What if Adam’s Rib Is No Longer Willing To Be The Church’s Backbone?

Release Date: February 2012 – Tyndale House Publishers

photography/images above and below by Bill Dahl

A new Narrative?

In Her most recent book, Sara Miles has said: “Sharing our real stories, unvarnished and unfinished, not only provide helpful tips or sympathetic laughs: it’s the thing that allows us to become whole.” There are unvarnished, unfinished stories coming from certain sectors of Christendom in the U.S. — Jim Henderson’s The Resignation of Eve – What if Adam’s Rib is No Longer Willing to be the Backbone of the Church? — is filled with them. More about Henderson’s book in a moment. When one listen’s closely to the stories – a common narrative continues to emerge, based upon social research and socio-cultural observations. Allow me to explain. Listen to the narrative that seems to coalesce from the following:

Theologian Eugene Peterson has written: “We’ve been at this for two thousand years now, and people are not clamoring to join us.” [i] Alan Hirsch says, “I simply do not believe that we can continue to try to think our way into a new way of acting, but rather, we need to act our way into a new way of thinking.” [ii] Gabe Lyons and David Kinnaman have said in their book unChristian: “We are at a turning point for Christianity in America. If we do not wake up to these realities and respond in appropriate, godly ways, we risk being increasingly marginalized and losing further credibility with millions of people.” [iii] George Barna has said that we have 340,000 Christian churches in America. The median age of women who attend, give money to, and volunteer in churches is between 56 and 59 years old. Read that sentence again…consider the implications. Barna goes on to say: “If you consider yourself a Christian, then you are called to follow His example and create the future.” [iv] The research underpinning David Kinnaman’s most recent book, You Lost Me – Why Young Christians Are Leaving Church and Redefining Faith emphatically points out that young Christians are leaving the Church in unprecedented numbers. Marcia Pally of NYU declares the following in her new book, The New Evangelicals: “The Divine may be omniscient and infallible, but religion as practiced in this world is a human institution….Religion, as it is practiced, is both adaptable and corruptible, as are all (human) social, political and economic systems.”……[v] Hmmmm…hear a narrative? A theme?

 Cuz God Said So…?

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once said: “In politics if you want anything said, ask a man. If you want anything done, ask a woman.” [vi] Blogger/Author/Writer/Creative Thinker…and activist  -  Pam Hogeweide of Portland Oregon writes:

“Most of my readership are disenchanted Christians who are sorting out what’s really real to them in their faith and what’s dogmatic conditioning from religious rhetoric and traditionalism. The perspective of women in the church by their men, and particularly the perspective of women of themselves is still in the grip of an archaic, hierarchical mindset that keeps women quietly busy serving in the kitchen or the nursery. But not the pulpit or the lecterns where only men can teach the faithful. It is unfathomable to the people I know here in Portland who are not Christ followers when they learn of the gender inequity that is alive and well in the halls of Christendom. “Really?” they ask,   “In this day and age?” [vii]

 Even in Islam, the role of the full participation of Muslim women is a lightening rod, as Irshad Manji points out in her book, The Trouble with Islam – A Muslim Calls For Reform in Her Faith:

“Girl’s can’t lead prayer.”

“What do you mean?”

“Girls aren’t permitted.”

“Why not?”

“Allah says so.”

“What’s His reason?”

“Read the Koran.”

Really? In this day and age?

Back Pain?

 Enter Jim Henderson and his new book The Resignation of Eve – What if Adam’s Rib is No Longer Willing to be the Backbone of the Church? This book is filled with riveting interviews with Christian women, whom (as a whole) George Barna refers to as the backbone of the church. (p. xvi). According to Barna, between 1991 and 2011:

1. Adult women attending church during any week has declined by 20%.
2. Women attending Sunday School has plummeted by 29%.
3. The percentage of remain who are characterized as “unchurched” has risen by 94% during this period.
4. More than a third of all women are now unconnected from the church.
5. Most weekly church attenders are women (53%) – and they bring their families.
6. Most church volunteers are women (57%).
7. Women are the majority in terms of attendance of adult Sunday school programs (59%).
8. 60% of those who attend small groups or Bible study are women.
9. Due to the demographic data compiled (Barna 2000 study) about the median age (56-59) of women contributing (in every sense) to the Church – women’s active participation in the future of the Church has been characterized as a “dying breed.” (p.252).

Henderson goes onto characterize what he identifies as The Three Faces of Resignation – resigned to, resigned from, re-signed. For Henderson, he makes a well-informed observation: “leaving doesn’t mean walking away; more often it means showing up without being present.” (p.7).

 The interviews and summaries of the same by the author are superbly crafted. They represent women who live or have lived at least one of the “Three Faces of Resignation” denoted above. (truth be told, one may exist in one of Henderson’s stages in degrees, if you will. In one’s lifetime, one may live through multiple stages). These interviews will make you think, shift in your seat, squirm, spontaneously blurt out “What” at least twice during your reading – and require you to contemplate the clear opportunity/necessity for change. Finally, the women whose interviews are contained in the book are precious children of God, just like you and I, whose lives are being shaped by the tenets of their respective faith persuasion. Some are “fine with it,” – others – not so much. Henderson does a splendid job of integrating interviews that flow with his evolving thesis throughout the book.

If the Apostle Paul happened to be Mary in The Bible, I sincerely doubt that The Resignation of Eve would have been written. We would likely be faced with another book — perhaps a few books with titles like: “The Anomie of Adam,” “Adam’s Angst,” “The Flight of Fred,” or “The Plight of Peter.”

The Heart of The Matter

Lyons and Kinnaman say “We are at a turning point for Christianity in America. If we do not wake up to these realities….” Kinnaman’s most recent book clearly raises the warning that young Christians are leaving the Church in unprecedented numbers. Barna’s research points out the fundamental, strategic importance of women as the backbone of the church. The demographic data alert us to the dying breed characterization. Unfathomable, as Hogeweide recounts?

 Henderson ends the book with three questions that truly must cause one to pause:

 What if our perception of God’s heart is far too narrow? What if His heart is wider and higher than we’ve been taught to imagine? What if God’s ways really aren’t our ways.” (p.276).

After reading this book, I couldn’t help but respond aloud to the author’s three questions, “Yes! Yes! Yes!”

The challenge that The Resignation of Eve presents is, to use the words of Eugene Peterson, “akin to skillfully setting a compound fracture “sets” this belief in God into our behavior before God so that the bones — belief and behavior – knit together and heal.” [viii]

 After all, “the energy of reconciliation is the dynamo at the heart of the universe.” [ix]

 Buy this book. Discuss it with friends. Use it as a staple or supplement in your small group. Ask your pastor to recommend it to your church family. This book is timely, terribly important and was not created to sit on a shelf after a thorough reading – you can’t simply devour this book, leave it and walk away. Showing up without being present just ain’t gonna cut it anymore. This book should have a warning label: “NOTICE: The consumption of this book will cause the reader to act upon the heartfelt reflex to reflect upon reconciliation. Side Effects: May cause enlargement of your heart, stir your redemptive imagination, identify a fracture between your beliefs and behavior, and promote the onset of healing an enduring malady that continues to infect the hearts and minds of His Church.”

 Reconcile your heart to that.

NOTES

From where Reggie and I sit, here’s our annual ranking of The BEST BOOKS of 2011. (photography by Bill Dahl 2011).

As I have said before, I read approximately 100 books a year. 2011 was an exception for several reasons:

1. I read some MONSTER volumes re: U.S. history – inhabited with microscopic print. Digesting these behemoths takes time.
2. I have experienced an unanticipated, disruptive, enduring health issue.

(In any event..I read dozens and dozens of books in 2011 – I follow a very strict discipline NOT to review books I don’t care for) The result of this annual process was the following ranking (1= BEST)  by Category:

I.                  Faith & Culture Category – Non Fiction

1. Naked Spirituality – A Life With God in 12 Simple Words by Brian McLaren – HarperOne  New York, NY

2. You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving Church and Rethinking Faith: – by David Kinnaman – BakerBooks Grand Rapids, MI

3. Practice Resurrection – a conversation on growing up in Christ - by Eugene Peterson (a 2010 publication I didn’t get to until 2011) – Eerdmans Publishing Grand Rapids, Cambridge, U.K.

