Thursday, December 01, 2005

The faith Revolution is Upon Us


A Faith Revolution Is Redefining Church, According to New Study by the Barna Group For many in the Kingdom of God this will not come as a surpise or Revelation. For many It will be either be a shock because they would not see it or confirmation of what they have seen coming in one way or another.

This article about the book by George Barna comes on the heels of an article in Charisma Magazine earlier this year about 'Drop Out Christians', who want real Life in Christ and are having a hard time finding it in the local Church.
It appears obvious to a growing number of Christians that there is a REVOLUTION going on in the Church (people of God) and there is a desperate need to Equip and mentor these revolutionaries for the adventure ahead of them.

Many of today's Seminaries and Bible Colleges are unprepared to Equip these People who will be the Leaders of the Revolution in faith! Not because they lack faith, knowledge or Education but because they are not apart of the revolution and therefore not prepared to lead others where they will not go! Below are some pieces of the article with a link to the Barna Group Site where you can read the whole thing.
The transitioning nature of America's spirituality '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 Americas spirituality, entitled Revolution, describes what he believes will be the most massive reshaping of the nations 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. These are people who are less interested in attending church than in being the church, he explained. A common misconception about revolutionaries, he continued, is that they are disengaging from God when they leave a local church. 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. Big Changes In the Making: One of the most eye-opening portions of the research contained in the book describes what the faith community may look like twenty years from now. He projects that by 2025 the local church will lose roughly half of its current market share. Although there will be millions of people who abandon the entire faith community for the usual reasons hurtful experiences in churches, lack of interest in spiritual matters, prioritizing other dimensions of their life a growing percentage of church dropouts will be those who leave a local church in order to intentionally increase their focus on faith and to relate to God through different means. Seven Passions of the Revolutionary In the effort to increase their obedience and faithfulness to God, Barna discovered that Revolutionaries are characterized by what he identified as a set of spiritual passions seven specific emphases that drive their quest for God and a biblical lifestyle. Challenges and Opportunities While the Revolution brings with it some very promising qualities an intense pursuit of godliness, new networks of believers supporting each other, heightened financial giving to ministry endeavors, greater sensitivity to the presence of God in the world, a greater sense of freedom to be a genuine disciple in the midst of a secular society Barna also pointed out that the Revolution brings great challenges to those who choose that pathway. Barna contends that these are very serious challenges faced by Revolutionaries but that they are no more serious than the threats to the spiritual health of regular church-goers.
This new movement of God demands that there be new forms of leadership to appropriately guide people in their faith journey.
An Introduction to the Revolution
In the course of doing his customary national research studies, he stumbled onto the Revolution. Having been personally frustrated by the local church, I initiated several research projects to better understand what other frustrated followers of Christ were doing to maintain their spiritual edge
Revolution, published by Tyndale House, is what the author calls a brief introduction to the most important spiritual movement of our age. He believes that fifty years from now historians will look back at this period and label it one of the most significant periods in American Church history.
Source of This Material
The Barna Group, Ltd. (which includes its research division, The Barna Research Group) © The Barna Group, Ltd, 2005
http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdateNarrow&BarnaUpdateID=201
To purchase online go to the right side of my site and go down until you see the book's picture and click on it.

It appears obvious to a growing number of Christians that there is a REVOLUTION going on in the Church (the people of God) There is also a desperaterate need to Equip and mentor the revolutionaries. Join the Revolution and Get equipped: http://equippersedge.blogspot.com/

6 comments:

EKENYERENGOZI Michael Chima said...

I will not jump to conclusions.

May the Will of God be done for His Glory to come down and revive us as we occupy ourselves with the assignment of the Great Commission till the Rapture.

Anonymous said...

Perhaps this group has always been there, but went uncounted for lack of research.

Wyrfu said...

It's been happening for at least twenty years. I do find it interesting that it is now big enough to deserve a label, however.

Susan L. Prince said...

Yay!

It's about time!

Susan L. Prince said...

Yay!

It's about time!

Stevie B said...

Preach it brother.

I stumbled across this blog a few times on Blog Explosion, and bookmarked it. I agree whole-heartedly. I've been sick of playing church for years myself, and after spending six months in the Netherlands doing mission work and involved primarily in the house church movement taking place in the West, I'm noticing that there's something about the human heart that enjoys and appreciates fellowship with Christians more than a structured institutionalized service.

My own experience; I've been a part of the same church for nearly 17 years and still don't know people--we only see each other once a week! That's not fellowship. And in recent months I tired of having people introduce themselves to me, mistaking me for a new comer when I've been there for over a decade and a half of my life.

Anyway, a revolution MUST take place in our generation if we're really going to impact the world around us.