[sonrise57]

I would love some of you who know about this subject, especially those who are religious professionals to comment on this artile. Is it just me or is Barna consitently negative about the prospects of the Church?

[Illbay]

Which "church?" There are over seven hundred Christian denominations in the United States alone, and they all teach something different.

Many of the "evangelical" ones are headed by some charismatic soap-salesman whose visage is plastered on huge, oversized billboards all around town, and who upon his death passes the baton to his son, the one with the identical toothy grin.

Evangelical Christianity has run its course. You can't base an entire religious movement strictly on emotion; people don't work like that. The disillusionment was inevitable.

[RnMomof7]

I am no professional But as a believer I am sick of the chuch marketing itself..

I believe if it is of God it will prosper. I fear this goes to the idea that the salvation of a man depends on the correct circumstances or the right music or the right message

This is Gods church..we need only be faithful and HE will build HIS church

[don-o]

Great find, sonrise. Thanks for posting it.

I read it all. It is clear that Mr. Barna, through his life work has discovered something important. His mileu is in Evangelical Christianity; but the failure of all expressions of Christianity to impact on our current slide into irrelevance needs some looking at.

I liked the point made about the reaction off 9/11, when chuches were packed for two or three weeks. When nothing else happened, folks went back to their usual routine.

I wonder about those Easter and Christmas Christians, who felt it proper and even necessary, to be in church on the Sunday after 9/11.

Why did they go to church then?

And what did they come away with?

And why do they not come back?

[DittoJed2]

His statistics bear out his negative reaction- however, something that is alive and vibrant does not need revival. God sends revival to a church that threatens to become a corpse. He always has, and He always will.

[P-Marlowe]

Every time someone tries a new marketing formula for Church Growth it is likely that the effort is going to fail. The problem is that if such a marketing formula works, then the credit is given to the formula.

The secret to church growth is simple. If your church follows this formula, then whatever method you use to bring people to the Lord will work. It's guaranteed. That formula is:

Act 2:47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

BTW the Lord is not looking for "leaders" to run his church. He is looking for followers.

[retoocs]

Personally I agree with Barna on the complacency of the church as a whole in America. I am a 46 year old pastor at an 87 year old congregational church. I have been its pastor for the last 1 1/2 years and I have witnessed first hand the spiritual shallowness of a people who are 70 to 90 years old, acquiescing to the liberal left of Christianity (if there really is such a thing as a liberal left Christian). It all falls back on the leaders. We have leaders (pastors-teachers) who have totally abandoned Christian doctrine and treat Scripture as if it were not all the very Word of God. Where Barna separates leaders from teachers, I put them both in the same category. I don't think you can have a good "leader" in a church if he is not also a good "teacher" of the Word. The two go hand in hand. It takes a steadfast, solid, uncompromising teacher to be able to lead the people down the right path Biblically, yet as he "Leads" there are always those who don't want to follow, regardless of the fact that he is teaching the Word accurately. The problem lies not only with effective leadership, although one must try his best to succeed at that, the problem lies in the heart of the people who for the most part are complacent in their Christianity, largely due (in my opinion) that they are more horizontally focused, rather than vertically focused.
Many Christians want Christ on their own terms without having to give up their time, talents, or money. The old saying is so true, "5% of the people in the church do 95% of the work." Granted there are those who do good things that are unseen, but those same people ought to be more "Body of Christ minded" rather than going about their Christianity with a "lone ranger" mentality. I know there are churches that are going great guns and the majority of the people are focusing on being a genuine disciple of Christ, but as for the majority of the country . . . I say Christians who really are Christians need to be reading the Word every day and living out what they read. God's Word says, "By their fruits you shall know them." If I wanted genuine fruit I'd have to go grocery shopping at the churches that do not compromise the Word of God and do not acquiesce to political correctness, which are few and far between. We have far too many pastors who for the sake of "unity" are compromisers and affable glad-handers in the community. Jesus was the opposite of that.