4. God Without Religion – by Andrew Farley – BakerBooks Grand Rapids, MI

5. Love Wins – by Rob Bell – HarperOne

6. The Sword of the Lord – The Roots of Fundamentalism in an American Family by Andrew Himes – CreateSpace

7. Healing The Heart of Democracy by Parker J. Palmer – Jossey-Bass

8. The Cause Within You – by Matthew Barnett and George Barna – Tyndale/Barna

9.  Stumbling Toward Heaven – On Cancer, Crashes and Questions by Mike Hamel – CreateSpace

10. The New Evangelicals – by Marcia Pally – Eerdmans Publishing

        II.                   Fiction

1. Matterhorn – by Karl Marlantes – Grove Press New York, NY

2. The Ambition – by Lee Strobel – Zondervan

III.    Public Policy/Socio-Cultural Commentary/Investigative Reporting

1. Reckless Endangerment – How Outsized Ambition, Greed, And Corruption Led to Economic Armageddon by Gretchen Morgenson & Joshua Rosner – Times Books

2. The Evolving Self – A Psychology for the Third Millenium by Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi – Harper Perrenial

3. Boomerang – Travels in the New Third World by Michael Lewis – W.W. Norton & Company

4. That Used to Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back by Thomas Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum – Farrar, Straus and Giroux

5. The Social Animal by David Brooks – Random House

Bill Dahl’s – THE Best Books of 2011

1. Naked Spirituality – A Life With God in 12 Simple Words by Brian McLaren…simply THE BEST BOOK of 2011. A treasure.

2. The Evolving Self – A Psychology for the Third Millenium by Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi – I have a personal discipline – For every 5 books I read, one of those books MUST be at least five years old. This one was published in 1993. READ IT TODAY.

3. You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving Church and Rethinking Faith: – by David Kinnaman

4. Reckless Endangerment – How Outsized Ambition, Greed, And Corruption Led to Economic Armageddon by Gretchen Morgenson & Joshua Rosner

5. Practice Resurrection – a conversation on growing up in Christ - by Eugene Peterson (a 2010 publication I didn’t get to until 2011)

6. God Without Religion – by Andrew Farley

7. Love Wins – by Rob Bell

8. That Used to Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back by Thomas Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum.

9. The Social Animal by David Brooks

10. Matterhorn – by Karl Marlantes

 Honorable Mention in my Top 10 for 2011 — just because it’s so darn good….

CLASSICS – Enduring Contributions to American Literature – Read in 2011. Please consider at least one of the following for your reading in 2012:

In 2012, I hope you will make an intentional choice to read some of the titles I have identified in my Best of 2011 and a “classic” – as identified above.  Please keep me posted on what your insights and recommendations.

 Blessings to you and yours in 2012.

READERS:Make sure to leave comments/questions in the dialogue box at the end of the interview…

Futurecast: What Today’s Trends Mean for Tomorrow’s World

George Barna – Bio excerpt below from The Barna Group

After graduating summa cum laude from Boston College, Barna earned two Master’s degrees from Rutgers University. At Rutgers, he was awarded the Eagleton Fellowship. He also received a doctorate from Dallas Baptist University. He lives with his wife (Nancy) and their three daughters (Samantha, Corban, Christine) in southern California. He enjoys reading novels, watching movies, playing guitar, and relaxing on the beach.

Questions from Bill Dahl are in red. George’s responses are in this color.

Here we go:

1. How are you and your family? Any major strategic initiatives on the horizon for 2011 in your professional life?

A: Life is good, God is better. Like many families, we have our ups and downs. Our children all have health issues, so that produces various forms of stress and hardship but we do our best to work and pray through that. If nothing else, those challenges keep us looking to God for strength and wisdom – which is an under appreciated gift in itself! Generally, though, we’re fine. When you have the opportunity to travel to countries where people are challenged in so many ways, where they lack the opportunities and blessings we take for granted, it puts things into perspective. We can whine about the high cost of health care and other daily challenges, but we are blessed to live in a country where great medical care, among other things, is available.

As for strategic initiatives, this year we launched the Maximum Faith Project, which focuses on my research concerning how God transforms people’s lives. I think it’s perhaps the most significant research I’ve ever done. 2012 will entail more emphasis on getting that information in people’s hands to facilitate more people experiencing all that God has in mind for them.

2. “Changing one life at a time” is a theme of your book. Yet, mass-production of disciples seems to be the dominant model in North America. How do leaders facilitate this change in their respective community of believers?

A: In some ways the mass-production model is another reflection of the American Church accommodating the culture. Americans are fed – and blindly accept – the notion that success is based on bigger, better, faster. I think a more biblical understanding of success is about deeper, simpler, truer. So perhaps the shift in our disciple-making strategy needs to start with how we define success. In a church setting, success is not about higher attendance, bigger budgets, expanded programs, hiring additional staff, or building out more square footage. Jesus didn’t die for any of those things. He died for us to invite Him to completely transform our lives, moving from sinners infatuated with the ways of the world to forgiven followers of Christ who live only to honor and obey God and pursue His agenda.

Metrics are a critical part of this discussion. Most churches measure some outcomes, but often they are irrelevant outcomes. What we measure is important because you get what you measure. If you measure attendance you’re going to focus on becoming a megachurch. If you focus on budget, you’ll emphasize tithing and budgeting. If you measure program availability, you’ll be focused on the breadth of offerings, sufficient staffing, adequate attendance in each program, and the like. We won’t actually begin to approximate the biblical Church until we begin measuring indicators of transformation. The best way to do that is to evaluate the increase in the fruit emanating from people’s lives.

The central message from Maximum Faith addresses this challenge. That research shows that there is a ten-stop journey God moves through with us. The purpose of the journey is to enable us to become lovers of God and other people. Life, in that sense, is all about our relationships. So how do we change the current programmatic emphasis in churches? Redefine success and facilitate behavior and experiences around what’s important. We have to place less emphasis upon irrelevant measures and instead focus on the things that represent irrefutable evidence that God is at work in a person’s life. To get there we need to focus on coaching individuals in how to grow from one stop on the journey to the next, rather than simply winning the attendance award and graduating from another program. The bottom line is about who we are becoming rather than what we have achieved or what we know. The goal is holiness, Christ-likeness, wholeness – not churchliness or wall-to-wall religious activity.

3. In the early part of the book Futurecast, you speak about the new degree of uncertainty and the deterioration in hope and optimism (in the U.S.) – These conditions typically cause human beings to go into survival mode…the foxhole posture – vs. embracing new forms of behavior that focus on the needs of others (“your desire and ability to bless people”(p.25). “The inconsistency between how people see themselves and how they behave” (p.12) has become more pronounced. What can leaders do to make people aware of this “disconnect” and initiate change to bridge the gap?

A: Our behaviors reflect our beliefs. Four out of five adults call themselves as Christian, yet less than one out of five identify first and foremost as Christian in their mind and heart. Two out of three adults claim to be spiritual, yet barely one out of ten says their faith is the most important component in their life. For the millions of Americans for whom being a Christian is a statement of religious preference rather than the essence of their identity, despair and pessimism is a reasonable perspective. In that frame of mind, this world matters more than anything, and their own performance on this planet is of paramount importance to shaping their identity, their well-being, and their hope. A devoted follower of Jesus, however, lives for His purposes and sees this life within a bigger frame of reference. Such an individual understands the imperfections of this world and our lives, and instead places their hope in the eternal future with God.

Leaders have the opportunity to help people shift their life emphasis from accomplishments in this life to investments in the life that will occur after they die. This speaks to how individuals define purpose and success in life. Most Americans, including born again individuals, do not possess a biblical worldview so they behave in ways that suggest what we experience here on earth is the sum total of reality, with a helping of fire insurance thrown in for safety. Helping people to adjust their frame of reference is critical.

Developing a biblical worldview is more critical now than it has been at any time since we’ve been alive. With secular perspectives becoming more pervasive, even within the church body, making such a worldview practical and integrated into the fabric of their being is crucial. That requires a substantial change in how most families, schools, churches and Christian organizations teach people and help them remain accountable for the things they say they believe. It’s also vital that we do this more effectively among children, since that’s when our worldview forms and it’s difficult to change after it has been formed and embraced.

4. Much of the research you cite involves the issue of the “belief in opposites.” It appeared to me that this is the source of where the “hypocrisy” label hung on Christians comes from? Can you elaborate?

A: A lot of the confusion I describe in Futurecast is not so much new as it is now more widespread and touches a broader range of life dimensions. Examples of the confusion and resulting contradictions abound. For instance, people maintain that marriage is important yet they have become accepting of cohabitation and divorce. Most Americans claim they are deeply concerned about the moral decline in the US, yet their own moral values are slipping. People bemoan the loss of the common good yet they pursue personal advantage and benefit whenever possible. Born again Christians say that they have been saved by Jesus yet a large percentage also says there are ways to eternal salvation apart from Jesus. Tens of millions of adults still pursue knowledge but only trust experience. It is increasingly common for people to demand respect, yet they act with incivility toward others. People extol the virtues of tolerance, but harbor islands of intolerance in their life. Most adults emphasize the importance of good parenting but treat their opportunity to invest consistently in their children as a secondary responsibility. You get the drift.

