Revolution

[Joseph]

This is an interesting article reinforcing what some of us feel. The article came from
saved-by-grace.com. Jane shoud like this!
Joe

A Faith Revolution Is Redefining “Church,” According to New Study

October 10, 2005


(Ventura, CA) – For decades the primary way that Americans have experienced and expressed their faith has been through a local church. That reality is rapidly changing, according to researcher George Barna, whose new book on the transitioning nature of America’s spirituality, entitled Revolution, describes what he believes will be the most massive reshaping of the nation’s faith community in more than a century.

Growth of A New Church

Relying upon national research conducted over the past several years, Barna profiles a group of more than 20 million adults throughout the nation labeled “revolutionaries.” He noted that although measures of traditional church participation in activities such as worship attendance, Sunday school, prayer, and Bible reading have remained relatively unchanged during the past twenty years, the Revolutionary faith movement is growing rapidly.

“These are people who are less interested in attending church than in being the church,” he explained. “We found that there is a significant distinction in the minds of many people between the local church – with a small ‘c’ – and the universal Church – with a capital ‘C’. Revolutionaries tend to be more focused on being the Church, capital C, whether they participate in a congregational church or not.”

“A common misconception about revolutionaries,” he continued, “is that they are disengaging from God when they leave a local church. We found that while some people leave the local church and fall away from God altogether, there is a much larger segment of Americans who are currently leaving churches precisely because they want more of God in their life but cannot get what they need from a local church. They have decided to get serious about their faith by piecing together a more robust faith experience. Instead of going to church, they have chosen to be the Church, in a way that harkens back to the Church detailed in the Book of Acts.”

[Carmen]

I have not heard of a movement by that name yet. Thanks for the tip.

Some recent articles that I have seen about house churches or the unchurched are written to draw pastor's attention to all of us unchurched and uncontrolled believers running about. The usual tone is "that will never do" and "we must get a hold of these people". :eek: There is then usually some sort of promotion for house church literature or the idea of forming cell groups in one's church to avoid people breaking off - of course as part of someone's system - they get the money. One house church movement that I have recently become aware of is just another try at getting the same false doctrine that is spreading in independent and mainline churches to the house church bunch that otherwise may have escaped it. I hope the revolutionaries make it.

[Joseph]

That's a good point Carmen, I didn't look at that angle. I can definitley see them doing that with the cell groups, making it look like they're meeting them halfway and hitting them with the same brainwashing. Good insight, Joe

[Carmen]

I hadn't even taken a look at the whole article, but my intuition was right.

Let us begin with the beginning. Look at the top left hand corner under the title of the site, it says, "Your Partner for Information, Strategy, Execution, & Transformation. I hear the alarm bells going off already.

Strategy and Transformation are two words used often these days in church circles to mean that you must approach witnessing and church more as a business, and that the church is being transformed into......insert popular doctrine.
R. Warren is one of those that likes to use this kind of terminology, among countless others. He urges pastors to look at information like this, statistics and trends to be able to attract the members they are looking for (more members=more tithers=more money).

Okay, lets go further on.... the article talks about those disgruntled with church, like us (although they do not take SA into account). The unchurched are Warren's primary target and he has made this target more popular with other pastors. He is pushing new literature about his small group system. That is why the 40 days program was boxed through, many did the study in small groups that were formed for that purpose and they will likely remain after the program is over. All can continue with their own or more conveniently, with Warren's prepackaged program. How timely! How appropriate! How spiritual! How.....add your adjective.

Now let's look further down the article. Aside from Barna's self-advertising about this research there is a punchline of sorts before the last three paragraphs.

"The explosion of Revolutionaries in the U.S., however, raises new challenges for people involved in ministry. “This new movement of God demands that there be new forms of leadership to appropriately guide people in their faith journey,” Barna said. “It requires new ways of measuring how well the Church at-large is doing, getting beyond attendance figures as the indicator of health. And it demands that new tools and resources be accessible to a growing contingent of people who are seeking to introduce their faith into every dimension of their life.”"

