem to be resonating, they'll shift gears to the future and cover the same subjects--jobs, reconnecting with their families, getting stable places to stay. They seem to think if they don't talk about these things--or in some way distance themselves from who they are today--we won't be interested in them anymore. Yes, we want to affirm their hopes, dreams, and desires, but at the end of the day, we really just want to be with them, no strings attached. No matter who they are, where they've been, or where they're going tomorrow, the act of sitting on a bench in a public park and sharing a bucket of chicken is, in and of itself, enough. Simply being with each other is a sacred moment. 'Other people come to serve us lunch, but you come and have lunch with us," one of the ladies said to me once. Another time, the comment was equally profound: "Other people throw rocks at us, but you throw a party."
I had read or heard of this story before; it still moves me with the paradigm shift it invokes. If we took it to heart it would be extremely challenging: how do we change our "serving others" to "being and sharing with others" and how would that change everything the church is and does, from its organization and leadership to worship "services" to its "outreach." Etc. A simple story with profound implications if we follow its spirit.
It also reminds me of probably a little known book, written by a former seminary professor of mine, who worked in this field, both in thought and in deed. You might check it out. It is called "The Mutuality of Care" by Roy Steinhoff-Smith. It is full of insights and stories like this one, and their ramifications.
You can also see discussion of the Burke and Taylor book at www.songoftheopenroad.blogspot.com and of course at www.theooze.com
And I wasn't challenged by the book; it wasn't aimed at me anyway. But I did find it "useful". Like McLaren's work it would be easy to use as a read-and-discuss work, and I really recommend it to our UUCF groups and others who want to get beyond Borg, Spong, Crossan, et al in the Jesus Seminar. And I have already made reference to the book here locally with others at The Living Room to the mini-guide to living spiritually that Burke and Taylor include at the end of the book: don't just search for information but for wisdom, break your own rules, and get connected.
The page I dog-eared is this one: It is the challenge posed to the default mode of church as we have come to so often embody it, especially those churches of the liberal stripe who in other ways see themselves as moving past the church of the past---
"I mentioned earlier that our church--a house church, more than anything--often brings food to a nearby park and shares a meal with whoever happens to be there that day. Many of the people we meet rely on public organizations or churches to provide food, and they know how the game is played, so to speak. They've come to understand that there are certain expectations for their behavior and have learned to act accordingly. Consequently, once they find out we're a church, they automatically move into a rote speech they think we want to hear. It usually begins with something like this: 'I used to have a successful business, a family...' or some other rosy story of the past. Then, if that doesn't seem to be resonating, they'll shift gears to the future and cover the same subjects--jobs, reconnecting with their families, getting stable places to stay. They seem to think if they don't talk about these things--or in some way distance themselves from who they are today--we won't be interested in them anymore. Yes, we want to affirm their hopes, dreams, and desires, but at the end of the day, we really just want to be with them, no strings attached. No matter who they are, where they've been, or where they're going tomorrow, the act of sitting on a bench in a public park and sharing a bucket of chicken is, in and of itself, enough. Simply being with each other is a sacred moment. 'Other people come to serve us lunch, but you come and have lunch with us," one of the ladies said to me once. Another time, the comment was equally profound: "Other people throw rocks at us, but you throw a party."
I had read or heard of this story before; it still moves me with the paradigm shift it invokes. If we took it to heart it would be extremely challenging: how do we change our "serving others" to "being and sharing with others" and how would that change everything the church is and does, from its organization and leadership to worship "services" to its "outreach." Etc. A simple story with profound implications if we follow its spirit.
It also reminds me of probably a little known book, written by a former seminary professor of mine, who worked in this field, both in thought and in deed. You might check it out. It is called "The Mutuality of Care" by Roy Steinhoff-Smith. It is full of insights and stories like this one, and their ramifications.
You can also see discussion of the Burke and Taylor book at www.songoftheopenroad.blogspot.com and of course at www.theooze.com
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
More incarnational heads-up resources from here at Camp Allen in Texas
Taking a break from the break. I am on a so-called retreat with other ministers, which is more and more of a conference and not a retreat but that is a post for another day---before I get into the new Paul perspective and Crossan insights for church planting, another diversion.
I have brought with me the two latest books by the folks that brought us that great work The Shaping of Things To Come: Innovation and Mission in the 21st century church, Alan Hirsch and Michael Frost. They have separately recently written more indepth and closer examination of the points they laid out in the earlier work about the move from attractional and extractional church to incarnational mission church. Hirsch's is called The Forgotten Ways, and Frost's is Exiles: mission in a post christian culture (hope I got that right). Google them. Go to amazon and find them. Get them. Two new contributions that will give you ways of talking and presenting this foundational move to other folks.
I have also brought two books just barely got into but that are good too and hold lessons. I will explore these further coming up: Wright's book A short history of progress, and Burke and Taylor's book A Heretic's Guide to Eternity. Check them out too. Crossan recommended Wright's work.
More soon if this next round of snow everyone is getting back home in Oklahoma doesnt shut us off and down again.
I have brought with me the two latest books by the folks that brought us that great work The Shaping of Things To Come: Innovation and Mission in the 21st century church, Alan Hirsch and Michael Frost. They have separately recently written more indepth and closer examination of the points they laid out in the earlier work about the move from attractional and extractional church to incarnational mission church. Hirsch's is called The Forgotten Ways, and Frost's is Exiles: mission in a post christian culture (hope I got that right). Google them. Go to amazon and find them. Get them. Two new contributions that will give you ways of talking and presenting this foundational move to other folks.
I have also brought two books just barely got into but that are good too and hold lessons. I will explore these further coming up: Wright's book A short history of progress, and Burke and Taylor's book A Heretic's Guide to Eternity. Check them out too. Crossan recommended Wright's work.
More soon if this next round of snow everyone is getting back home in Oklahoma doesnt shut us off and down again.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Growing Church Lessons from Rodney Stark's Work
Okay, Sociologist of Religion Professor and best selling author Rodney Stark (The Rise of Christianity, One True God, For the Glory of God, The Victory of Reason, Cities of God, The Churching of America, 1776-2005) may at times be hard to take for religious progressives--especially process theologians. But I love his work and approach, if often not his delivery, especially as his work progresses it seems to take on a beleaugered, me against the world of academia spirit. Theologians and biblical scholars may find things to wince at from time to time (I do), but when he sticks to sociology and the lens of market forces applied to religious committment, he strikes me as dead-on. And his look at the world of the early church movement is particularly helpful for anyone planting churches in this century.
1. First, a general comment. In the Churching of America, he shows how America went not from a very church-going world in the colonial era to a non-church-going world today, but the reverse; what happened was that the main churches of the colonial era, namely congregationalism, and other "mainline" have shown a steady decline of market share throughout the history of the U.S., but "newer" churches and sects have more than made up for that decline. Now, put this up next to Barna's research that shows an ever-growing gulf between Christian church connection and attendance and especially committment and our U.S. society today. Are Stark and Barna mutually exclusive? No. Stark is looking with a broad brush stroke, and Barna is increasingly looking at how there is a difference between people who say they go to church, who go to church, who are committed to their faith, and eventually are dedicated to their faith, and he is interested in drawing distinctions between born-again evangelicals and other evangelicals for example. So yes more people in the market share are expressing a "connection" to church than were doing so in the colonial era and afterwards (Stark); but yes, ala Barna, that means less and less these days. And it is clear that the colonial era and its aftermath was at least a dominant church culture per se, compared to the dominance of secular and competitive choice culture today.
But for planters and those interested in growing their churches, Stark's works point to these factors.
2.
You have to have a focus that provides "here and now" rewards, of community, of belief, that cannot be obtained elsewhere. This is not to dismiss the "otherworldliness of focus on a life hereafter" for in Rise of Christianity he shows how that core belief sustained the early followers of Jesus, but it was enacted in the here and now of caring for one another. So how do you focus on forming relationships that will be like fictive families, places of healing and mission?
3.
Those that grow have a focused theological exclusiveness. Monotheism grows; polytheism won't. The more pluralism there is within a plant the more difficulty there will be in obtaining the committment needed. There seems to be a reverse dynamic at work. Stark shows how a church needs a high-tension with the surrounding culture in order to grow, but not too high tension that makes it too hard and turns people away (why else would people come and expend their personal capital if they could easily get same thing elsewhere?); but if there is internal high-tension it leads to watering down the focus and mission in order to accomodate everyone. Also, high demands on membership, coupled with great rewards, will equal growth. Question: how are people being rewarded, what are they being offered, for their transaction of capital and committment? If they are able to connect with an active God who will be on their side in times of need they are more likely to commit to the church of that God than with a God who is not active in lives and the world (remember what I said about the process theologians and church?). I think you can turn this into a positive but you have to acknowledge it exists.