So, yes, some of this may be the source of people calling Christians hypocrites, but really it’s a problem endemic to almost every segment of our population. I don’t think we can attribute this deficiency to any single factor. It occurs in response to a number of cultural and personal transitions, such as the dismissal of moral absolutes, the demise of trust in leaders, people’s unwillingness to live within moral and civil boundaries, and the acceptance of religious pluralism. People in America are distracted by countless options and overwhelmed by information, resulting in nonsensical, individualistic responses to the circumstances they face. Without the moral standards that have traditionally been in place, everything is up for grabs.

5. You have, for many years, used certain measurement devices to evaluate the degree, and typology of a “Christian” in North America/U.S. These measurements have been fully disclosed by you and typically are associated with the definition of what has been heretofore referred to a “biblical worldview.” I have a question related to this. On page 124 you write: “There must be a connection between claiming the name of Jesus Christ and one’s lifestyle and choices.” One thing I see missing in today’s social research measuring tools as applied to the area of Christian faith, are tools that measure one’s transformation – from the standpoint of the individual respondent – as well as – from someone else (a spouse, friend, co-worker, neighbor etc). The measurements would be unequivocally biblical…an increase in the last year in your ability to love, to forgive, to tolerate, to behave compassionately, to invest your time in the care of elders, the sick or the disadvantaged etc. Can you comment on your perception of the value of these types of measurements? Is it possible to measure a biblical worldview through new measurements of a biblical lifestyle?

A: I think what such measurements would reflect is more than possession of a biblical worldview, and more so one’s progress in the process of transformation. I agree that we need a completely different set of metrics. If you study what Jesus examined in His interactions with people, He showed less interest in their beliefs than their behavior. Why? Because behavior is the proof of what you believe. Satan may say one thing but his actions demonstrate what he really believes in right or significant. Satan knows the right answers but behaves in contrast to what he often leads people to believe. He may whisper particular lies to us but his actions give him away.

It’s the same with us. Your worldview is important because you do what you believe. Your behavior, not your statement of faith, is what gives you away. And that’s why Jesus said He wanted to see the fruit.

So as I look at how things are evaluated in churches and individual lives, I think the measures we tend to rely upon reflect what we think of as success or significance in this life. Churches emphasize attendance, money, programs, staffing, and square footage. Jesus didn’t die for any of those. As individuals we tend to measure physical comfort, interpersonal acceptance, financial security, happiness, stellar health, and image. Jesus didn’t die for any of that, either. The problem is that you get what you measure. That being the case, it’s no wonder America is infatuated with megachurches, big homes, popularity, and the like. Those kinds of outcomes simply reflect what we contend is important.

Through the Maximum Faith research I realized that at each stop of the transformational journey, you are a noticeably different person than you were at prior stops. The only way to know, though, is by the fruit you produce. I have been encouraging people to pay attention to what they produce because you cannot produce stop 7 fruit if you’re currently living at stop 3. You cannot produce stop 9 fruit if you’re still at stop 2. The fruit you produce relates closely to how much you have cooperated with God in allowing Him to transform you.

So I think the kinds of measures that examine beliefs and knowledge are helpful insofar as they help us understand what underlies behavior. Religious knowledge for the sake of knowledge is rather meaningless, perhaps even counterproductive.

6. You make the statement (p.183): “Loyalty as a cultural value has seen its best days come and go.” Wow! What are the implications of that observation as it relates to creating and maintaining a life dedicated to Jesus Christ as one’s Lord and Savior?

A: In some ways, the product of that reality upon our spiritual condition is already visible. People no longer believe it is necessary to belong to a church or group of believers for an extended period of time. Denominationalism is dead. Families are being divided and reformed with regularity. People feel comfortable with the notion that there are multiple gods. A majority contends that all of the major faiths teach the same basic principles.

A true relationship with Jesus Christ demands that you make a permanent and singular commitment that will not waver or change based on circumstances or emotions. When people live in a culture that celebrates freedom, independence, change, experimentation, randomness, and emotions rather than commitment, responsibility, stability, consistency, and logic, it is almost inevitable that their inclination would be to view all relationships as utilitarian, maintaining them only as long as they feel they are getting sufficient benefit and having to expend minimal energy and resources to keep it going. That’s not how a relationship with the God of all creation works.

Having said all of that it’s important to recognize that there is a bit of a counterbalance that provides a ray of hope. America’s ongoing love affair with postmodern thought and behavior does place a greater emphasis upon experiences and relationships, so while people are less likely to buckle down and really study the scriptures or church history, they are at least more open to the notion of developing a relationship with the living God, and having an array of encounters and shared moments with God.

7. Can you elaborate on what your research shows about the rise in the American consumption of media (in ALL its forms) and the ability of one to “read” books or “study” material — or pray regularly/extensively – that is a critical component of “lifelong learning” — and a fundamental element of growing in Christ?

A: We are an entertainment-obsessed, distraction-loving, attention-challenged nation. We read an average of one-third of any book we start before discarding it in favor of some new option that has caught our ear or eye. The media have now trained us to “analyze” reality on the basis of sound bites and video clips. Instead of examining pages of newsprint or magazines, we now examine 140 characters on a mobile phone screen. USA Today was chastised as journalism lite when it began; today it is the norm. Newspapers are going under in favor of simpler, quicker, easier sources of information. News is what the Kardashians had for dinner. Amazingly, the content drawn from talk radio exchanges and from the late-night talk show monologues have become the primary news sources for millions of people.

All of this has resulted in a growing tendency for people to feel adequately versed in a topic once they grasp a few themes or dominant concepts. Memorization is looked down upon in society as a simplistic, empty-headed learning tool. Students often believe that the object of studying a subject is simply to pass a test or write a paper. The idea of “learning” is being redefined.

On the other hand, educational institutions that are tracking with these changes are discovering that it is possible for peoples’ interest to be sparked and maintained if the new learning tools can be properly used. I don’t think we’re entering an era in which people will be heavily inclined to use traditional study guides or attention traditional classroom-style learning options. However, Americans remain a somewhat inquisitive bunch, so if we can harness some of the new tools and use them responsibly, it is reasonable to expect that the current state of biblical illiteracy may not get worse. Will we rapidly transition to identifying and intelligently using the new tools of the trade? That remains a big “if.”

8. What are the two most troubling trends you are most concerned with, as identified in Futurecast?

People’s disinterest in and failure to diligently pursue transformation on God’s terms. The rejection and abandonment of absolute moral and spiritual truth.

9. It seemed to me that your two most recent books, Futurecast and Maximum Faith – play off of one another…that perhaps Maximum Faith is a response to the realities revealed in Futurecast. Can you comment on this?

I do think they help interpret each other. Futurecast provides the cultural context for why understanding God’s transformation process described in Maximum Faith is so critical – and why so few people are willing to go through the fullness of that process. On their face, the books seem very dissimilar, but there is a useful interplay between them.

In the past I’ve often heard people complain that my presentations about current trends caused them to feel discouraged – that the data presented were too pessimistic. My typical response is that accurate trend data is neither optimistic nor pessimistic; they are realistic, and it is your response to those realities that provides a sense or hope or despair. I think Futurecast fits snuggly within that framework. The book contains some harsh and startling views on the present and future. But what makes those views hopeful or hopeless is the nature of your trust in God, your commitment to changing those conditions, and the depth of your belief that God can do miraculous and mighty things through you and others.

At the same time, I think the portrait of society painted in Futurecast is made more bearable by the process of transformation described in Maximum Faith, which reminds us that we start changing the world by cooperating with God in His transformation of us, first. Knowing the nature of the journey, what the stops along the way require, and what to look for as evidence that God is at work in our lives and that we are working effectively with Him, provides enormous help and hope. It starts by understanding that you are not responsible for changing everything of dubious value or character that’s described in Futurecast; you only have to get your life right with God and give Him total access to your mind, heart, body, and spirit. When you do so, then He is able to affect the world through you, one life at a time, as He chooses, on His schedule and utilizing His resources. And suddenly things are no longer overwhelming, there is great hope for the future, and perhaps even a sense of excitement and anticipation.

Thank you George!!! Best wishes from our family to yours for 2012…and our deepest expression of gratitude for your ongoing, inspiring contributions in 2011.

Needless to say, America is struggling through difficult times.

Enter George Barna and FUTURECAST. At his own admission, Barna has a new perspective on a fundamental element seemingly overlooked or currently missing as a key to the “spiritual health” of America…a return to “the way Jesus did things – changing one life at a time.”

