Catalyst 14: George Barna

From 11/28/06

Barna, of course, is the evangelical polling-research guru. He got his start while working for a secular entertainment company that appraised commercials and other programming for commercial viability. At some point the televangelists used this company but weren't communicating very well with the contacts at the company. Then as overseer remembered that Barna was a Christian - he could speak both researchese and Christianese...and the seeds of a passion were sown.

He's a numbers guy but he also loves to write. His research and his writing have made many see him as a prophet; both for his soul-searching calls to the church, and for the abuse he receives from many who don't appreciate his methods. Here's 3 big takeaways...

Transformation happening outside of traditional church.
Barna got depressed, thinking that the modern church was stuck in a developmental rut. He doubted that transformation was evening happening at a vital level. Of course he researched this and was encouraged that transformation was indeed happening...just outside of the traditional church. Instead of programs and attendance, he found personal relationships and vibrant community to be the biggest indicators of bringing about transformational and alive faith.

Not to go to church - be a church.
I love this. I've heard many say, "the church is not a building, it's people" and they're right on. Barna has a deep love for the non-building church. And his research has backed up what he believes is found in the NT, that church happens when believers live out Act 2:42-29, not when we build a building and sit in pews. Attendance is not what brings about wide-scale Kingdom advance...being the church however, does.

Ignorant of what the church is actually supposed to be.
Barna does not challenge the system simply for the sake of change or to be something new. Far from it. He has concluded what many in the past few years have: that we've confused form and function for too long. And the things is, many are ignorant! They've always experienced church one way, in a certain type of building with a certain type of music with a certain style of prayer and a certain hierarchy of authority. For all many know, pews and organs and wealthy senior pastors and you-name-it are in the Bible!

The beautiful thing about the church that it is like a virus...it can implant itself in any culture. The church does not impose a culture, rather it is beautifully expressed through the myriad of diverse cultures God has created. The church brings values, or functions, but it does not bring forms. In this way God has designed the church to be immortal, every evolving in form to remain relevant in culture, while at the same time never compromising it's values, leaving it concurrently and contradictorily counter-cultural.

It'd be easy to bash those who did this but, one, as the church we must model patience and empathy. Two, it's easy to do! Culture is changing quickly and non are capable of avoiding it's rush. To be faithful then, we must remain in scripture. And Barna does this...he leaves an open invitation for folks who disagree with him to debate - he only asks that they do so from scripture.