About high tension with surrounding culture; here is one place Stark missteps. He says that mainline theologies, ala new understandings of doctrines, show a low tension with surrounding culture, and those that keep to the old doctrinal ways in the midst of the changing culture result in having high-tension churches. But at least in the minds of many, even in highly unchurched areas, and certainly in places where evangelical churches have been rising in stature in the past decades, the culture equates Christianity with the old doctrine and dogma; that's why the post-evangelicals and emergents are finding success as they respond in a different way, especially among the young. So to be high-tension with one's surrounding community may in fact be to hold to the new understandings of theological questions, and it is this progressive tension with a conservative culture that can create high committment. Now, is there something inherent in progressive theology that prevents it from engendering committment--that is, in short, if you do away with hell is there any reason for people to expend their religious capital? especially if you also do away with heaven?--that is a better question. In the short run, I think the answer is unfortunately yes. Can we get people to re-see hell in a new light, very much true in a here-and-now way, as a motivator? The rise of twelve step groups point to the possibility, but then we would have to see our mission in something of a similar healing fashion that would break through the walls of our healthy-mindedness.
4.
The biggie: churches grow by forming and using social networks, extended fields of family and friends. Know these, track these, connect with these.
5.
Show discontinuity and continuity with their religious background and surrounding churches. How does the church plant offer something different but not too different?
6.
You can grow organically, exponentially. 3.4 percent annual took the early Christians from marginal to dominant status over 300 years. Help people have a 300 year focus; our three and five year strategic plans just build in anxiety and short-sightedness and do more harm than good.
7.
Emotionalism over rationalism.
8.
Importance of focusing on urban areas, places of great stress and great change.
9.
Are there receptive groups waiting for your plant and what you have to offer? What has gone before? In Cities of God, he talks about how both Judaism's strands and various Pagan strands left a receptive culture for the message of the early church.
10.
Diversified leaders are crucial. Latest work shows how Paul by himself wasn't that influential; he reveals a lens on the work of so many others. Also being multicultural, including women as leaders. Broader look: who has been cast out by your culture and area, and how can your plant community offer them ministry and leadership opportunities? as Paul and early leaders did with women and others.
11. Stark talks about how rise of Christian communities came about through connecting with people who weren't the poorest, but who had standing and some wealth, and who could put their resources to use and connect with the ones without power in the society. See Neil Cole for how church plants thrive most in poorest, hardest areas where it is very visible who is desperate for life change--find ways to connect those with health and wealth with those who don't. Plants that focus on one or the other may limit themselves.
12
People who have lots of religous capital are less likely to be drawn to a new plant or movement than those with little religious capital. So focus on those de-churched, unchurched. Even moreso than I am thinking of the boomer seeker who may actually have his or her religous capital bound up in their very seeking self.
13
Stark talks about the importance of the "port cities" and the highly Hellenized cities as places where growth happened the most. What is our corrolary today? Where are the portals? The web? the fall through the crack places of a city? The coffeehouses? The apartment complexes? You can't go everywhere; you have to pick where you focus planting efforts. Where are the places of spiritual weakness that will offer an opening to your spiritual strength?
14
Focus on the family. Recent studies have show that birth rate factors are key in which religious communities grow and have more market share and which ones don't; mainlines don't have big families; others do. There is even focus on having bigger families in more conservative evangelical families and in the newer movements within those worlds--home school, home church, home business, etc. Maybe progressive families won't be able to look at having bigger families, through biological means, concerned about population growth and quality of life issues, but the issues of sacrifice are key here. What are we willing to commit to in terms beyond our own individualism? Adoption? Building bigger fictive families and more intentional connections with others? Even more home-religious schooling or families connecting beyond sending kids to one hour a week at "church"? Even focusing on the health of families. making this key to the being of the church. And with recent studies out from the Hartford Institute, you might narrow it down by putting a more concentrated effort into focusing on men and their spiritual needs and connecting with them. They say the more men are involved in a church, the more it grows. I think that is because men then provide a full family link, which brings more health into the system, than with the church being home to a split family, with only part of the family being involved. Committment would then go up, and so would growth, as well as a pool of resource and additional field of family and friends.
I would urge all folks interested in growth to be familiar with Stark's works. Unpleasant truths sometimes. And I think Martin Marty is right (Stark quotes him in his latest book Cities of God as opposing him on these grounds) that Stark's work is more geared to usefulness than to truth, but then he is a sociologist and not a theologian or biblical scholar or historian for that matter, though his work helps shed light in all these areas. I don't have to agree with the kind of image of God he shows leads to church growth to understand that what he has shown is valid; it just shows the work ahead to be done.
1. First, a general comment. In the Churching of America, he shows how America went not from a very church-going world in the colonial era to a non-church-going world today, but the reverse; what happened was that the main churches of the colonial era, namely congregationalism, and other "mainline" have shown a steady decline of market share throughout the history of the U.S., but "newer" churches and sects have more than made up for that decline. Now, put this up next to Barna's research that shows an ever-growing gulf between Christian church connection and attendance and especially committment and our U.S. society today. Are Stark and Barna mutually exclusive? No. Stark is looking with a broad brush stroke, and Barna is increasingly looking at how there is a difference between people who say they go to church, who go to church, who are committed to their faith, and eventually are dedicated to their faith, and he is interested in drawing distinctions between born-again evangelicals and other evangelicals for example. So yes more people in the market share are expressing a "connection" to church than were doing so in the colonial era and afterwards (Stark); but yes, ala Barna, that means less and less these days. And it is clear that the colonial era and its aftermath was at least a dominant church culture per se, compared to the dominance of secular and competitive choice culture today.
But for planters and those interested in growing their churches, Stark's works point to these factors.
2.
You have to have a focus that provides "here and now" rewards, of community, of belief, that cannot be obtained elsewhere. This is not to dismiss the "otherworldliness of focus on a life hereafter" for in Rise of Christianity he shows how that core belief sustained the early followers of Jesus, but it was enacted in the here and now of caring for one another. So how do you focus on forming relationships that will be like fictive families, places of healing and mission?
3.
Those that grow have a focused theological exclusiveness. Monotheism grows; polytheism won't. The more pluralism there is within a plant the more difficulty there will be in obtaining the committment needed. There seems to be a reverse dynamic at work. Stark shows how a church needs a high-tension with the surrounding culture in order to grow, but not too high tension that makes it too hard and turns people away (why else would people come and expend their personal capital if they could easily get same thing elsewhere?); but if there is internal high-tension it leads to watering down the focus and mission in order to accomodate everyone. Also, high demands on membership, coupled with great rewards, will equal growth. Question: how are people being rewarded, what are they being offered, for their transaction of capital and committment? If they are able to connect with an active God who will be on their side in times of need they are more likely to commit to the church of that God than with a God who is not active in lives and the world (remember what I said about the process theologians and church?). I think you can turn this into a positive but you have to acknowledge it exists.
About high tension with surrounding culture; here is one place Stark missteps. He says that mainline theologies, ala new understandings of doctrines, show a low tension with surrounding culture, and those that keep to the old doctrinal ways in the midst of the changing culture result in having high-tension churches. But at least in the minds of many, even in highly unchurched areas, and certainly in places where evangelical churches have been rising in stature in the past decades, the culture equates Christianity with the old doctrine and dogma; that's why the post-evangelicals and emergents are finding success as they respond in a different way, especially among the young. So to be high-tension with one's surrounding community may in fact be to hold to the new understandings of theological questions, and it is this progressive tension with a conservative culture that can create high committment. Now, is there something inherent in progressive theology that prevents it from engendering committment--that is, in short, if you do away with hell is there any reason for people to expend their religious capital? especially if you also do away with heaven?--that is a better question. In the short run, I think the answer is unfortunately yes. Can we get people to re-see hell in a new light, very much true in a here-and-now way, as a motivator? The rise of twelve step groups point to the possibility, but then we would have to see our mission in something of a similar healing fashion that would break through the walls of our healthy-mindedness.
4.
The biggie: churches grow by forming and using social networks, extended fields of family and friends. Know these, track these, connect with these.
5.
Show discontinuity and continuity with their religious background and surrounding churches. How does the church plant offer something different but not too different?
6.
You can grow organically, exponentially. 3.4 percent annual took the early Christians from marginal to dominant status over 300 years. Help people have a 300 year focus; our three and five year strategic plans just build in anxiety and short-sightedness and do more harm than good.
7.
Emotionalism over rationalism.
8.
Importance of focusing on urban areas, places of great stress and great change.
9.
Are there receptive groups waiting for your plant and what you have to offer? What has gone before? In Cities of God, he talks about how both Judaism's strands and various Pagan strands left a receptive culture for the message of the early church.
10.
Diversified leaders are crucial. Latest work shows how Paul by himself wasn't that influential; he reveals a lens on the work of so many others. Also being multicultural, including women as leaders. Broader look: who has been cast out by your culture and area, and how can your plant community offer them ministry and leadership opportunities? as Paul and early leaders did with women and others.