In the first part of the book, Barna characterizes the distinct changes that have become resident in America since 2007: loss of illusory wealth, heightened uncertainty, a decline in hopefulness (optimism), fear, etc.

Barna cites a “polarization within the American population regarding moral and spiritual matters that boils down to an inconsistency between how people see themselves and how they behave. (p. 11-12). Furthermore, he characterizes this phenomenon in this way: “Americans have become comfortable maintaining a belief in opposites.” Translation: saying one thing and behaving contrary to that verbal utterance.

The book delves extensively into the issues of American family life, attitudes and values, media,technology and entertainment, Religious beliefs, Religious behavior, Institutional faith, Demographics and a conclusion that “Together we can redirect these trends.”

Frankly, there is much that is new in this book. To attempt to summarize it here would be a task that I become weary even contemplating. THIS IS A BOOK WORTHY OF STUDY.

As a point of full disclosure, my personal library contains almost every book George Barna has ever published. I find both the research that his writings synthesize so succinctly, – and the heart of a man who cares passionately about the spiritual health of this nation – unavoidably essential reading.

Trained as a  sociologist in graduate school with a focus on social research and survey research, The Barna Group’s work has had an intellectual and spiritual attraction for me. HOWEVER, that’s not to say that I agree with everything Barna has to say.

FUTURECAST highlights one of the truly problematic issues faced by social researchers attempting to measure Christian America’s spiritual health. As Barna states on page 124:

“there must be a connection between claiming the name of Jesus and one’s lifestyle and choices. Yet, it appears that millions of self-described Christians are more like Lincoln’s five-legged dog: They embrace the title without backing it up with visible proof of their allegiance.”

Asa Barna’s protege David Kinnaman has stated in hs book unChristian – What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity – And Why It Matters: “We can’t change what we are known for unless we change how we live.” (p. 231).

The two appear to be of one mind on the theisi of changing one life at a time. Listen to the following from David Kinnaman’s most recent book, You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving Church and Rethinking Faith:

“We are at a critical point in the life of the North American church; the Christian community must rethink our efforts to make disciples. Many of the assumptions on which we have built our work with young people are rooted in modern, mechanistic , and mass production paradigms. Some (though not all) ministries have taken cues from the assembly line, doing everything poissible to streamline the manufacture of shiny new Jesus-followers, fresh from the factory floor. But disciples cannot be mass produced. Disciples are handmade one relationship at a time.” (pp.12-13).

Yet, here’s the challenge I referred to several paragraphs above regarding the measurement of an individuals spiritual state:

1. If you know that the verbal responses you receive from those you interview  varies distinctly and significantly from their behavior – has the degree of the reliability of the findings you are reporting been compromised?

2. Answer to # 1 above…”No, not if you are measuring their behavior as well and thus, have a basis for comparing verbal responses to actual behaviors.”

3. Yet, there’s a third possibility that Futurecast brought to light for me: Perhaps we are at a point where new methods of behavioral data collection are essential and helpful in measuring the “faith equation” for human beings.

FUTURECAST cannot be accurately characterized as “just another condemnation” of Christianity in America, the Church or self-proclaimed Christians. It’s a gut check, a reality check – not simply painting a brutally truthful, yet hard to swallow reality (that’s what prophets do you know); but a treatise that contains solutions to the conundrums so identified by the years of research Barna meticulously sorts through and interprets for the reader.

Finally, one would be remiss to recognize the sheer dedication of the author, as evidenced by his book (also published in 2011 by George Barna) entitled Maximum Faith – Live Like Jesus – Experience Genuine Transformation. It’s in this volume where Barna reveals the results of research that show, “Of all the adults who make a profession of faith in Christ – that is, they become “born again” – there is surprisingly little to show for the effort. On numerous occasions Jesus talked about the fact that you can tell Christians by the spiritual fruit they bear, but the data suggest that just one out of every ten adults who accept Jesus as their Savior make any substantial changes in their spiritual routines.” (pp.25-26)….”It’s time to acknowledge that the institutional, programmatic approach to facilitating true faith is as broken as it can get – much more broken than the people being numbered among God’s chosen one’s.” (p.185).

My suggestion: Read Futurecast before you read Maximum Faith. Actually, Read them BOTH. You really can’t get the entire picture of picture of the challenge and the solutions being defined by George Barna unless you do! Claim to Be A Christian? Grab BOTH these books today.

George Barna – A bold and courageous man, eminently gifted,  who believes all things are possible – with Jesus Christ.

a. Reckless Endangerment – How Outsized Ambition, Greed, And Corruption Led to Economic Armageddon by Gretchen Morgenson & Joshua Rosner,

b. Futurecast – What Today’s Trends Mean for Tomorrow’s World by George Barna,

c.Healing The Heart of Democracy by Parker Palmer,

d. God Can’t Sleep by Palmer Chinchen,

e. The Power of Mindful Learningby Ellen Langer,

f. Falling Upward by Richard Rohr,

g. Herself by Madeleine L’Engle,

h.Manias, Panics and Crashes – A History of Finanncial Crises by Charles P. Kindleberger,

i. Growing Up Before You Grow Old by Charles Wear,

j. Baldwin – Collected Essys by James Baldwin,

k. Tiger Trap by David Wise,

l. Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes,

m. Prophet of Innovation, by Thomas K. McCraw,

n. Haunting Legacy by Marvin Kalb & Deborah Kalb

Unfortunately, I don’t have enough time to review them all. However, I enjoyed them all. You will too.

“ALL IN….”

Barna, George Maximum Faith – Live Like Jesus, Metaformation, Inc. Ventura, CA & Strategenius Group, LLC New York, NY and WHC Publishing, Glendora, CA Copyright 2011 by George Barna.

Richard Foster has written: “We need voices of dissent that point to another way, creative models that take exception to the givens of society. Obviously, prophetic simplicity runs the risk of excess; but the danger is no greater than the excess of the status quo.” [i] Enter George Barna who takes his seat at the table of The Tournament of Christian Spiritual Transformation. For Barna, this is an elimination tournament with billions of players – the outcome is eternal.

In Maximum Faith – Live Like Jesus George Barna doesn’t pull any punches;

“the research indicates that only a handful of people make serious progress on the journey to wholeness.” (p.8) “Of all the adults who make a profession of faith in Christ – that is, they become “born again” – there is surprisingly little to show for the effort. On numerous occasions Jesus talked about the fact that you can tell Christians by the spiritual fruit they bear, but the data suggest that just one out of every ten adults who accept Jesus as their Savior make any substantial changes in their spiritual routines.” (pp.25-26).

Barna is ALL IN

Other than summarize and the data that Barna has derived and scoured, Barna has decided the to call the bluff of the purported players at the table of the ‘Christian community.’ This book is Barna’s “ALL IN.” He’s pushed ALL his chips to the center of the table. He’s not sitting back smugly waiting for your bet or your bluff. There are tears flowing down this man’s face. He’s sobbing. It’s authentically heartfelt. His arms are lovingly outstretched toward all the players at the table –  begging us to go ALL IN with him.

Examine Your Hand

Barna asks pointed questions like a well informed odds maker; “So if God provides us with a plan (in scripture) and the power (through the Holy Spirit) to become a full transformed person, why then is it that more than 80 out of 100 Americans call themselves Christian, yet only 1 out of every 100 are broken, surrendered, submitted and loving?” (p.36) — He’s asking each player to take another look at our hand – whattya got?… Really…?

The second section of the book revolves around Jennifer – a character Barna has developed to illustrate the real-life application of the principles and process he is recommending. He is forthright, pointing out; “Keep in mind that transformation is a process, not a simple formula that produces the desired outcome every time.” (pp. 155-156)….examine your hand.

Calling The Bluff

In the third section of the book, Barna demands that we “Roll Up Our Sleeves.” He implores us to consider the implications of maintaining a straight faced bluff with God: “The emptiness or frustration you feel reflects your failure to partner with God to grasp the meaning, purpose, wisdom, character and fulfillment He intends for you to have. Don’t instigate (or continue to maintain) a Watergate-sized cover up.” (p.157).

Getting Real

Leaning forward over the poker table, Barna lifts his dark glasses from his eyes. They are filled with tears. He sorrowfully states the following:

“It’s time to acknowledge that the institutional, programmatic approach to facilitating true faith is as broken as it can get – much more broken than the people being numbered as God’s chosen ones.” (p.185). “Programs don’t change people – God does.” (p.190).

New Rules

Barna is adamant that “tinkering with the current popular approaches that have proven to be inept at producing transformation will continue to put people in harm’s way.” Translation: The current game of Christian spiritual transformation produces vastly more losers than winners.

