Looking at The Faith Revolution

There have been a lot of comments about George Barna's book Revolution and I wanted to make some additional comments and send you to read another article concerning today's Church.

1. For many Barna's book is old news to some who have been doing Church in many different ways. Barna has discovered some but not all of these who have been doing revolutionary Churches for years.

2. Barna states clearly that He discovered these revolutionary Christians in His research and that he is not forcasting there future existence.

3. He is however saying to those of us leading the people of God that the cloud of God's presence is not stationary and that people want real faith and not mere shadows of what was once alive.

4. I have written and taught in the past that there are many streams that flow from the river of God that flows out from His thrown in His Temple.

In addition Barna does not state these things to bring condemnation but awareness of these trends and hopes to alert us who lead so that we will seek God for the unique way He is building His Church in the towns and cities in which we live to meet the needs of all people groups.

This means that Churches must be prayerful and wise in reaching and ministering to the people around them.

New wine requires new wineskins. Not exactly a new idea but one we often forget.

Later this week I will post another article about The Presence of God and How we are to keep up with what "The Cloud by Day and the Fire by Night." This article will look at the spiritual principles involved in doing Church today.

I believe there are many 'models' of church today which can be effective and that discussion about them is useful in helping us to accomplish the work of Jesus in the earth today. There are also good reasons to give up on models that are not effective and that no longer are allowing us to accomplish the work that Jesus gave us as leaders of the church to accomplish as listed in
Ephesians 4:11-13 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. NASU

Below are a few pieces of an article from the Elijah List by Robert Ricciardelli as a follow on article to Barna's Revolution book. In other words, more to think about.

Please click on the links to read the entire article. http://www.elijahlist.com/words/display_word.html?ID=3630 and http://www.vision2advance.com/

Every Day-Every Way Church
Here are a few highlights.
"In case there are some who still have not seen it, there is a shift going on in our Father's house, inside and outside of the four walls. Most of us realize there is only one church and one body of believers of our Lord. There are many diverse personalities, all wonderfully made in all different sizes, shapes, colors, cultures, and rule books of life. I want to talk about two distinctive segments of the Church of our Lord today."

Nuclear Church
"The term "nuclear" literally means a cluster or nucleus. Many of us have been raised by a cluster or nucleus of a specific denomination. For the most part, the good, bad, and ugly denominational structures have brought many of us to where we are today. We all have been saddened by the liberal shift of some of these structures, as well as the shift of making the gospel of Jesus Christ palatable and un-offensive for all. In some cases, repentance is optional and a profession of Christ, without the true Lordship of Christ, supposedly brings one into the kingdom."

"It is hard for them to see or to understand how to support and partner with the Marketplace Church."

Extended Or Marketplace Church

"This is the body of Christ that operates outside of the four walls of the Nuclear Church, not separate in any way but in application. The Marketplace Church is distinctive but also supportive of the Nuclear Church. The Nuclear Church, for the most part, gathers one day a week, and the Marketplace church is in operation 6 days a week. They are still one church, but they are to a degree, two distinct cultures. They operate out of two different sets of cultural rule books. Before you cast any heretical stones, let me explain."

"It is hard for them to see or to understand how to support and partner with the Marketplace Church."
"Many Nuclear Church leaders still ask of those in the marketplace, "Are you considering to go into the ministry?"

"Ed Silvoso identifies four lethal misbeliefs that minimize the impact of believers in the workplace:
1. There is a God-ordained division between clergy and laity.
2. The Church is called to operate primarily inside a building, often referred to as the temple.
3. People involved in business cannot be as spiritual as those serving traditional Church ministry.
4. The primary role of Marketplace Christians is to make money to support the vision of those "in the ministry."

We Need to Understand the Kingdom of God!
This is where we affirm that the Kingdom of God is not confined to the four walls of the local church. Where is the kingdom of God? Jesus said in Luke17:21, "The kingdom of God is within you."

"God's people are His people seven days a week in many different functions and jurisdictions."

Robert Ricciardelli Vision to Advance http://www.vision2advance.com/