11. Stark talks about how rise of Christian communities came about through connecting with people who weren't the poorest, but who had standing and some wealth, and who could put their resources to use and connect with the ones without power in the society. See Neil Cole for how church plants thrive most in poorest, hardest areas where it is very visible who is desperate for life change--find ways to connect those with health and wealth with those who don't. Plants that focus on one or the other may limit themselves.
12
People who have lots of religous capital are less likely to be drawn to a new plant or movement than those with little religious capital. So focus on those de-churched, unchurched. Even moreso than I am thinking of the boomer seeker who may actually have his or her religous capital bound up in their very seeking self.
13
Stark talks about the importance of the "port cities" and the highly Hellenized cities as places where growth happened the most. What is our corrolary today? Where are the portals? The web? the fall through the crack places of a city? The coffeehouses? The apartment complexes? You can't go everywhere; you have to pick where you focus planting efforts. Where are the places of spiritual weakness that will offer an opening to your spiritual strength?
14
Focus on the family. Recent studies have show that birth rate factors are key in which religious communities grow and have more market share and which ones don't; mainlines don't have big families; others do. There is even focus on having bigger families in more conservative evangelical families and in the newer movements within those worlds--home school, home church, home business, etc. Maybe progressive families won't be able to look at having bigger families, through biological means, concerned about population growth and quality of life issues, but the issues of sacrifice are key here. What are we willing to commit to in terms beyond our own individualism? Adoption? Building bigger fictive families and more intentional connections with others? Even more home-religious schooling or families connecting beyond sending kids to one hour a week at "church"? Even focusing on the health of families. making this key to the being of the church. And with recent studies out from the Hartford Institute, you might narrow it down by putting a more concentrated effort into focusing on men and their spiritual needs and connecting with them. They say the more men are involved in a church, the more it grows. I think that is because men then provide a full family link, which brings more health into the system, than with the church being home to a split family, with only part of the family being involved. Committment would then go up, and so would growth, as well as a pool of resource and additional field of family and friends.
I would urge all folks interested in growth to be familiar with Stark's works. Unpleasant truths sometimes. And I think Martin Marty is right (Stark quotes him in his latest book Cities of God as opposing him on these grounds) that Stark's work is more geared to usefulness than to truth, but then he is a sociologist and not a theologian or biblical scholar or historian for that matter, though his work helps shed light in all these areas. I don't have to agree with the kind of image of God he shows leads to church growth to understand that what he has shown is valid; it just shows the work ahead to be done.
Monday, January 22, 2007
Update on The Living Room Church "Re-Incarnation"
A momentary break to bring you some news about our recent moving away from the "attractional" church plant model to a "missional/incarnational" model.
Faith Wherever Life Happens
The Introduction:
Behold, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.
Isaiah 43:19
“The missional church is incarnational, not attractional…By incarnational we mean it does not create sanctified spaces into which unbelievers must come to encounter the gospel. Rather, the missional church disassembles itself and steps into the cracks and crevices of a society in order to be Christ to those who don’t yet know him.”
Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch, “The Shape of Things To Come: Innovation and Mission For the 21st Century Church”
“Here is the simple and abbreviated historical shorthand for all that follows, for why we are doing what we are doing now through what we call The Living Room Church. Before the year 325 c.e., the free movement or “church” of Jesus-followers grew and thrived by organically living in and among and between and at times against the intersecting and overlapping “worlds” of ancient Greek values, Roman Empire values, and the traditions of “Israel.” This was in keeping with Jesus’ “contagious healing spirit” of breaking boundaries set up by the world to keep people apart from one another and God.
“Then in 325 with the Empire and Church intertwining, the official connection began between “Church” and “World” which grew over the centuries until the “world’ became a subset or sphere of the “Church.” This started the “churched culture” which has lasted until recently. With the Printing Press Revolution and Protestant Reformation in the 1500s and the Age of Enlightenment and Modernity, the separation process began and continued to grow between the spheres of churches, one from another, between them and the World, and also between individuals and all their groups.
“By the time of the mid-to-late 20th century, the sphere of the separate church had receded, but churches continue to operate as they had when they were the dominant sphere, as a primary place for “believers” to congregate and only then, after that fact, to “go out to change the world.” People were seen as lost individuals caught between the two spheres, to be “battled over” and ‘won over’ with the right message or fear tactics.
“But in the 21st century, with the continuing ebb of church influence in society, especially in an era of mega-churches, it has become clear to many that the “church-as-usual” mission, where the world is still seen as “other” and the goal of changing it is to build up the church organization as big as possible, no longer is an effective carrier of the original organic contagious spirit of Jesus. So now the ancient-future model, a 180 degree different, inverted model of the Empire-Church, is to once again plant the seeds of the “church” within the pluralistic world itself, to grow the soul of the world, and in doing so the church itself is born anew.”Rev. Ron Robinson, The Living Room Church
The Vision
As one of the final steps in the creation of our new missional church-planting church (the final step is to replicate ourselves), we are moving into a new space that will be dedicated primarily for the wider community’s use. This will enable us to incarnate ourselves in service and partnership to others first, to be guests within our own hosting space, and only then to find our sacred worshipping space within space given to others.
We are with your help creating a place and meeting the needs of an underserved area of the northern Tulsa region. We will create:
A public library of books, tapes, and movies
An internet café providing computers and wireless connections to those many in our area who are without their own as well as the transportation means to get to existing access; a TV and game tables for socializing
A sustainability center of a free giveaway swap center for reusing items, clothes, tools, etc.
A community recycling center
A community agency and community organizations clearinghouse of information and resources
An art gallery
A free musical venue for concerts
A place for community support groups to meet, for public presentations and speakers in an area accessible and in the vicinity of those in need. A way for agencies to come to the people they serve.
A children’s reading and playing corner
An outdoor garden meditation and reading and eating space
A place for classes such as yoga; exercize area
A restored place of beauty and new life in a decaying area
A place for dreams not yet dreamed
The Details of the Vision: We are moving into 4,000 square feet at 6514 N. Peoria as the largest central use in the Highlander Center. Our neighbors will be the U.S. Post Office and a Laundramat. We will be across from a bank. We will be close to the Osage bike and walking Trail. We are within walking distance of north Tulsa and Turley and are on a main highway connecting Tulsa with Sperry and Skiatook. We will continue to house and rent to the national offices of the Unitarian Universalist Christian Fellowship. We will continue to gather for spiritual meetings on Sunday and Wednesday evenings and at other times as often as possible using the new multi-purpose space. The Living Room Church information tables will be one of the community groups with tables in the new space.
The Opportunity and Wish List
We hope you and those you serve and those you know will find this an important and needed mission in our world, and for the church itself, and an opportunity for people to make a big difference in lives. Please pass on to others.
We are seeking:
Prayers
Apostles who will spread the word of what we are doing
Direct Financial Donations from individuals and churches and groups
A one-time plate collection for us during your worship offering, or other type of donation
Donations of:
Computers, wireless remotes, equipment, expertise
Tables—long or round
Chairs
Living Room furniture
Office furniture
Coffeemakers, expresso makers
Shelving
Books and periodicals and movies and music for all ages for the library
Connect us with Musicians for concerts, artists, craftspeople
Portable Electric Sign and/or help with New Signage on the building for this community center
Volunteer Workers to have a party and help us with set up of the new space
Regular volunteers who would like to serve a few hours a week or month to be hosts.
Items of All Kinds for our Giveaway Center, including business and professional clothes for a kind of “Dress For Success” style center.
Artwork
Gardeners
Dreamers with New and More Ideas
Contact
Make checks payable to The Living Room Church, 6514 N. Peoria Ave, Turley, OK 74126. For more information, contact Rev. Ron Robinson, 918-691-3223.
Faith Wherever Life Happens
The Introduction:
Behold, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.
Isaiah 43:19
“The missional church is incarnational, not attractional…By incarnational we mean it does not create sanctified spaces into which unbelievers must come to encounter the gospel. Rather, the missional church disassembles itself and steps into the cracks and crevices of a society in order to be Christ to those who don’t yet know him.”
Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch, “The Shape of Things To Come: Innovation and Mission For the 21st Century Church”
“Here is the simple and abbreviated historical shorthand for all that follows, for why we are doing what we are doing now through what we call The Living Room Church. Before the year 325 c.e., the free movement or “church” of Jesus-followers grew and thrived by organically living in and among and between and at times against the intersecting and overlapping “worlds” of ancient Greek values, Roman Empire values, and the traditions of “Israel.” This was in keeping with Jesus’ “contagious healing spirit” of breaking boundaries set up by the world to keep people apart from one another and God.
