On the first day of the New Year it is fitting to look back for one last time and then ask, “Where is the church in America at the end of the first decade of the twentieth century?” There are a number of researchers who seek to measure various trends and developments in the culture and the church. I pay close attention to these because it is my calling to do so.

Los Angeles Lakers' Kobe Bryant  fights for the ball with  Dallas Mavericks'  during the second half of the game at   on  Sunday 7 January  2007 at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Los Angeles Lakers won the game 101 to 98 ARMANDO ARORIZO One person who writes a great deal about trends and themes is the well-known Christian sociologist George Barna. While I sometimes disagree with Barna’s analysis and prescriptions I respect his data gathering and his ability to succinctly inform about trends and changes. There are six mega-themes that Barna highlighted a few weeks ago when he looked back over 2010 and forward to the first decade of the 21st century.

There is nothing new here but it is truly worth reading to galvanize your commitment to missional-ecumenism in the coming decade and beyond. We are not going back to where we were a generation ago. The question now is very clear: “Where are we really going and what role will the church have in shaping the future?” If Barna is right we will have a smaller and smaller role unless we experience a genuine “Christ-awakening” (David Bryant’s helpful words) that brings believers together in a new ecumenism that is rooted in classical and forward thinking Christian faith and practice.

An awakening like those of the American past is not what we need today. This coming awakening must not simply awaken human passion and the moral earnestness of the church, though this is surely needed. This new awakening must move our minds to think Christianly. We have lost our way and Barna’s first point underscores this when he says we have a church that is biblically illiterate. And this awakening must reveal to us that Christ has called us to unity in our relationships with one another. The walls we erected must come down if we are to complete the mission Christ gave to us nearly 2,000 years ago. Our present stance is one of disobedience and a true awakening will correct this radically in my view.

Related Posts

Comments

  1. John Rowland January 1, 2011 at 11:21 am

    John,
    Thanks for this post. These wake-up calls keep coming and things remain the same (or worse). Maybe we need to start from the ground up. One of the first “creeds” was “Jesus is Lord”. Okay. What does that mean in real life? Next, graduate up to something like the Apostles’ Creed. What do each of thos essentials of the faith mean beyond doctrine?
    Instead, we tend to try to prop up the wineskin rather than focus on the wine itself. Each “ism” and each splinter in God’s household has it’s own brand identity to defend while — like the bed of Procrustes — we stretch or cut off things that don’t quite fit with our model. As long as this is happening, we will have a tough row to hoe in shoring up the essentials in those who are drifting away.

  2. John Rowland January 2, 2011 at 1:37 pm

    A note of hope… from the Acknowlegements page of “Letters To A Young Calvinist” by James K.A. Smith — which was featured in an earlier post on this site:
    “… the more existential impetus for this little pastoral volume is friendships I forged while living in Los Angeles, directing the College and Career ministry of a Pentecostal church in Hawthorne, California, and teaching at a Catholic university perched over Marina Del Rey. This was certainly not the most likely seedbed for Calvinism to take root. And yet these young people, hungry for theological depth and intellectual tradition, welcomed the Reformed tradition as a breath of fresh air. They had many questions.”
    The hope here is not in the promotion of an “ism” per se, but that there are young people who are oriented toward faith and want something of substance they can get their teeth into.

Comments are closed.

My Latest Book!

Use Promo code UNITY for 40% discount!

Recent Articles

Search

Archive