Barna's writing a book, untitled and due out next year, about what he calls "the faith revolution." We have, according to Barna, two younger generations coming along who are going to reshape the way we look at our relationship to God and religion. He didn't want to discuss specifics -- wishing to save that for when the book comes out -- but offered some general thoughts.
The form and activities of the church will change, he said.
"The church in 2025 will be much different than the church today," Barna said. "It's going to be a shock to a lot of people. It's going to make them angry that these changes are coming. But they are coming. ...You can't stop it."
Right now, the church is about people coming to a specific place at a specific time.
"That's going to fall by the wayside," he said. "There's going to be a massive shift away from that. They will go to different experiences where they still connect with God and develop their faith."
Those include things such as "house" churches, marketplace ministries, the so-called "cyber church" where people go online for spiritual input and output, and independent worship festivals put on not for a particular church but rather all Christians in a region and featuring, for example, Christian worship music acts such as the David Crowder Band and Chris Tomlin. These types of things, he said, will be the form of religious expression for "tens of millions of Americans."
"We have two younger generations who have a whole different idea of what faith is and the role it plays in a person's life," he said.
Should people be troubled by this? Not yet, Barna said, shaking his head, because "we don't know how it's going to end up."
"The biggest potential problem is the potential for widespread heresy," he said. "Or (in the alternative) it could bring about a renaissance in biblical and religious thought."
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