Posted on 11/10/2001 12:08:59 PM PST by anniegetyourgun
MIDDLETOWN, Ky. (ABP) -- Christian researcher and author George Barna doesn't try to make seminar participants feel good about what most churches are accomplishing across the nation. In fact, he does just the opposite. "In one regard, I want to shatter their illusions that everything is fine and the church is healthy and we should just keep doing more of what we're doing," Barna said.
"I don't think that's true at all," he added, citing years of extensive research in the field. "One of the things we've missed is the incredible significance of a life devoted to discipleship. We've turned it into programs and activities."
On the positive side, Barna said he wants to give church leaders "ideas about what to do about the situation."
"I'd like people to have a more objective understanding of the church and our culture today," he explained. "If people think creatively, intentionally and strategically about our ministries, we have some hope."
Barna, who founded Barna Research Group in 1984, said the organization seeks to provide "current, accurate and reliable information" that can help churches and their leaders "make more strategic decisions."
Barna currently is on a 15-month, 54-city seminar tour. He said his research staff spent 18 months conducting more than a dozen national studies involving thousands of participants in preparation for the seminars.
Topics addressed during four 90-minute sessions are rechurching the unchurched, growing true disciples of Jesus, building effective lay leadership teams and ministry evaluation.
Barna said the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks have provided churches "an incredible window of opportunity to minister in America, but that window is not going to stay open very long."
Emphasizing the importance of strengthening discipleship in American churches, Barna asked: "When the crowd comes, how do we deal with them? How are our people interacting with other people" during this time of national crisis?
Describing effective discipleship as "one of the most daunting challenges facing the church today," Barna said, "The church is not making much progress here and it's not getting better because we've become comfortable with what we're doing."
Barna said true discipleship "is effective in transforming people's lives and that's our ultimate goal here." He added, however, "I don't think we've taken this seriously enough."
Warning that "everything in our culture today, morally speaking, is up for grabs," Barna said studies indicate "the differences between Christians and non-Christians is minimal because we act so much like the world. What this boils down to is a discipleship issue."
"We have to be concerned about discipleship that develops character," Barna added. Churches "ought to be doing something deeper that helps people understand what it means to be a Christian in the 21st century."
Effective discipleship can be measured, Barna said, by examining members' involvement in such areas as worship, evangelism, stewardship, service and personal witness to the world.
He said obstacles that keep churches from seeing greater success in discipleship development include:
-- No measurable definition of success in the area of discipleship.
-- A focus on transmitting knowledge more than developing character.
-- Teaching that is random rather than systematic.
-- Limited accountability for members' spiritual growth.
-- Church leaders who are not zealous disciple-makers.
He said keys to effective discipleship include such factors as a clear definition of discipleship, measurable goals, ongoing spiritual self-assessment and widespread participation in intense discipleship opportunities.
"Do you have a model where people's lives are changing?" Barna asked. "What kind of church do
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Otherwise known as 'works'.
So we need to ask how does one become a disciple of Jesus Christ?
Jesus told his disciples
Matthew 28:17And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.
28:18And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
28:19Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
28:20Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, [even] unto the end of the world. Amen.
Jesus sent them out,even in their doubt.He didn't suggest it,He orders it.
The author is correct that too many churches have become self contained country clubs..where you bring someone in to "get them saved"
That was never the command of Christ.He sent them out in two's to give individuals the Good News..He taught them ,prepared them and sent them out.He never told them to bring the lost to Him to hear,they were to tell.
A church is to equip the saints for this work..they are to teach us the word..help us "grow up "into Christ..they are to feed us and renew our strength..they should be there to "put a balm" on the wounds the world inflict....but discipleship is still a one on one call....
If we do not take the gospel into the world who will? We are told
2 Corinthians 3 3 You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
Is our life a letter worth reading by others?
I have gone on here....but every one that names the name of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord is to be a disciple every day,in every place.
We have reduced it to a "program".We say we are going to "train " people
There is never the "right" time..we are never holy enough to do it..we are all more like the disciples that Jesus addressed we have fears and doubts....but we need to press forward to the mark..
BTW The author just sounds like a different program..if you have been seen Jesus ,you don't need a program..it is your hearts desire!
Do I sound deppresed, discouraged? You bet. But do I think this is the end? Heck naw. Even if the church in America dies away as it largely has in Europe, it is growing rapidly in former Communist states and in Muslim dominated lands. This would not be the first down the church has seen. God will prevail-whether or not we in the West will allow him to use us is up in the air.
It is that.
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