Revolution

By George Barna

Published by Tyndale House Publishers, 2005.

Reviewed by David Collins

This was the book a kind pastor warned me not to read! But I figured if I was sufficiently mature and strong in the Lord I should be able to sift between the wheat and the chaff, and face any challenges to the status quo ‘like a man’. And having said that, I should review this book exactly like that: the wheat, the chaff and the challenges.

The Wheat

George Barna’s subtitle for this book is – ‘Finding Vibrant Faith Beyond The Walls of the Sanctuary’. By ‘sanctuary’ he means commitment to and participation with a local church (this, of course, to a staunch believer in the Biblical and contemporary importance of commitment and participation in the local church, is a difficult idea – but I’ll deal with some of that when I write about the ‘chaff’ and ‘challenges’). Therefore to accept ‘sanctuary’ in it’s more benign meaning (i.e. Church attendance), the importance of finding vibrant faith, shall we say, from Monday to Saturday, is entirely vital to the truth that we “are” the church, rather than we “go” to church (a concept quite unknown in scripture). In this regard, George Barna offers some excellent content: sections like “The Seven Passions of Revolutionaries” in which he covers 1. Intimate Worship, 2. Faith-based Conversations, 3. Intentional Spiritual Growth, 4. Servanthood, 5. Resource Investment, 6. Spiritual Friendship, and, 7. Family Faith.

There are other good lists of positive characteristics (e.g. a chapter entitled: The Marks of a Revolutionary), not new, but worth being reminded. George Barna is a researcher of some reputation, so I guess ‘lists’ are inevitable in such a work. So there’s a good amount of sound advice for a person seeking vibrant faith apart from their experience in the local church’s worship or ministry services and programs.

The Chaff

There are two significant shortcomings in Revolution. The first, and most alarming for someone who has previously presented sound and verifiable statistical support for his prognoses’, is Barna’s attempt to prove a trend that Christians will be dropping out of local church life in ever increasing numbers and opting for living their faith completely separate from this norm. Barna presents statistics for the year 2000, then predictions are made for 2025. However, the trend is not presented in statistics ... a single year’s figures cannot detect or determine a trend of any sort! This is a great leap of ... presumption! If George Barna is not predicting a trend evidenced by statistics, then he is promoting a personal position that he believes more and more people will want to adopt. After many books of objective reporting, Barna has now succumbed to presenting (or is that justifying?) his personal spiritual preferences, and bluffing his readers with completely inadequate research.

The second significant shortcoming is the book’s complete lack of vision for a glorious Church. I refer to the Biblical truth that God has given the gift ministries of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher for the maturation of the body of Christ to Christ’s full stature. The concept the author presents is that of Christians achieving God’s ultimate for their lives quite independent of the churches to whom the five-fold ministry gifts have been given. Barna’s idea is a complete contradiction to that of the Apostle Paul’s in Ephesians 4. In fact, the priority the Bible gives to the Church, and churches, as a ‘family’ and as a ‘body’ seems quite absent from Barna’s Revolution, and so Paul’s excitement that from (Christ) the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does it’s share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love (Ephesians 4:16), is sadly missing.

The Challenges

There is huge and exciting expansion and growth of Christianity going on through the ministry of local churches today; but within our ranks there are many ‘sleepy’ church-going believers – content to let their Sunday experience suffice from week to week (and for some, month to month). Revolution clearly confronts us with this fact. Whilst I cannot endorse the author’s solution, as a minister of the gospel I accept the challenge!

Both within our local churches, and beyond our local churches, we must be prepared to recognise the validity and importance of new forms of “church”, that is, form other than the ones within our traditional comfort zones. Indeed, some cultures and periods of history demand radical versatility (e.g. the church in China under communist persecution). Aspects of youth culture in 21st century cities demand new and revolutionary forms.

The challenge is three-fold: (1) to create forms that fit the cultural and political realities, (2) ensure that within those forms all the Biblical functions can be practiced, and the Biblical vision pursued, and (3) that ministry proclaim a positive and attractive Biblical message that confronts complacency and motivates believers to a passionate faith that lays hold of their full inheritance as children of God.

 Let’s join that revolution!