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Churching Alone

Still, Revolution's emphasis on personal choice would make a marketer rejoice and an apostle weep. Barna expects to see believers "choosing from a proliferation of options, weaving together a set of favored alternatives into a unique tapestry that constitutes the personal 'church' of the individual." The phrase "personal 'church' of the individual" must be the most mind-spinning phrase ever written about the church of Jesus Christ. Could it be that we evangelical Protestants, who have done more to fragment Christendom than any other group, are now taking that to the logical extreme: a church at the individual level, each person creating a personal "church" experience? At any other point in church history, "personal church" would be nonsensical. In today's America, it's the Next Big Thing.

Harvard professor Robert D. Putnam argued compellingly in Bowling Alone (Simon & Schuster, 2001) that since 1960, Americans' involvement in social groups and churches has dropped 25 to 50 percent. So we can't help but wonder if this same societal withdrawal from institutions is now bringing us a do-it-yourself church. As Roger E. Olson writes in The Mosaic of Christian Belief (InterVarsity, 2002): "Nowhere in the Great Tradition of Christianity before the twentieth century can one find the uniquely modern phenomenon of 'churchless Christians.'"

Few people have made as many dramatic shifts in life as George Barna. He's moved from Boston to southern California, from a daily-Mass Catholic to a spokesman for evangelicals, from political pollster to leader of a media empire. Revolution signals another shift. Barna's early books (he's written more than 35) promoted Marketing the Church and The Power of Vision, so many perceived him as an ally of the megachurch. But in Revolution, his support for fluid movements and his direct challenge of a statement often used by Bill Hybels ("The local church is the hope of the world") make him now seem a foe of the congregation.

George Barna and I want the same things: devoted followers of Jesus Christ and an advancing kingdom of God. But we differ on how to get there. Barna feels excited about the Revolution and predicts the decline of the local church. I feel neutral about the Revolution, until we begin to see its fruit, and I don't worry about the local church.

In the 1960s and 1970s, when radical movements attracted young people, many predicted the local church was a goner. But today, long after people's hearts have stopped beating fast for the Moonies and Guru Maharishi, down on the corner, Old First Church is still running a soup kitchen. Out by the freeway, New Community Church is still saving a few souls. And over by the university, Journey Emerging Church is lighting a few candles and giving money to alleviate the suffering of aids.

Do you want to become a Revolutionary? First, trade your copy of Revolution for Life Together, the manifesto written by Dietrich Bonhoeffer during the dark days of Nazi Germany. Then, if you want to do heroic and revolutionary exploits, go back to your local church. That's something so spiritually challenging that several million people no longer want to do it.

Kevin Miller, a deacon at Church of the Resurrection in Wheaton, Illinois, is editor-at-large of Leadership.

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