Ah, ha! Now we NEED new forms of leadership to control the unchurched. New ways of gaugeing the effectiveness of ministry are REQUIRED. That must mean more forms of controlling people to freely volunteer information about themselves. Warren uses cards passed out in each service to do this. Information can also be volunteered in small groups. I and my parents used to be in a church with cell groups where information HAD to be given. Those that didn't were frowned upon. Testimonies is another way to get information out of people. The Catholic movement, Focolare, relies heavily on testimonies. Scientology does it with auditing. Most people do things voluntarily in a cult at the beginning, through peer pressure. Faith introduced into every dimension of one's life is just another way to say that self-censorship will be implemented in every area - according to their new paradigm. New tools and resources - that must mean books, tapes, house-church program material and the like - are DEMANDED - and they are aimed at US. :eek: This may be an overreaction to the article and it may not. I am almost through reading and partially analyzing the Purpose Driven Church (is like nails screeching on the blackboard for me).

No, I don't trust these people, but they are worth keeping an eye on. Barna did get something right,

“Many of them realize that someday they will stand before a holy God who will examine their devotion to Him. They could take the safe and easy route of staying in a local church and doing the expected programs and practices, but they also recognize that they will not be able to use a lackluster church experience as an excuse for a mediocre or unfulfilled spiritual life. Their spiritual depth is not the responsibility of a local church; it is their own responsibility. As a result, they decide to either get into a local church that enhances their zeal for God or else they create alternatives that ignite such a life of obedience and service. In essence, these are people who have stopped going to church so they can be the Church.”

That fits me, too. I was in that situation already before this last bout of SA.
I could also add that I was already wary of false doctrine, and that is why I will stay away from many churches and home-churches. Going it alone or with just a few others and winning the race of faith is better than joining a local church infested with false doctrine and losing it.

[profnachos]

Pretty interesting. Thanks for sharing.

Many of us feel very much alone, but this and other things I have seen reinforce that we are not alone even though the establishment does everything it can to make us feel that way.

This is an interesting article reinforcing what some of us feel. The article came from
saved-by-grace.com. Jane shoud like this!
Joe

A Faith Revolution Is Redefining “Church,” According to New Study

October 10, 2005


(Ventura, CA) – For decades the primary way that Americans have experienced and expressed their faith has been through a local church. That reality is rapidly changing, according to researcher George Barna, whose new book on the transitioning nature of America’s spirituality, entitled Revolution, describes what he believes will be the most massive reshaping of the nation’s faith community in more than a century.

Growth of A New Church

Relying upon national research conducted over the past several years, Barna profiles a group of more than 20 million adults throughout the nation labeled “revolutionaries.” He noted that although measures of traditional church participation in activities such as worship attendance, Sunday school, prayer, and Bible reading have remained relatively unchanged during the past twenty years, the Revolutionary faith movement is growing rapidly.

“These are people who are less interested in attending church than in being the church,” he explained. “We found that there is a significant distinction in the minds of many people between the local church – with a small ‘c’ – and the universal Church – with a capital ‘C’. Revolutionaries tend to be more focused on being the Church, capital C, whether they participate in a congregational church or not.”

“A common misconception about revolutionaries,” he continued, “is that they are disengaging from God when they leave a local church. We found that while some people leave the local church and fall away from God altogether, there is a much larger segment of Americans who are currently leaving churches precisely because they want more of God in their life but cannot get what they need from a local church. They have decided to get serious about their faith by piecing together a more robust faith experience. Instead of going to church, they have chosen to be the Church, in a way that harkens back to the Church detailed in the Book of Acts.”

[gwen]

I wanted to bring this thread forward for "aka Michael". You'll be interested in it, based on your new thread that you posted today. When I read your thread, I remembered this one, as it was on the same topic, so here it is...:)