In 2001, co-authors George Barna and Mark Hatch made the following written prediction in their book, Boiling Point: Monitoring Cultural Shifts in 21^st Century Christianity “Around mid-decade we expect to see a nascent grassroots movement from within the Christian community to reintroduce people to the idea of living in accordance with a biblical worldview and discovering how to get there,” including values and lifestyles that reflect the same.”[ii) Well, it’s well past “mid-decade” and the research indicates that the odds of playing the game of Christian transformation by the same old rules – continues to produce a lousy outcome for all concerned.

For George Barna in Maximum Faith - Live Like Jesus, this is serious business. This is no game. The outcomes are eternal. George Barna is ALL IN. Yet, uncharacteristically, he reaches for the pile of chips he has pushed to the center of the table and distributes equal stacks of chips to all at the table. His desire is for all to win. He doesn't want your chips.

He reclines in his seat, having freely given away all his chips and concludes with the following heartfelt invitation: “A revolution is built one person at a time. It starts with you. If you want to make a difference in the world, start with yourself.” (p.198).

“It’s your call….”

I was blessed by this book.

NOTES:

[i Foster, Richard J. Freedom of Simplicity, HarperSanFrancisco, San Francisco, CA Copyright 1981 by Richard J. Foster, p. 135.

[ii] Barna, George & Hatch, Mark Boiling Point – Monitoring Cultural Shifts in 21^st Century Christianity, Published by Regal Books, A Division of Gospel Light, Ventura, CA Copyright © 2001, p. 94

Inspiration, hope, help, the hands and feet of God at work…this book will change you – indelibly – for the better. Just serve somebody…A truly phenomenal work of authentic reality among us…a fresh breeze – soar on it — I AM!

Well…I have to be honest. When I received this book in the mail, I dropped all my other reading to devour it. When I finished (July 1st 2009), well — it’s now the end of August and what I want to say about this book required some digestion — almost two months of digestion.

First and foremost, an admission: I am and have been for almost 20 years a consumer of George Barna’s research, writing, public speaking enagagements and his take on the state of the Christian, Christianity and the Church in the U.S. More recently, I have become acquainted with the outstanding published work of Barna’s protege (since 1995 and currently President of The Barna Group), David Kinnaman. Kinnaman’s book – UNchristian – What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity and Why It Matters remains, in my opinion, the pre-eminent synthesis of reliable research illuminating the challenges for the Christian, Christianity and the Church in the U.S. in the 21st century.

What I observed in The Seven Faith tribes that I had not recognized is Barna’s forty odd other books in print is the following:

1. Patriotism and Nationalism – Heck, the first chapter is entitled, “America Is On A Path To Self-Destruction.” Personally, I share a similar sense of patriotic fervor toward this great nation. Furthermore, I share the author’s hope for a bright future and an emergence from the myriad of ills this nation is currently struggling with. However, I have never witnessed Barna write about these issues as the guiding lenses through which he appears to interpret the implications of body of research he is grappling with. This is not a value judgment – simply an observation.

2. A Call for Inter-faith Cooperation and Understanding – As BarnaBarna summarizes the thesis of the book in the following:

“Rather than asking the various faith tribes to accept the unacceptable, I am advocating that they admit they possess significantly different worldviews but within the framework of those worldviews lies a base of values that we can all agree upon. The power of those shared values constitutes the glue that can hold this country together.” (p.111)

Wow! a died-in-the-wool evangelical calling for inter-faith understanding, a consensus on shared values, and an admonition to create “a new narrative together“:

The American Narrative is outdated; now is an opportune time to construct a new story about our views, values and vison (p.203) – break down barriers between faith tribes (p.203) – build bridges of trust and respect among the tribes (p.204) and encouraging cross-tribal interactions (p.204).”

Folks like Eboo Patel have got to be jumping for joy reading Barna’s words excerpted above!

3. A Distinct Sense Of Urgency – As Barna States in the final chapter, “A Vision For Restoring America“:

“The future of America is at stake. The future can best be advanced by the efforts of our faith tribes. Play your role in the process to help restore vitality to America. Your life, and that of millions of other people, will be better for it.” (p.205).

As I “digested the above,” I came to several conclusions, after reviewing, re-reading sevral segments of the book again, on more than one occasion. These include the following:

a. Barna’s work has always been prophetic – His observations and calls for action typically precede the awareness of most people. Remember, from a biblical perspective, the vast majority of people ignored prophets. However, for a prophet to be considered prophetic, the prophecies espoused by the prophet would have to be correct. The exhortations of George Barna, recorded in print throughout his career, merit prophetic consideration. The Seven Faith Tribes volume, his most recent, merit perhaps his most heartfelt clarion call.

b. Courage – It takes guts to author a work like this one, particularly when it is laden with issues that include ethnicity, belief systems, value attribution, socio-economic, socio-political, geo-political and terribly personal calls for change…dynamic change…supernatural change — no matter what faith tribe you may deem yourself affiliated with (or not).

As Barna points out, the challenge for this country are not “process problems, as much as they are people problems.” (p. 196). He calls for healing the heart of this nation, envisioning a new America and illuminates the fundamental and indispensible role of America’s seven faith tribes in this process. He shares the words of Robert F. Kennedy in 1968, when Senator Kennedy was faced with the task of informing a gathering in Indiannapolis of the assasination of Dr. Martin Luther King:

“What we need in the United States is not division, what we need in the United States is not hatred, what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black.” (p.195).

Barna asks:

“Forty years later, what progress have we made toward the goals the Senator set forth that day?”

Barna’s – The Seven Faith Tribes – Who They Are, What They Believe, And Why They Matter is a present day wake-up call that progress in the United States requires the coming together for people of all different faith persuasions to:

“rise to the occasion during times of crisis. In such perilous moments, a nation’s future demands that it dig deep into its soul and draw on a reservoir of moral and spiritual strength to do what is right.” (p. 197).

Prophetic? Well, that depends upon what you do with what you hear.

Listen to Barna in this book. Act upon what he admonishes each of us to do…individually and collectively.

Surrender is a verb.

]]> http://www.billdahl.net/book-reviews/book-review-the-seven-faith-tribes-by-george-barna/feed/ 0 http://www.billdahl.net/articles/the-omegabet-rolling-the-dice-on-emerging-christianity/ http://www.billdahl.net/articles/the-omegabet-rolling-the-dice-on-emerging-christianity/#comments Sun, 02 Nov 2008 17:55:18 +0000 bill http://72.47.237.50/?p=475

Venice Beach, Calif., is recognized as the birthplace for bodybuilding in the U.S. In ten years, it may be renowned as the location where a new body of Christ was born. At present, there is a tremendous amount of wagering going on within the Christian community in the U.S. about what the next form of Christianity will look like. It’s a huge gamble. The stakes are enormous. It’s the Omegabet.

In 2001, co-authors George Barna and Mark Hatch made the following written prediction in their book, Boiling Point: Monitoring Cultural Shifts in 21^st Century Christianity “Around mid-decade we expect to see a nascent grassroots movement from within the Christian community to reintroduce people to the idea of living in accordance with a biblical worldview and discovering how to get there,” including values and lifestyles that reflect the same.[i]

It’s 2005, mid-decade on my calendar. There is concrete evidence that whatever is oozing out of mainstream Christianity to contribute to this emerging form, Orange County and southern California are providing some of the essential ingredients.

Enter Newport Beach, CA resident Spencer Burke, a former pastor at Mariners church and talented photographer. Burke has spent over twenty years in traditional ministry environments, in a variety of denominations. He focuses his energies today contributing to encouraging the definition of the emerging church movement.

Burke was the host of this weeks fifth-annual Soularize:A Learning Party, in Venice Beach, Calif. Attended by roughly one hundred people from all over the U.S., and conferees from as far away as South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

THEOOZE began in 1998 and boasts an international surfership of tens of thousands of users in over ninety countries. The site provides a safe place for people to network, ask questions, share resources, and learn from each other about the issues facing the emerging Church…the nascent grassroots movement bet placed by Barna and Hatch.

How has the Barna/Hatch bet paid off? After spending three days this week at the Soularize convention, I’m conflicted. Burke suggests that www.theooze.com and Soularize function as “a support group for crazy people in their garages. Individuals who are struggling to fit in their churches and understand how the cultural shift affects their faith. I laugh about it, but it’s actually true and you know what? I think it’s needed. There’s something wonderfully freeing about knowing that you’re not the only one.”

All kidding aside, I developed a tremendous respect for everyone I met this week at Soularize. I left this conference changed by the people I encountered. I was refreshed by the fact that I had been around a diverse group of people for three consecutive days, who referred to themselves as Christians, and I wanted more. Perhaps this is what is oozing out of mainstream Christianity, contributing to the essence of it’s emerging form. I hope so.