“Then in 325 with the Empire and Church intertwining, the official connection began between “Church” and “World” which grew over the centuries until the “world’ became a subset or sphere of the “Church.” This started the “churched culture” which has lasted until recently. With the Printing Press Revolution and Protestant Reformation in the 1500s and the Age of Enlightenment and Modernity, the separation process began and continued to grow between the spheres of churches, one from another, between them and the World, and also between individuals and all their groups.
“By the time of the mid-to-late 20th century, the sphere of the separate church had receded, but churches continue to operate as they had when they were the dominant sphere, as a primary place for “believers” to congregate and only then, after that fact, to “go out to change the world.” People were seen as lost individuals caught between the two spheres, to be “battled over” and ‘won over’ with the right message or fear tactics.
“But in the 21st century, with the continuing ebb of church influence in society, especially in an era of mega-churches, it has become clear to many that the “church-as-usual” mission, where the world is still seen as “other” and the goal of changing it is to build up the church organization as big as possible, no longer is an effective carrier of the original organic contagious spirit of Jesus. So now the ancient-future model, a 180 degree different, inverted model of the Empire-Church, is to once again plant the seeds of the “church” within the pluralistic world itself, to grow the soul of the world, and in doing so the church itself is born anew.”Rev. Ron Robinson, The Living Room Church
The Vision
As one of the final steps in the creation of our new missional church-planting church (the final step is to replicate ourselves), we are moving into a new space that will be dedicated primarily for the wider community’s use. This will enable us to incarnate ourselves in service and partnership to others first, to be guests within our own hosting space, and only then to find our sacred worshipping space within space given to others.
We are with your help creating a place and meeting the needs of an underserved area of the northern Tulsa region. We will create:
A public library of books, tapes, and movies
An internet café providing computers and wireless connections to those many in our area who are without their own as well as the transportation means to get to existing access; a TV and game tables for socializing
A sustainability center of a free giveaway swap center for reusing items, clothes, tools, etc.
A community recycling center
A community agency and community organizations clearinghouse of information and resources
An art gallery
A free musical venue for concerts
A place for community support groups to meet, for public presentations and speakers in an area accessible and in the vicinity of those in need. A way for agencies to come to the people they serve.
A children’s reading and playing corner
An outdoor garden meditation and reading and eating space
A place for classes such as yoga; exercize area
A restored place of beauty and new life in a decaying area
A place for dreams not yet dreamed
The Details of the Vision: We are moving into 4,000 square feet at 6514 N. Peoria as the largest central use in the Highlander Center. Our neighbors will be the U.S. Post Office and a Laundramat. We will be across from a bank. We will be close to the Osage bike and walking Trail. We are within walking distance of north Tulsa and Turley and are on a main highway connecting Tulsa with Sperry and Skiatook. We will continue to house and rent to the national offices of the Unitarian Universalist Christian Fellowship. We will continue to gather for spiritual meetings on Sunday and Wednesday evenings and at other times as often as possible using the new multi-purpose space. The Living Room Church information tables will be one of the community groups with tables in the new space.
The Opportunity and Wish List
We hope you and those you serve and those you know will find this an important and needed mission in our world, and for the church itself, and an opportunity for people to make a big difference in lives. Please pass on to others.
We are seeking:
Prayers
Apostles who will spread the word of what we are doing
Direct Financial Donations from individuals and churches and groups
A one-time plate collection for us during your worship offering, or other type of donation
Donations of:
Computers, wireless remotes, equipment, expertise
Tables—long or round
Chairs
Living Room furniture
Office furniture
Coffeemakers, expresso makers
Shelving
Books and periodicals and movies and music for all ages for the library
Connect us with Musicians for concerts, artists, craftspeople
Portable Electric Sign and/or help with New Signage on the building for this community center
Volunteer Workers to have a party and help us with set up of the new space
Regular volunteers who would like to serve a few hours a week or month to be hosts.
Items of All Kinds for our Giveaway Center, including business and professional clothes for a kind of “Dress For Success” style center.
Artwork
Gardeners
Dreamers with New and More Ideas
Contact
Make checks payable to The Living Room Church, 6514 N. Peoria Ave, Turley, OK 74126. For more information, contact Rev. Ron Robinson, 918-691-3223.
Places to Start in 2007
Before I begin to post on church and...the recent work of John Dominic Crossan...and the New Paul Perspective...and the insights from Rodney Stark's recent work, I thought I would point to some of the pivotal posts on the blog from the previous months. A good place to start as we begin to look at what is coming in 2007.
If I could point you to the most important blog posts here it would be these. If you want to read them in chronological order go to bottom and work your way up:
http://progressivechurchplanting.blogspot.com/2006/11/tale-of-two-books-bass-whitesel.html
http://progressivechurchplanting.blogspot.com/2006/10/changing-scorecard-20-portals.html
http://progressivechurchplanting.blogspot.com/2006/09/more-on-shaping-of-things-to-come.html
http://progressivechurchplanting.blogspot.com/2006/08/shaping-of-things-to-come.html
http://progressivechurchplanting.blogspot.com/2006/08/are-you-revolutionary.html
http://progressivechurchplanting.blogspot.com/2006/07/more-thoughts-on-message-captivity-of.html
http://progressivechurchplanting.blogspot.com/2006/06/dozen-plant-and-growth-in-general.html
http://progressivechurchplanting.blogspot.com/2006/05/heresy-1-where-to-focus-re-visitors.html
If I could point you to the most important blog posts here it would be these. If you want to read them in chronological order go to bottom and work your way up:
http://progressivechurchplanting.blogspot.com/2006/11/tale-of-two-books-bass-whitesel.html
http://progressivechurchplanting.blogspot.com/2006/10/changing-scorecard-20-portals.html
http://progressivechurchplanting.blogspot.com/2006/09/more-on-shaping-of-things-to-come.html
http://progressivechurchplanting.blogspot.com/2006/08/shaping-of-things-to-come.html
http://progressivechurchplanting.blogspot.com/2006/08/are-you-revolutionary.html
http://progressivechurchplanting.blogspot.com/2006/07/more-thoughts-on-message-captivity-of.html
http://progressivechurchplanting.blogspot.com/2006/06/dozen-plant-and-growth-in-general.html
http://progressivechurchplanting.blogspot.com/2006/05/heresy-1-where-to-focus-re-visitors.html
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Giving Yourself A Christmas Gift?
Here are some recommendations and reprises from earlier posts. But first, four recent buys of mine to recommend, and of which I will have more to say soon I am sure. [And don't forget Christian Voices in Unitarian Universalism, Skinner House, 2006, edited by Kathleen Rolenz. Go to www.uua.org/skinner.
1. The new book to begin it all. Ed Stetzer's Planting Missional Churches: Planting a Church that's biblically sound and reaching people in culture (2006). This is the new place I would start for any church planting conversation and effort, replacing Aubrey Malphurs or Ralph Moore's. It is comprehensive, and so there is a lot left unsaid about each of the models, but he includes good places to go to get more depth on whether it is house church network or rapid large start or others. I liked this one much better than his previous one on planting churches in a postmodern age, which was too laden with theological/culturalese. It probably goes without saying I think he is wrong on what constitutes biblically soundness, but don't let that stop you. And don't pass this one up even if you aren't involved or interested in church plant; the principles are good for looking at what you will need to do and be within existing churches to keep up with all the new being planted around you anyway. So it applies to new ministries within existing churches.
A few nuggets:
Today's church planter should be 1. missional. 2. incarnational. 3. theological. 4. ecclesiological. 5. spiritual.
objections that hold people back from church planting:
1. large church mentality. The newer the church, not the bigger the church, the more effective it is at reaching unchurched, dechurched.
2. parish-church mind-set. have to get beyond geographical limitations and turf politeness. [Alert to my UU readers, though I know this is a mainline issue as well in some places].
In 1900, 28 churches for every 10,000 Americans. In 1950, 17 churches for same number. In 2000, dropped to 12 churches per, and in 2004, dropped again to 11 church per 10,000 Americans.
3. professional-church syndrome. Have to break out of church equals seminary trained pastor model, particularly as churches begin to multiple themselves.
4. rescue-the-dying syndrome. have to break out of addiction of rescuing the dying churches within movements before starting new ones. Look at how resources are allocated on national level.
5. already-reached myth. Or I would call it the "they will find us if they need us" mentality. Goes along with buying into the secular myth that faith communities aren't needed for the wholeness/salvation of the soul, can do it alone.
Check back for much more out of and about this new resource.
2. Future Church: ministry in a post-seeker age by Jim Wilson with foreword by Sally Morgenthaler (2004). It has a kind of Len Sweet feel to it but with a more conservative theological orientation, maybe Barna-light. Very story-oriented, which is good. Seven main connections based on a set of assumptions and questions for the church trying to meet the future now (also a good connection with Reggie McNeal's book The Present Future, also based on a question and response format, though there are more stories in this one by Wilson). Definitely good for those looking at how to keep connected to existing churches and move them through transformation to revolution. Here are the seven levers (ways you can look at your ministry setting):
Get Creative: CW says that people don't want to be "preached to" and told how to live. They prefeer to set their own rules for living and rely on the entertainment industry--cinemas, sporting events, and theaters--for their inspiration. What is the church's response?