This bookmaker will pay on the nascent grassroots movement/alpha portion of the Barna/Hatch wager. The return to saner values and lifestyles part of the bet? Well, those dice haven’t been rolled yet. Burke’s bastion has maneuvered their way into a very crowded, raucous table game. They’ve got the dice. They’re discussing some new rules for the game amongst themselves at the moment, pinging the pit boss with their ideas. All joking aside, this is serious business. The impact may be eternal.

My money is on theooze crew. I’m all in: The Omegabet…betting on an unpredictable outcome when the rules of the roll have yet to play out.

What have you got to lose? Check out what’s oozing out of emerging Christianity.

Photo From: http://www.flickr.com/photos/29772064@N02/2990790423/

What’s Cookin in Christianity’s U.S. Kitchen?

or

Chef Barna’s State of the Church

What’s Cookin?

If you’re wondering wassup within U.S. Christianity, it’s a good idea to sample the fare George Barna cooks up every couple of years. His most recent entrée is entitled, The State of the Church: 2005.[i] The Barna Group has served the results of this same survey, using the identical methodological measuring cup over the last fifteen years. The last time I devoured the results of this dish was in 2002. At that time, the menu item was called The State of the Church 2002[ii]. (Have you noticed that the name of a dish that has demand from the clientele doesn’t change?). Chef Barna’s research, writing, films and prophetic exhortations are as eagerly awaited and talked about by the U.S. Christian community as any new recipe Wolfgang Puck or Martha Stewart come up with. Let me explain.

The Taste Test

As I unwrapped the package from the UPS driver, something was distinctly different in terms of presentation. In 2002, the survey results and attendant discussion were encased in a book, I mean, a real paperback book with a nice navy blue cover and a picture of the chef on the back. There’s more vanilla in this year’s version. The 2005 edition is served up in 8.5 x 11 format with a plain white cover and black letters. On the face of it, I thought the 2005 version might be less appetizing than 2002. Instead of judging the fare solely by presentation, I decided to take the 2002 version out of the freezer and heat it up so I could perform a taste test between it and the 2005 version. Here’s what I came up with:

Return On Investment:

In 2002 Barna wrote, “It is quite astounding that although Protestant and Catholic churches have raised  – and spent – close to one trillion dollars on domestic ministry during the past two decades, there has been no measurable increase in one of the expressed purposes of the church: to lead people to Christ and have them commit their lives to Him.”[iii]

In 2005, the Chef states, “Nothing is more numbing to the Church than the fact that it is mired in a rut of unfathomable depths. The various creative approaches attempted over the course of this decade have drawn much attention but produced little, if any, transformational impact.”[iv]

The bottom line is that the spirituality served up in the name of Christ in the U.S. is distinctly unproductive and unprofitable. Some churches have remained largely unchanged while others have changed the ambiance, the music, the lighting, added video screens, pastors, elders, and websites. Others have embraced bigger buildings with different architectural features. Some have turned to new delivery systems, serving up their products via seminars, books cd’s, dvd’s, live television and training by subscription satellite broadcasts. According to Barna, no matter what the Christian retail outlets have done to attract customers and change them by virtue of how or what they consume, there appears to be no measurable transformational effect on their behavior, after dining in these establishments over a period of time.

It’s expensive to run a business like this, particularly when what one is serving up has eternal consequences. If the “church” in the U.S. was a publicly traded company on the NASDAQ or NYSE, there would be a shareholder revolt, SEC and Congressional investigations the likes of which would dwarf the outrage we witnessed over Enron. We would be toast.

Diners don’t revolt over the appearance of the menu. They simply stop coming in because of existing management, the fare, the help, the other diners or the atmosphere. Word of mouth kills restaurants. They tell their contacts about their last supper. The friends, co-workers and acquaintances of diners avoid these places without ever having set foot there. Are you getting steamed yet?

Marketshare:

In 2005, Barna states, “The nation’s population growth has fostered an expansion in the number of people who avoid churches.”[v] The Chef estimates this figure to be 100 million customers in the U.S. A figure he says is growing by one million annually.

In 2002, Barna suggested that there are greater than 300,000 Protestant and 20,000 Catholic churches in the U.S. He contrasts this with the 50,000 post offices and 15,000 McDonald’s that serve our nation. He writes, “the church has less impact on our culture than any of those less prolific entities, despite missions that are much less significant or compelling.”[vi]

Hmmm…I guess the old “location, location, location” mantra has fallen to the wayside here. Imagine having a business with 320,000 locations in the U.S. amidst a population of over 100 million customers who have never sampled the fare, and you can’t seem to break the cycle of those folks consciously avoiding your locations. In fact, their numbers are increasing.

Again, if the church were a publicly traded company, I can assure you that the Board of Directors would be screaming for an immediate “corporate restructuring” that would likely require the immediate downsizing of the existing physical plant, sweeping changes in strategic plans, and a wholesale housecleaning of present management. Perhaps it’s time to act upon the agenda of the shareholders within the Christian franchise who agree with Barna that, “We have learned that maintaining the status quo serves neither God nor the people He loves.”[vii]

When your franchise’s performance is benchmarked against the U.S. postal service and your outfit comes out on the short-end, perhaps it’s time for a change. There is a very vocal, well-regarded cadre of authors, theologians, academicians and laypeople who now agree that: “Christianity cannot survive in anything like it’s present form.”[viii] Chef Barna remains at the forefront of this movement adorned with the same sandwich board and megaphone he has used for the past twenty-five years.

The remainder of this article will examine this necessity for change issue within the U.S. Christianity franchise by focusing on current customers, existing management, the fare, the help, the other diners and the atmosphere. The oven is now pre-heated.

Current Customers

In business, one often hears the phrase that there is no more effective form of advertising than your current, satisfied customers. The U.S. Christianity franchise has attempted to sell the truth that “if you eat here regularly, you will become Christ like.” Unfortunately, according to Chef Barna, nothing could be further from the truth in terms of actual, verifiable, behavioral outcomes.

In 2002, Chef Barna wrote, “We witness a born-again population that is indistinguishable from the rest of the nation – and has very little credibility when it comes to promoting genuine Christianity…At some point, poor products come back to haunt the producer. Welcome to the haunting time.”[ix] In 2005, the sentiments of the chef remain unchanged. He suggests that, “people sleepwalk through their religious paces, oblivious to the fact that many of their beliefs and practices dishonor God.”[x]

It seems that the aroma that oozes from the pores of the professing Christian consumer is actually repelling others rather than attracting them. Something does not pass the smell test here. Perhaps the conundrum of the Christianity franchise is captured in a quote from Princeton University’s Professor of Philosophy Emeritus Henry G. Frankfurt, in the following: “For the essence of B.S. ( abbreviation is mine ) is not that it is false but that it is phony…What is wrong with a counterfeit is not what it is like, but how it was made”[xi]

If this section has got you into a rolling boil, simmer down a little. However, don’t even think about putting this article on the back burner.  There’s no way that we can overlook the fact that the people Jesus had the least patience with were the people who said they represented God but didn’t.

It appears that we must turn our attention to the current cooks in the kitchen, or those who prepare the fare.

Existing Management:

Chef Barna’s evaluation of the cooks in the kitchen in 2005 is characterized as follows: “The Church suffers from a debilitating absence of visionary leadership.”[xii] In 2002, Barna slices and dices it up this way: “They are incapable of motivating and mobilizing people around God’s vision. They fail to direct people’s energies and resources effectively and efficiently. The Church suffers for this absence of genuine leadership.”[xiii]

Wow! I have been an executive for several FORTUNE 500 companies during my business career. If Barna’s findings were ever printed on a management performance appraisal, you would be leaving the Human Resources office with your car keys in one hand and your final check in the other.

This management issue within the U.S. Christianity franchise is one that has been baked, basted and reheated a number of times. It’s a tough issue to digest. If something is well-done, it’s difficult to tenderize it back to a more appetizing state of medium or medium rare. Perhaps the difficulty is centered in the fact that the church has morped into an institution that is focused on survival from it’s original intent as a movement that transforms people. As one author says, “institutions preserve culture, while movements create culture.”[xiv]

May I speak to the manager?

The Fare

Maybe we have been eating our own fare for so long that we still think it’s the best around, while the tastes of other diners have changed. No matter how we package what we’re selling the results are, at best, discouraging.

I guess there may be some truth to the adage that you are what you eat. As my mother always said, you must eat the right things in the correct portions on a regular basis. For those who routinely dine at the Christianity franchises in the U.S., Chef Barna’s research results suggest that it’s time to change our eating habits.