Get Spiritual: CW says that one religion is as good as another. Christians are often viewed as mean-spirited, narrow-minded bigots. Gurus, mystics, and psychics are as legitimate as priests, rabbis, and minister's in today's supercharged environment. What is the church's response?
Get Radical: CW says that emerging generations lack real purpose and are drifting through life. They've become cynical, not really believing that anything can make society--or their souls--whole again. What is the church's response?
Get Real: CW says that current culture will not tolerate duplicity and will immediately dismiss anyone who says one thing and does another. They are suspicious of anything is slick, orchestrated, or too good to be true. What is the church's response?
Get Truthful: CW says that people no longer believe in absolute truth and are suspicious of experts, institutions, and anyone who makes exclusive claims. What is the church's response?
Get Multi: CW says that culture celebrates diversity and loathes intolerance. Emerging generations don't want to be pigeonholed or lumped into a group. What is the church's response?
Get Connected: CW says that people are isolated from one another and are destined to drift from one failed relationship to another. What is the church's response?
There's a "sermon series" or conversational topics for you. Need more progressives responding from our biblical basis to these same touchstones.
3. Jesus: Uncovering the Life, Teachings, and Relevance of a religious revolutionary, by Marcus Borg (2006). Get inspired by the Jesus Borg rightly points to, and then put Stetzer, Wilson, et al into practice. Here is a good updating, retelling of the progressive Christian encounter with Jesus and the Risen Christ as the spirit of Jesus in our lives and world today. Combines the best of his previous works (and you can see that he is incorporated the responses to the opposition of that work) into one "unifying vision for a critical time" as the blurb puts it. If you are already familiar with Borg's works, then it is still worthwhile for the epilogue on Jesus and American Christianity today. In it he connects his work with the emergent and emerging Christianity, and is in favor of the transformation of the church. Maybe it is beyond his purview or passion, but as he does a good job of extolling the importance of churches ("God can do without churches. But we can't.") I wish there was some nod not only to the theological transformation of the existing mainline churches but to the need for new progressive church plants to be better able to create in their initial DNA this kind vision of Jesus.
4. The Churching of America: 1776-2005, by Rodney Stark and Roger Finke (2006). I am a big Stark fan. If you want to read a thesis on why the congregationalists/Unitarians are so small compared to even others in the mainline, not to mention the 20th century evangelicals, and why the mainlines are succombing to this as well and the evangelicals might be on the verge of it, and the rise of Mormonism, et al as other new "upstarts" then this is the book. Develops his/their thesis of religious economy that he used on new religious movements. Great diagnosis of the reasons mergers and unifications and ecumenical enterprises in general (UU alert) don't live up to the expectations of their dreamers and founders. His thesis is that we have gotten more religious and spiritual involvement from colonial days, but our blinders and perferences for establishment churches of that era have kept us from being able to see this. [Barna might point out that church affiliation is a loose notion and doesn't equate with conviction and committment, and why we are still in an unchurched, dechurched era, but that is part of the fluid notion that might send evangelicals the same way as other dominant groups in the past; still a good conversation I would like to listen to is one between Stark and Barna; does anyone know if it has existed?]....The "less regulated" the religious economy of the culture is, the easier for new starts to take the field. [I wonder if you could apply this also to the "regulation" of a local church group, and one of the reasons why mainlines decline has been their committment to regulation and control, ala Easum and Bandy's work]....Interesting commentary here on the "audience economy" of the New Age movements, and why they don't think it signals a significant growth in the American religious landscape [wonder how it might also apply to churches and the post-denominational "dabbling" though?]. And finally they disagree that there has been a seismic shift from mainline decline to evangelical eruption; rather they see it as something happening gradually over a couple of hundred years, and media attention seemed to propel it in people's perception. The market share of the churches had been dwindling all along. And, just because once large groups are now small, doesn't necessarily mean they will be able to rise in market share again. They repeat their arguement from previous books that more than anything else it is putting a high cost on membership and applying strict boundaries is what propels a church. But that alone doesn't work either. Many will become so strict in such a way as to fail. As he wrote in One True God, they also include the role of theological belief in an active, exclusionary God in offering the rewards that drive allegiance. Opening up a place for experimental, innovative new churches is also key, and here mainlines have failed in the past. The path is to increase tension with the outside culture. [on this point more to come from me post-holiday crush].
And don't forget "The Shaping of Things To Come" by Frost and Hirsch, "Emerging Churches" by Gibbs and Bolger, "Organic Church" by Neil Cole and "Revolution" by George Barna. All of which have their own posts elsewhere in the blog. Blessings.
1. The new book to begin it all. Ed Stetzer's Planting Missional Churches: Planting a Church that's biblically sound and reaching people in culture (2006). This is the new place I would start for any church planting conversation and effort, replacing Aubrey Malphurs or Ralph Moore's. It is comprehensive, and so there is a lot left unsaid about each of the models, but he includes good places to go to get more depth on whether it is house church network or rapid large start or others. I liked this one much better than his previous one on planting churches in a postmodern age, which was too laden with theological/culturalese. It probably goes without saying I think he is wrong on what constitutes biblically soundness, but don't let that stop you. And don't pass this one up even if you aren't involved or interested in church plant; the principles are good for looking at what you will need to do and be within existing churches to keep up with all the new being planted around you anyway. So it applies to new ministries within existing churches.
A few nuggets:
Today's church planter should be 1. missional. 2. incarnational. 3. theological. 4. ecclesiological. 5. spiritual.
objections that hold people back from church planting:
1. large church mentality. The newer the church, not the bigger the church, the more effective it is at reaching unchurched, dechurched.
2. parish-church mind-set. have to get beyond geographical limitations and turf politeness. [Alert to my UU readers, though I know this is a mainline issue as well in some places].
In 1900, 28 churches for every 10,000 Americans. In 1950, 17 churches for same number. In 2000, dropped to 12 churches per, and in 2004, dropped again to 11 church per 10,000 Americans.
3. professional-church syndrome. Have to break out of church equals seminary trained pastor model, particularly as churches begin to multiple themselves.
4. rescue-the-dying syndrome. have to break out of addiction of rescuing the dying churches within movements before starting new ones. Look at how resources are allocated on national level.
5. already-reached myth. Or I would call it the "they will find us if they need us" mentality. Goes along with buying into the secular myth that faith communities aren't needed for the wholeness/salvation of the soul, can do it alone.
Check back for much more out of and about this new resource.
2. Future Church: ministry in a post-seeker age by Jim Wilson with foreword by Sally Morgenthaler (2004). It has a kind of Len Sweet feel to it but with a more conservative theological orientation, maybe Barna-light. Very story-oriented, which is good. Seven main connections based on a set of assumptions and questions for the church trying to meet the future now (also a good connection with Reggie McNeal's book The Present Future, also based on a question and response format, though there are more stories in this one by Wilson). Definitely good for those looking at how to keep connected to existing churches and move them through transformation to revolution. Here are the seven levers (ways you can look at your ministry setting):
Get Creative: CW says that people don't want to be "preached to" and told how to live. They prefeer to set their own rules for living and rely on the entertainment industry--cinemas, sporting events, and theaters--for their inspiration. What is the church's response?
Get Spiritual: CW says that one religion is as good as another. Christians are often viewed as mean-spirited, narrow-minded bigots. Gurus, mystics, and psychics are as legitimate as priests, rabbis, and minister's in today's supercharged environment. What is the church's response?
Get Radical: CW says that emerging generations lack real purpose and are drifting through life. They've become cynical, not really believing that anything can make society--or their souls--whole again. What is the church's response?
Get Real: CW says that current culture will not tolerate duplicity and will immediately dismiss anyone who says one thing and does another. They are suspicious of anything is slick, orchestrated, or too good to be true. What is the church's response?
Get Truthful: CW says that people no longer believe in absolute truth and are suspicious of experts, institutions, and anyone who makes exclusive claims. What is the church's response?
Get Multi: CW says that culture celebrates diversity and loathes intolerance. Emerging generations don't want to be pigeonholed or lumped into a group. What is the church's response?
Get Connected: CW says that people are isolated from one another and are destined to drift from one failed relationship to another. What is the church's response?
There's a "sermon series" or conversational topics for you. Need more progressives responding from our biblical basis to these same touchstones.
3. Jesus: Uncovering the Life, Teachings, and Relevance of a religious revolutionary, by Marcus Borg (2006). Get inspired by the Jesus Borg rightly points to, and then put Stetzer, Wilson, et al into practice. Here is a good updating, retelling of the progressive Christian encounter with Jesus and the Risen Christ as the spirit of Jesus in our lives and world today. Combines the best of his previous works (and you can see that he is incorporated the responses to the opposition of that work) into one "unifying vision for a critical time" as the blurb puts it. If you are already familiar with Borg's works, then it is still worthwhile for the epilogue on Jesus and American Christianity today. In it he connects his work with the emergent and emerging Christianity, and is in favor of the transformation of the church. Maybe it is beyond his purview or passion, but as he does a good job of extolling the importance of churches ("God can do without churches. But we can't.") I wish there was some nod not only to the theological transformation of the existing mainline churches but to the need for new progressive church plants to be better able to create in their initial DNA this kind vision of Jesus.
4. The Churching of America: 1776-2005, by Rodney Stark and Roger Finke (2006). I am a big Stark fan. If you want to read a thesis on why the congregationalists/Unitarians are so small compared to even others in the mainline, not to mention the 20th century evangelicals, and why the mainlines are succombing to this as well and the evangelicals might be on the verge of it, and the rise of Mormonism, et al as other new "upstarts" then this is the book. Develops his/their thesis of religious economy that he used on new religious movements. Great diagnosis of the reasons mergers and unifications and ecumenical enterprises in general (UU alert) don't live up to the expectations of their dreamers and founders. His thesis is that we have gotten more religious and spiritual involvement from colonial days, but our blinders and perferences for establishment churches of that era have kept us from being able to see this. [Barna might point out that church affiliation is a loose notion and doesn't equate with conviction and committment, and why we are still in an unchurched, dechurched era, but that is part of the fluid notion that might send evangelicals the same way as other dominant groups in the past; still a good conversation I would like to listen to is one between Stark and Barna; does anyone know if it has existed?]....The "less regulated" the religious economy of the culture is, the easier for new starts to take the field. [I wonder if you could apply this also to the "regulation" of a local church group, and one of the reasons why mainlines decline has been their committment to regulation and control, ala Easum and Bandy's work]....Interesting commentary here on the "audience economy" of the New Age movements, and why they don't think it signals a significant growth in the American religious landscape [wonder how it might also apply to churches and the post-denominational "dabbling" though?]. And finally they disagree that there has been a seismic shift from mainline decline to evangelical eruption; rather they see it as something happening gradually over a couple of hundred years, and media attention seemed to propel it in people's perception. The market share of the churches had been dwindling all along. And, just because once large groups are now small, doesn't necessarily mean they will be able to rise in market share again. They repeat their arguement from previous books that more than anything else it is putting a high cost on membership and applying strict boundaries is what propels a church. But that alone doesn't work either. Many will become so strict in such a way as to fail. As he wrote in One True God, they also include the role of theological belief in an active, exclusionary God in offering the rewards that drive allegiance. Opening up a place for experimental, innovative new churches is also key, and here mainlines have failed in the past. The path is to increase tension with the outside culture. [on this point more to come from me post-holiday crush].
And don't forget "The Shaping of Things To Come" by Frost and Hirsch, "Emerging Churches" by Gibbs and Bolger, "Organic Church" by Neil Cole and "Revolution" by George Barna. All of which have their own posts elsewhere in the blog. Blessings.
2006 American Religion in Review: Four Areas from Barna
Here is one synopsis of a religious surveyor and analyst's review of the year 2006 in American religion. By George Barna www.barna.org.
First, Barna identified some of the most prolific news stories of the year that involved religion:
1. the role of evangelicals in the mid-term elections,
2. Hollywood’s pursuit of the Christian audience,
3. scandals concerning priests and ministers,
4. the shooting of five Amish school children and their community’s response,
5. the internal politics of the Episcopal Church,
6. the controversy involving Muslims and the Pope.
Offhand, I pretty much agree with the list. But I would rate them in this order, not of newsworthiness by the way, but of lasting significance:
1. Hollywood--media always shapes meaning and leads to organizational embodiment
2. Episcopals--emblematic of widening rift in what it means to be Christian, new kind of Reformation
3. Evangelical shift--politics and religion will get murkier, not less so; the polarization into the Christian Right and the Secular Progressives, as so many wish to keep alive, will be history as the Center holds. Might throw in here news items surrounding Stem-Cell, also the spiritual dimensions of Immigration Debate, the emergence of Hilary and Obama and McCain as emblematic of Center on these issues.
4. Scandals--Haggard, et al. part of the shift toward decentralized celebrity-less spirituality.
5. Muslim and Pope--"Western Civilization" "Christian Europe" "Inter-religious engagement that is based on differences" in 100 years this could be seen as the most significant, and have boiled over in this flat world to the American scene.
6. Shooting and Response. Shootings will continue, but will the response of the Amish become a touchstone of response and lead to changes in understandings of justice?
Second, Barna's own 12 most significant findings of 2006 based on the year's research, in his order of what he deems most important. Details below.
1. Disparity between public claims and claims of regular church-goers, and perceptions by pastors
2. 75 percent of teenagers engage at least once in some form of "psychic or witchcraft" experience while only 30 percent of churches seem concerned enough to teach on it.
3. "Holiness" not a concern.
4. wide difference between what he calls "Christian Revolutionaries" (see his book called Revolution) who are dedicated to living out faith fully, and the "born-again" whose faith is mostly in profession.
5. Rise of house churches, though most (80 percent) in house church still have some connection to more formal church organization.
6. Very few are engaged in spiritual gifts discernment, and for those that do it is still seen as related to "volunteerism."
7. high rate of involvement in faith community in teen years drops off in the twenties.
8. post 9-11 faith rise dropped off five years later back to normal
9. disconnect between perceptions of parents about faith development of their children, and what children report.
10. only 1 out of 6 think spiritual faith maturity should be developed within context of a church community.
11. few Americans recognize names of top Christian book-sellers and pastors.
12. numbers of people claiming "born-again" continues to rise, as does bible study and small group involvement.
My own rearrangment of the order of importance of those 12 findings of his would be as follows:
My one is his number 10---loss of interest in church. Old news but all flows from it.
My two is his number 4---rise of "revolutionaries" becoming distinct different faith grouping
My three is his number 5--rise of house church
My four is his number 9--parental/children disconnect
My five is his number 1--difference in perception in pew and pulpit
My six is his number 6---no spiritual gifts discernment going on, really, anywhere
My seven is his number 2--not for the obvious spiritual warfare alert as he sees it, but as an indicator of the rise of fantasy as personal spiritual allegiance and practice
My eight is his number 12--indicating rise of importance in seeking intimacy and Story
My nine is his number 3--holiness dropping off the chart, probably for good reason (see Paul's admonition in Romans that God is for the unrighteous), but the loss of moral center, community values, and rise of uncontrolled behavior and addictions should be of more vital concern, especially to progressives.
My ten is his number 7--losing young adults to status quo faith communities
My eleven is his number 11--lack of recognition just shows secular/spiritual divide widening
My twelve is his number 8--post 9-11 illusions and disillusions.
(the order of these also shows a relationship between them to the general shift away from churched culture to dechurched and unchurched culture, to the rise of generational cultural differences, and cultural modernity's demise).
Here is Barna's elaboration on the findings and links to the surveys from this past year:
Although large majorities of the public claim to be “deeply spiritual” and say that their religious faith is “very important” in their life, only 15% of those who regularly attend a Christian church ranked their relationship with God as the top priority in their life. As alarming as that finding was, its significance was magnified by research showing that on average pastors believe that 70% of the adults in their congregation consider their relationship with God to be their highest priority in life.
For related information, see the January 10th Barna Update click here
Three out of every four teenagers have engaged in at least one type of psychic or witchcraft-related activity. Among the most common of those endeavors are using a Ouija board, reading books about witchcraft or Wicca, playing games involving sorcery or witchcraft, having a “professional” do a palm reading or having their fortune told. Conversely, during the past year fewer than three out of every ten churched teenagers had received any teaching from their church about elements of the supernatural.
For related information, see the January 23rd Barna Update click here
The notion of personal holiness has slipped out of the consciousness of the vast majority of Christians. While just 21% of adults consider themselves to be holy, by their own admission large numbers have no idea what “holiness” means and only one out of every three (35%) believe that God expects people to become holy.
For related information, see the Februrary 20th Barna Update click here
The growing movement of Christian Revolutionaries in the U.S. distinguished themselves from an already-select group of people – born again Christians – through their deeds, beliefs and self-views. Revolutionaries demonstrated substantially higher levels of community service, financial contributions, daily Bible study, personal quiet times each day, family Bible studies, daily worship experiences, engagement in spiritual mentoring, and evangelistic efforts. They also had a series of beliefs that were much more likely than those of typical born again adults to coincide with biblical teachings. Their self-perceptions were also dramatically different than that of other born again adults.