In 2002, Barna spices things up a bit with statistics on our dining habits regarding the staples of the Christian diet. In regard to prayer, he says that “most people who pray do so at least once a day; the total amount of time spent in prayer per day is less than five minutes,” most commonly a quick grace uttered before a meal and then requests for stuff we want for ourselves.[xv] Regarding church attendance, the vast majority of Christians do not attend church every week.[xvi] Less than half of us graze on God’s Word outside of a church service each week ( However, In N Out Burgers print Scripture on the bottom of their cups in California and some people might believe this is actual Bible reading outside of a church service. Thus, the figures for actual, authentic Bible reading may be inflated here.). Volunteering at church has remained relatively constant over time at around 24%. Less than one in five Christians are involved in a small group, one quarter attend Sunday school and as a group, we have “no heart or stomach” for evangelism.[xvii]

The results above indicate that consuming Christianity cafeteria style leads to an unbalanced diet and impaired spiritual health for the individual Christian, and the body of Christ in the U.S. The reputation and integrity of the entire Christian franchise has become impaired.

For some reason, I’m losing my appetite.

The Help

The serving work within the Christianity franchise in the U.S. is still primarily accomplished through the efforts of paid professionals. As one author says, “laypeople have been a theological afterthought throughout the history of the church.”[xviii] Another suggests: “The Church began with men in the upper room agonizing and today is ending with men in the supper room organizing.”[xix] Chef Barna’s assessment indicates “tens of thousands of churches are woefully out of sync with the people they most want to seek, save, serve and send.”[xx]

All the evidence suggests that the vast majority of U.S. Christians are more interested in being served than serving. As Barna wrote in 2001: “We serve others when we must, but few believers have a love of serving people; our culture has seduced us into loving to be served instead of committing ourselves to meeting the needs of others.”[xxi]

According to Chef Barna, the figures for the laity volunteering at church are relatively constant at 25% from 1991 to 2005.[xxii] In terms of our tipping the help (if that’s what it is), Barna reports that only 4% of Americans actually tithe ten percent or more of their income (although a far larger percentage say they do).

We continue to struggle with the language barrier in serving those around us. Barna writes, “Can’t you just hear a non-believer, visiting your church, struggling to make sense of your jargon-filled, bet-you-can’t-penetrate-this language?”[xxiii] Imagine going into a new restaurant and the patrons and help were all speaking a language you didn’t understand.

How do we change this distasteful recipe? According to Barna, “The impetus to change and the creative focus and force reside among the frustrated masses, not the distracted professionals.”[xxiv] Others experts agree suggesting: “The church of the future will be shaped from the bottom up rather than the top down.”[xxv]

For the foreseeable future, Barna recognizes the growth among those who “are disassociating from churches because they want more of God, not less, and feel that the local church constrains them from being whom God has called them to be.”[xxvi]

It appears people losing their appetites for dining out in our franchise.

The Other Diners

I don’t enter establishments with large motorcycles parked out front and a history of drunken fistfights among the patrons. Why? The nature of the clientele that is known to frequent a particular establishment is an important consideration for many prospective diners. People listen to and observe the lives of those who claim the name of Christ by virtue of “the day to day ideas, conversations, choices, and activities of individual believers in the workforce, the marketplace, the halls of leisure and other public forums.”[xxvii] As one author states, “Will Christians increasingly embarrass themselves by fighting with each other in public?”[xxviii] In 2002, Barna wrote: “Once we clean up our act, our lives will become a pleasing fragrance not just to the Lord but also to those around us on Earth.”[xxix]

If you say you have the best steak in town, you better have just that when people show up expecting it. We are under observation by other diners within the spiritual marketplace. As chef Barna says, “Americans are not about to patronize and institution which appears incapable of living what it preaches.”[xxx]

Throughout Barna’s career, he has been consistent in maintaining that “American Christianity has largely failed since the middle of the twentieth century because Jesus’ modern-day disciples do not act like Jesus.”[xxxi]

It’s time to reevaluate walking the talk.

The Atmosphere

The mainstream secular media has a tendency to highlight extremes. As it relates to the atmosphere within the U.S. Christian franchise, the media focuses on dismal failures and success characterized by size. In terms of success, the media would lead one to believe that the franchise is building larger venues to accommodate overall corporate growth. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Barna’s research results reveal that: “Many people believe that churches are large and growing because of the focus on the megachurches. The truth is that only about 2 percent of all Protestant churches have 1,000 or more adults attending in a typical week. Most churches are small – and getting smaller.”[xxxii] In 2005, Barna finds that “the size of the church a person attends has no correlation with their views on the Bible’s accuracy.”[xxxiii]

As far as more retail outlets are concerned, Barna said in 1998 it’s time to “reevaluate the advisability of spending the billions of dollars presently being raised for the construction of new buildings, parking lots, and other institutional monuments.”[xxxiv] Another author agrees saying, “The church compares itself to a business and becomes preoccupied with numbers and statistics. Ultimately, the work of the church becomes institutional maintenance and survival, not spreading the gospel.”[xxxv]

I get the distinct feeling from Barna’s life’s work that it is not more locations and larger walls that we require. It is more and better bridges filled with fully equipped patrons dedicated to serving a hurting world empowered solely by the love and grace they have received from Christ.

Why would you want to super-size this?

Summary:

As we have throughout the history of the United States, we are presently confronted with a tremendous opportunity captured in the question George Barna and others have posed for many years: What must be done now, to shape a better destiny? It’s time to confront the truth. As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “To be honest is to confront the truth. However unpleasant and inconvenient the truth may be, I believe we must expose and face it if we are to achieve a better quality of American life.”[xxxvi]

For the Christian community in the U.S., a community that purports to have all the answers, perhaps it’s time for confession: We need help…supernatural help. Now. Instead of continuing to manage an appearance of having everything together, maybe it’s time to admit we are struggling with an insufficient answer: “One of the moral diseases we communicate to one another in society comes from huddling together in the pale light of an insufficient answer to a question we are afraid to ask.”[xxxvii] For those stakeholders in the U.S. Christianity franchise one question must be: “What’s wrong with us?”

To have the courage to ask such a question, one must humbly acknowledge the existence of an unsatisfactory answer. In the last 25 years, there has been one voice that has been consistently courageous enough to confront the question and dedicate his life’s work in relentlessly evangelizing the awareness of an inadequate answer, including immediate changes to present unproductive practices. A second question to ponder is when will we begin to take stock of the ingredients that make up the flavor of the bouillabaisse served up in the name of Christ by our franchise in the U.S. today?

Since 1982, George Barna has been a prophet eloquently advocating at every shareholder meeting of our franchise proclaiming: “Yet, the severity of the problems facing the faithful cannot be a valid excuse for delaying a sincere, wholehearted effort to overcome the obstacles to corporate righteousness.”[xxxviii] For Barna, like most prophets, maybe “the hardest part is not envisioning the end but living in the sluggish in between.”[xxxix] Thus, another question we must ponder is why don’t we hear the present day prophets of the Almighty when His leading is written all over our lives? As written by Barna in 1990, he asks: “Is it a Christian virtue to ignore God’s handwriting on the wall?”[xl] What’s your answer?

A biblical prophet has been characterized as “not one who sees into the future, as stargazers and crystal ball readers purport to do. Rather, he’s one who sees things in the present that others are blind to. And a prophet is one who warns us of what will happen in the future if we don’t mend our ways.”[xli] I am reminded of the footnotes in my Bible in Jeremiah chapter 23. Jeremiah lived most his life being mocked by people. Jeremiah was called by God to bring the people to repentance. The footnote goes on to state: “But this sad news was the truth. If they would have accepted it, they would have had to repent and turn to God. But because they did not want to do this, they rejected Jeremiah’s message. Have you ever rejected a message or made fun of it because it would require you to change your ways? Before dismissing someone who brings sad news, look carefully at your motives.”[xlii]

George Barna has been the executive chef performing the taste tests in Christianity’s U.S. kitchen for a long time now. Yes, he’s older and wiser than when he began his life’s work. There’s no indication he’s becoming weary, changing his tune or losing his voice. There are holes in the knees of his pants though. A quote from author Philip Yancey captures the essence of the results of George Barna’s work on the State of the Church in 2005 when he says, “Dependence, sorrow, repentance – a longing to change. These are the gates to God’s kingdom.”[xliii]

Perhaps it’s time for a new posture, one where we join George Barna on our knees and rise after confession and prayer to confront the reality of the inadequate answer…together.

Please pass the salt.