For related information, see the March 6th Barna Update click here
Involvement in a house church is rapidly growing, although the transition is occurring with some trepidation: four out of every five house church participants maintain some connection to a conventional church as well.
For related information, see the June 19th Barna Update click here
Evaluating spiritual maturity remains an elusive process for clergy as well as individuals. Across the nation, the only measure of spiritual health used by at least half of all pastors was the extent of volunteer activity or ministry involvement. Adults were no more consistent in their self-examination of their spirituality.
For related information, see the January 10th Barna Update click here
Most Americans have a period of time during their teen years when they are actively engaged in a church youth group. However, Barna’s tracking of young people showed that most of them had disengaged from organized religion during their twenties.
For related information, see the September 11th Barna Update click here
A comparison of people’s faith before and after the September 11 terrorist attack showed that five years after the momentous day, none of the 19 faith measures studied had undergone statistically significant change. Those measures covered aspects such as religious behaviors, beliefs, spiritual commitment and self-identity.
For related information, see the August 28th Barna Update click here
Seven out of ten parents claim they are effective at developing the spiritual maturity of their children, but the Barna survey among 8-to-12-year-olds discovered that only one-third of them say a church has made “a positive difference” in their life; one-third contend that prayer is very important in their life; most of them would rather be popular than to do what is morally right. In fact, “tweeners” (those ages 8 to 12) deem their family to be vitally important in their life, but just 57% said they look forward to spending time with their family and only one out of every three say it is easy for them to talk to their parents about things that matter to them.
For related information, see the September 30th Barna Update click here
Relatively few people – just one out of every six – believe that spiritual maturity is meant to be developed within the context of a local church or within the context of a community of faith.
For related information, see the April 18th Barna Update click here
Five of the highest-profile Christian leaders – Rick Warren, Joel Osteen, James Dobson, Tim LaHaye and T.D. Jakes – were unknown to a majority of the population. Most of those leaders were also unknown to most born again Christians.
For related information, see the November 27th Barna Update click here
The faith contours of America continue to shift substantially over the course of time. The proportion of adults who are born again has risen dramatically in the past quarter century, from 31% to 45%. During the past two decades, every spiritual behavior has fluctuated significantly, with recent upsurge in Bible reading, church attendance, and small group involvement.
For related information, see the March 27th Barna Update click here
Third, Barna's analysis of the 4 themes in the patterns: George Barna noted that there were four themes that consistently emerged from the various surveys his firm conducted throughout the year.
“First of all,” noted Barna, “Americans are very comfortable with religious faith. Most adults and even teenagers see themselves as people of faith. Toward that end, they have definite opinions about religion, they possess well-honed beliefs, and invest substantial amounts of their time, money and energy in religious activities. Faith and spirituality remain hot issues in people’s lives. The mass media, through news and feature stories, also play a role in keeping spiritual issues in the forefront of people’s minds.”
“Second,” he continued, “people do not have an accurate view of themselves when it comes to spirituality. American Christians are not as devoted to their faith as they like to believe. They have positive feelings about the importance of faith, but their faith is rarely the focal point of their life or a critical factor in their decision-making. The fact that few people take the time to evaluate their spiritual journey, or to develop benchmarks or indicators of their spiritual health, facilitates a distorted view of the prominence and purity of faith in their life.”
Barna’s third theme was that if people’s faith is objectively measured against a biblical standard of how faith is to be practiced, Americans are spiritually lukewarm. “Very limited effort is devoted to spiritual growth. Most Americans experience ‘accidental spiritual growth’ since there is generally no plan or process other than showing up at a church and absorbing a few ideas here and there. Even then, few people have a defined understanding of what they are hoping to become, as followers of Christ.” Barna attributed much of this to the numerous distractions common in most people’s lives.
Finally, the bestselling author of nearly 40 books contended that the most intriguing blip on the radar screen is the growth of various converging movements of deeply spiritual people who are departing from the conventional forms and communities of faith. “The Revolutionary community – which incorporates divergent but compatible groups of people who are seeking to make their faith the driving force in their life – is reshaping American faith in ways which we are just beginning to understand.” Few researchers and journalists are tracking the behavior and beliefs of those nascent segments. "
Fourth, his view of the horizon of the future in American religious trends:
When asked what he saw on the horizon regarding Americans’ faith, Barna described findings from some research currently in process related to the future of faith. He listed three general patterns he expects to gain prominence in the coming years.
Diversity. There will be new forms of spiritual leadership, different expressions of faith, and greater variety in when and where people meet together to be communities of faith. Ecumenism will expand, as the emerging generations pay less attention to doctrine and more attention to relationships and experiences. Barna predicted that there will be a broader network of micro-faith communities built around lifestyle affinities, such as gay communities of faith, marketplace professionals who gather for faith experiences, and so forth.
Bifurcation. Barna expects to see a widening gap between the intensely committed and those who are casually involved in faith matters. The difference will become strikingly evident between those who make faith the core of their life and those who simply attach a religious component on to an already mature lifestyle.
Media. Spiritual content and experiences will be increasingly related to the use of media. New technologies that will gain market share over the coming decade will significantly reshape how people experience and express their faith, and the ways in which they form communities of faith.
During the past year Barna formed a company (Good News Holdings) with a group of media professionals to approach the faith community not only with facts and figures drawn from research but also with stories and imagery conveyed through media. Asked why he took this new approach, he stated that the job of a servant of God is to be an obedient missionary. “It’s important to go where the people are whom you wish to reach with your message, and then to communicate that message through the language and symbols that they understand,” he explained. “The typical American spends roughly twenty times more hours each week engaged with media than involved with all forms of traditional religious activity. In our society there is a false barrier between those two worlds, and we’re trying to bridge the gap.”
I will post more of my comments in the comments, but I think he is right on in his "most intriguing development of 2006" and his expectation of it continuing in the future, that is the growth of new forms of spiritual community made up of more dedicated "Revolutionaries" (see my earlier post on Barna's book "Revolution"). The question is how will it take shape or will it among Christian progressives. But he has outlined a way again to audit your own community, your own tradition, your own association as to how is it engaging with Diversity, Bifurcation, Media.
First, Barna identified some of the most prolific news stories of the year that involved religion:
1. the role of evangelicals in the mid-term elections,
2. Hollywood’s pursuit of the Christian audience,
3. scandals concerning priests and ministers,
4. the shooting of five Amish school children and their community’s response,
5. the internal politics of the Episcopal Church,
6. the controversy involving Muslims and the Pope.
Offhand, I pretty much agree with the list. But I would rate them in this order, not of newsworthiness by the way, but of lasting significance:
1. Hollywood--media always shapes meaning and leads to organizational embodiment
2. Episcopals--emblematic of widening rift in what it means to be Christian, new kind of Reformation
3. Evangelical shift--politics and religion will get murkier, not less so; the polarization into the Christian Right and the Secular Progressives, as so many wish to keep alive, will be history as the Center holds. Might throw in here news items surrounding Stem-Cell, also the spiritual dimensions of Immigration Debate, the emergence of Hilary and Obama and McCain as emblematic of Center on these issues.
4. Scandals--Haggard, et al. part of the shift toward decentralized celebrity-less spirituality.
5. Muslim and Pope--"Western Civilization" "Christian Europe" "Inter-religious engagement that is based on differences" in 100 years this could be seen as the most significant, and have boiled over in this flat world to the American scene.
6. Shooting and Response. Shootings will continue, but will the response of the Amish become a touchstone of response and lead to changes in understandings of justice?
Second, Barna's own 12 most significant findings of 2006 based on the year's research, in his order of what he deems most important. Details below.
1. Disparity between public claims and claims of regular church-goers, and perceptions by pastors
2. 75 percent of teenagers engage at least once in some form of "psychic or witchcraft" experience while only 30 percent of churches seem concerned enough to teach on it.
3. "Holiness" not a concern.
4. wide difference between what he calls "Christian Revolutionaries" (see his book called Revolution) who are dedicated to living out faith fully, and the "born-again" whose faith is mostly in profession.
5. Rise of house churches, though most (80 percent) in house church still have some connection to more formal church organization.
6. Very few are engaged in spiritual gifts discernment, and for those that do it is still seen as related to "volunteerism."
7. high rate of involvement in faith community in teen years drops off in the twenties.
8. post 9-11 faith rise dropped off five years later back to normal
9. disconnect between perceptions of parents about faith development of their children, and what children report.
10. only 1 out of 6 think spiritual faith maturity should be developed within context of a church community.
11. few Americans recognize names of top Christian book-sellers and pastors.
12. numbers of people claiming "born-again" continues to rise, as does bible study and small group involvement.
My own rearrangment of the order of importance of those 12 findings of his would be as follows:
My one is his number 10---loss of interest in church. Old news but all flows from it.