Notes:

[ii] Barna, George The State of the Church: 2002, Published by Issachar Resources, a division of Barna Research Group, Ltd., 5528 Everglades Street Ventura, CA 93003 Copyright © 2002 by George Barna.

[iii] Barna, George The State of the Church: 2002, Published by Issachar Resources, a division of Barna Research Group, Ltd., 5528 Everglades Street Ventura, CA 93003 Copyright © 2002 by George Barna p. 63.

[iv] Barna, George and The Barna Group The State of the Church: 2005, Copyright © 2005 by George Barna and The Barna Group, 1957 Eastman Avenue, Ventura, CA 93003 p. 51.

[v] Barna, George and The Barna Group The State of the Church: 2005, Copyright © 2005 by George Barna and The Barna Group, 1957 Eastman Avenue, Ventura, CA 93003 p. 8.

[vi] Barna, George The State of the Church: 2002, Published by Issachar Resources, a division of Barna Research Group, Ltd., 5528 Everglades Street Ventura, CA 93003 Copyright © 2002 by George Barna p.130.

[vii] Caldwell, Kirbyjon & Kallenstad, Walt with Sorensen, Paul Entrepreneurial Faith – Launching Bold Initiatives to Expand God’s Kingdom, WaterBrook Press, A Division of Random House, Inc., Copyright © 2004 by Kirbyjon Caldwell, Walt Kallenstadt and Paul Sorensen, p. 1.

[viii] Jenkins, Philip The Next Christendom, Oxford University Press, New York, New York  Copyright © 2002 by Philip Jenkins p. 9.

[ix] Barna, George The State of the Church: 2002, Published by Issachar Resources, a division of Barna Research Group, Ltd., 5528 Everglades Street Ventura, CA 93003 Copyright © 2002 by George Barna p.128.

[x] Barna, George and The Barna Group The State of the Church: 2005, Copyright © 2005 by George Barna and The Barna Group, 1957 Eastman Avenue, Ventura, CA 93003 p. 50.

[xi] Frankfurt, Harry G. On Bullshit, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ Copyright © 2005 by Princeton University Press, p. 47.

[xii] Barna, George and The Barna Group The State of the Church: 2005, Copyright © 2005 by George Barna and The Barna Group, 1957 Eastman Avenue, Ventura, CA 93003 p. 50.

[xiii] Barna, George The State of the Church: 2002, Published by Issachar Resources, a division of Barna Research Group, Ltd., 5528 Everglades Street Ventura, CA 93003 Copyright © 2002 by George Barna p.131.

[xiv] Marti, Gerardo – A Mosaic of Believers – Diversity and Innovation in a Multi-Ethnic Church, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, IN Copyright © 2005 by Gerardo Marti p. 86.

[xv] Barna, George The State of the Church: 2002, Published by Issachar Resources, a division of Barna Research Group, Ltd., 5528 Everglades Street Ventura, CA 93003 Copyright © 2002 by George Barna pp.26-27.

[xvi] Barna, George The State of the Church: 2002, Published by Issachar Resources, a division of Barna Research Group, Ltd., 5528 Everglades Street Ventura, CA 93003 Copyright © 2002 by George Barna p.14.

[xvii] Barna, George The State of the Church: 2002, Published by Issachar Resources, a division of Barna Research Group, Ltd., 5528 Everglades Street Ventura, CA 93003 Copyright © 2002 by George Barna p.37.

[xviii] Lakeland, Paul Liberating the Laity – In Search of an Accountable Church, The Continuum International Publishing Group, Inc. New York, NY Copyright © 2002 by Paul Lakeland, p. 184.

[xix] Ravenhill, Leonard.  Why Revival Tarries, BethanyHouse Minneapolis, Min © Copyright 1959 by Leonard Ravenhill p. 155

[xx] Barna, George The Second Coming of the Church – A Blueprint for Survival, WORD Publishing – A Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. Copyright © 1998 by George Barna, p. 131

[xxi] Barna, George Growing New Disciples – New Strategies for Producing Genuine Followers of Christ, WaterBrook Press, Colorado Springs, CO a Division of Random House, Inc., Copyright © 2001 by George Barna p. 83.

[xxii] Barna, George and The Barna Group The State of the Church: 2005, Copyright © 2005 by George Barna and The Barna Group, 1957 Eastman Avenue, Ventura, CA 93003 p. 14.

[xxiii] Barna, George Ten Years Later – Personal Lessons From a Decade of Life, Research and Ministry, Published by Barna Research Group Ltd. Glendale, CA Copyright © 1992 by George Barna p. 145.

[xxiv] Barna, George The Second Coming of the Church – A Blueprint for Survival, WORD Publishing – A Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. Copyright © 1998 by George Barna, p. 176.

[xxv] Gallup, George H. Jr. and Lindsay, Michael  The Gallup Guide – Reality Check for 21^st Century Churches, Group Publishing, Inc. Loveland, CO Copyright © 2002 by  George H. Gallup Jr. and D. Michael Lindsay P. 17

[xxvi] Barna, George and The Barna Group The State of the Church: 2005, Copyright © 2005 by George Barna and The Barna Group, 1957 Eastman Avenue, Ventura, CA 93003 p. 53.

[xxvii] Barna, George When Leadership Becomes a Struggle, You Feel Like A Fish Out of Water – 9 Strategies to Maximize Your God-Given Leadership Potential, Integrity Publishers, A Division of Integrity Media, Inc. Brentwood, TN Copyright © 2002 by George Barna, p. xxvi.

[xxviii] Wuthnow, Robert Christianity in the 21^st Century – Reflections on the Challenges Ahead, Oxford University Press, New York, NY Copyright © 1993 by Robert Wuthnow, p. 10

[xxix] Barna, George Grow Your Church From the Outside In, Regal Books – A Division of Gospel Light Ventura, CA Copyright © 2002 by George Barna, p. 160.

[xxx] Barna, George The Frog In the Kettle – What Christians Need to Know About Life in the 21^st Century, Regal Books – A Division of Gospel Light, Ventura, CA 93006 Copyright © 1990 by George Barna p.137.

[xxxi] Barna, George Think Like Jesus – Make The Right Choice Every Time. Integrity Publishers, A Division of Integrity Media, Inc. Brentwood, TN Copyright © 2003 by George Barna, p. 40.

[xxxii] Barna. George & Hatch, Mark Boiling Point Regal Books, A Division of Gospel Light Ministries, Ventura, CA  Copyright (c) 2001 by George Barna and Mark Hatch p. 238

[xxxiii] Barna, George and The Barna Group The State of the Church: 2005, Copyright © 2005 by George Barna and The Barna Group, 1957 Eastman Avenue, Ventura, CA 93003 p. 34.

[xxxiv] Barna, George The Second Coming of the Church – A Blueprint for Survival, WORD Publishing – A Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. Copyright © 1998 by George Barna, p. 178.

[xxxv] Dick, Dan R. and Burry, Evelyn M. Quest- A Journey Toward a New Kind of Church, Discipleship Resources, Nashville, TN Copyright © 1999 by Discipleship Resources P. 19.

[xxxvi] Scott-King, Coretta The Words of Martin Luther King Jr. NewMarket Press, NY, NY Copyright © 1964 by the Nobel Foundation and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. p.89

[xxxvii] Merton, Thomas No Man Is An Island, Published by Barnes & Noble, Inc. New York, New York by arrangement with Harcourt, Inc., Copyright © 1955 by The Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani, Copyright renewed 1983 by the Trustees of the Merton Legacy Trust, p. xiii.

[xxxviii] Barna, George and McKay, William Paul Vital Signs – Emerging Social Trends and the Future of American Christianity, Crossway Books, a Division of Good News Publishers, Westchester, Ill., Copyright © 1984 by George Barna and William Paul McKay p. 144.

[xxxix] Marsh, Charles The Beloved Community – How Faith Shapes Social Justice From the Civil Rights Movement to Today, Basic Books – A Member of the Perseus Books Group, Cambridge, MA Copyright © 2005 by Charles Marsh, p. 5.

[xl] Barna, George The Frog In the Kettle – What Christians Need to Know About Life in the 21^st Century, Regal Books – A Division of Gospel Light, Ventura, CA 93006 Copyright © 1990 by George Barna p.21.

[xli] Colson, Charles in Foreword to Schaeffer, Francis He Is There And He Is Not Silent Tyndale House Publishers, Wheaton, IL © 1972 p. ix

[xlii] Footnote – Jeremiah 23:33-40 Life Application Study Bible, New International Version, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Wheaton, Illinois and Zondervan Publishing House Grand Rapids, Michigan Copyright © 1991 by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. p. 1332.

[xliii] Yancey, Philip The Jesus I Never Knew, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI Copyright © 1991 by Philip Yancey p. 114.