My two is his number 4---rise of "revolutionaries" becoming distinct different faith grouping
My three is his number 5--rise of house church
My four is his number 9--parental/children disconnect
My five is his number 1--difference in perception in pew and pulpit
My six is his number 6---no spiritual gifts discernment going on, really, anywhere
My seven is his number 2--not for the obvious spiritual warfare alert as he sees it, but as an indicator of the rise of fantasy as personal spiritual allegiance and practice
My eight is his number 12--indicating rise of importance in seeking intimacy and Story
My nine is his number 3--holiness dropping off the chart, probably for good reason (see Paul's admonition in Romans that God is for the unrighteous), but the loss of moral center, community values, and rise of uncontrolled behavior and addictions should be of more vital concern, especially to progressives.
My ten is his number 7--losing young adults to status quo faith communities
My eleven is his number 11--lack of recognition just shows secular/spiritual divide widening
My twelve is his number 8--post 9-11 illusions and disillusions.
(the order of these also shows a relationship between them to the general shift away from churched culture to dechurched and unchurched culture, to the rise of generational cultural differences, and cultural modernity's demise).
Here is Barna's elaboration on the findings and links to the surveys from this past year:
Although large majorities of the public claim to be “deeply spiritual” and say that their religious faith is “very important” in their life, only 15% of those who regularly attend a Christian church ranked their relationship with God as the top priority in their life. As alarming as that finding was, its significance was magnified by research showing that on average pastors believe that 70% of the adults in their congregation consider their relationship with God to be their highest priority in life.
For related information, see the January 10th Barna Update click here
Three out of every four teenagers have engaged in at least one type of psychic or witchcraft-related activity. Among the most common of those endeavors are using a Ouija board, reading books about witchcraft or Wicca, playing games involving sorcery or witchcraft, having a “professional” do a palm reading or having their fortune told. Conversely, during the past year fewer than three out of every ten churched teenagers had received any teaching from their church about elements of the supernatural.
For related information, see the January 23rd Barna Update click here
The notion of personal holiness has slipped out of the consciousness of the vast majority of Christians. While just 21% of adults consider themselves to be holy, by their own admission large numbers have no idea what “holiness” means and only one out of every three (35%) believe that God expects people to become holy.
For related information, see the Februrary 20th Barna Update click here
The growing movement of Christian Revolutionaries in the U.S. distinguished themselves from an already-select group of people – born again Christians – through their deeds, beliefs and self-views. Revolutionaries demonstrated substantially higher levels of community service, financial contributions, daily Bible study, personal quiet times each day, family Bible studies, daily worship experiences, engagement in spiritual mentoring, and evangelistic efforts. They also had a series of beliefs that were much more likely than those of typical born again adults to coincide with biblical teachings. Their self-perceptions were also dramatically different than that of other born again adults.
For related information, see the March 6th Barna Update click here
Involvement in a house church is rapidly growing, although the transition is occurring with some trepidation: four out of every five house church participants maintain some connection to a conventional church as well.
For related information, see the June 19th Barna Update click here
Evaluating spiritual maturity remains an elusive process for clergy as well as individuals. Across the nation, the only measure of spiritual health used by at least half of all pastors was the extent of volunteer activity or ministry involvement. Adults were no more consistent in their self-examination of their spirituality.
For related information, see the January 10th Barna Update click here
Most Americans have a period of time during their teen years when they are actively engaged in a church youth group. However, Barna’s tracking of young people showed that most of them had disengaged from organized religion during their twenties.
For related information, see the September 11th Barna Update click here
A comparison of people’s faith before and after the September 11 terrorist attack showed that five years after the momentous day, none of the 19 faith measures studied had undergone statistically significant change. Those measures covered aspects such as religious behaviors, beliefs, spiritual commitment and self-identity.
For related information, see the August 28th Barna Update click here
Seven out of ten parents claim they are effective at developing the spiritual maturity of their children, but the Barna survey among 8-to-12-year-olds discovered that only one-third of them say a church has made “a positive difference” in their life; one-third contend that prayer is very important in their life; most of them would rather be popular than to do what is morally right. In fact, “tweeners” (those ages 8 to 12) deem their family to be vitally important in their life, but just 57% said they look forward to spending time with their family and only one out of every three say it is easy for them to talk to their parents about things that matter to them.
For related information, see the September 30th Barna Update click here
Relatively few people – just one out of every six – believe that spiritual maturity is meant to be developed within the context of a local church or within the context of a community of faith.
For related information, see the April 18th Barna Update click here
Five of the highest-profile Christian leaders – Rick Warren, Joel Osteen, James Dobson, Tim LaHaye and T.D. Jakes – were unknown to a majority of the population. Most of those leaders were also unknown to most born again Christians.
For related information, see the November 27th Barna Update click here
The faith contours of America continue to shift substantially over the course of time. The proportion of adults who are born again has risen dramatically in the past quarter century, from 31% to 45%. During the past two decades, every spiritual behavior has fluctuated significantly, with recent upsurge in Bible reading, church attendance, and small group involvement.
For related information, see the March 27th Barna Update click here
Third, Barna's analysis of the 4 themes in the patterns: George Barna noted that there were four themes that consistently emerged from the various surveys his firm conducted throughout the year.
“First of all,” noted Barna, “Americans are very comfortable with religious faith. Most adults and even teenagers see themselves as people of faith. Toward that end, they have definite opinions about religion, they possess well-honed beliefs, and invest substantial amounts of their time, money and energy in religious activities. Faith and spirituality remain hot issues in people’s lives. The mass media, through news and feature stories, also play a role in keeping spiritual issues in the forefront of people’s minds.”
“Second,” he continued, “people do not have an accurate view of themselves when it comes to spirituality. American Christians are not as devoted to their faith as they like to believe. They have positive feelings about the importance of faith, but their faith is rarely the focal point of their life or a critical factor in their decision-making. The fact that few people take the time to evaluate their spiritual journey, or to develop benchmarks or indicators of their spiritual health, facilitates a distorted view of the prominence and purity of faith in their life.”
Barna’s third theme was that if people’s faith is objectively measured against a biblical standard of how faith is to be practiced, Americans are spiritually lukewarm. “Very limited effort is devoted to spiritual growth. Most Americans experience ‘accidental spiritual growth’ since there is generally no plan or process other than showing up at a church and absorbing a few ideas here and there. Even then, few people have a defined understanding of what they are hoping to become, as followers of Christ.” Barna attributed much of this to the numerous distractions common in most people’s lives.
Finally, the bestselling author of nearly 40 books contended that the most intriguing blip on the radar screen is the growth of various converging movements of deeply spiritual people who are departing from the conventional forms and communities of faith. “The Revolutionary community – which incorporates divergent but compatible groups of people who are seeking to make their faith the driving force in their life – is reshaping American faith in ways which we are just beginning to understand.” Few researchers and journalists are tracking the behavior and beliefs of those nascent segments. "
Fourth, his view of the horizon of the future in American religious trends:
When asked what he saw on the horizon regarding Americans’ faith, Barna described findings from some research currently in process related to the future of faith. He listed three general patterns he expects to gain prominence in the coming years.
Diversity. There will be new forms of spiritual leadership, different expressions of faith, and greater variety in when and where people meet together to be communities of faith. Ecumenism will expand, as the emerging generations pay less attention to doctrine and more attention to relationships and experiences. Barna predicted that there will be a broader network of micro-faith communities built around lifestyle affinities, such as gay communities of faith, marketplace professionals who gather for faith experiences, and so forth.
Bifurcation. Barna expects to see a widening gap between the intensely committed and those who are casually involved in faith matters. The difference will become strikingly evident between those who make faith the core of their life and those who simply attach a religious component on to an already mature lifestyle.
Media. Spiritual content and experiences will be increasingly related to the use of media. New technologies that will gain market share over the coming decade will significantly reshape how people experience and express their faith, and the ways in which they form communities of faith.
During the past year Barna formed a company (Good News Holdings) with a group of media professionals to approach the faith community not only with facts and figures drawn from research but also with stories and imagery conveyed through media. Asked why he took this new approach, he stated that the job of a servant of God is to be an obedient missionary. “It’s important to go where the people are whom you wish to reach with your message, and then to communicate that message through the language and symbols that they understand,” he explained. “The typical American spends roughly twenty times more hours each week engaged with media than involved with all forms of traditional religious activity. In our society there is a false barrier between those two worlds, and we’re trying to bridge the gap.”
I will post more of my comments in the comments, but I think he is right on in his "most intriguing development of 2006" and his expectation of it continuing in the future, that is the growth of new forms of spiritual community made up of more dedicated "Revolutionaries" (see my earlier post on Barna's book "Revolution"). The question is how will it take shape or will it among Christian progressives. But he has outlined a way again to audit your own community, your own tradition, your own association as to how is it engaging with Diversity, Bifurcation, Media.
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