Customer Reviews

The Second Coming of the Church

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Some will say George Barna's interesting book is alarmist; others will view it as a wake-up call. Either way, reading it causes bells to ring for how we view the future of the church. He subtitles the book a "Blueprint for Survival." That Great Awakening, so often forecast for the New Millenium, may just not happen. Barna's analysis gives no basis for such belief. But what makes his diagnosis so compelling is his solid reputation as a professional market researcher; he backs up his conclusions with data. Barna calls for a revolution--"a lay-driven explosion of spiritual angst and piety." A strategic focus. A transformational movement of God. More than most forecasters, he has the feeling of truth telling, speaking hard realities we don't want to hear. (Chapter five on "The New Cultural Realities" gives little encouragement for the future church.) Read his book and you'll be asking yourself, "How can I renew my coimmitment to the struggle?" True to his profession as a researcher into church and religious trends, he uses the hard facts to hit at the failings of the church. The local church needs reengineering. He says: "The likely structural changes that will redefine the church must be taken seriously. We must be prepared to reengineer the contours of ministry without compromising its content." Barna underscores the views of church growth enthusiasts and closes with a remarkable challenge. It's evident he worries for the church in coming decades. He sees the trends and believes that only leadership and vision can save the church from its otherwise certain future. The resolution is in who leads the church. "Marrying the resources of both the laity and the clergy could introduce an exciting era of Christian renewal. But the catalyst for this new reformation will be the people, not the professionals." -- first appearing in "Strategies for Today's Leader," Fall 1998.

George Barna paints a gloomy and desperate portrait of the current church in America. He explains that the majority of churches are archaic in style, irrelevant to the culture and impotent to impact society. With the nation in dire moral straits, it needs the church to rise up to be salt and light. Barna charges the church to take up this mantel and then gives a prescription of necessary changes. Barna does a fine job of explaining the problems and challenges facing the America church. He also lists her shortcomings. His assessment and indictments were blunt and fairly accurate. I felt his comment about America that we have done a "repositioning of religion as a commodity that we consume, rather than one in which we invest ourselves" was accurate and inditing. I also felt his list of solutions were viable and worth embracing. Barna's passion comes across in the pages of the book. I recommend the book to anyone interested in a new church reformation.

If the numbers don't tell us something, then we that call ourselves the Church are just plain ignorant. The reality is that the moral choices people in our pews are no different than those mowing grass on Sunday morning at 11am. Barna surfaces the crisis we face. We have great buildings and lots of money, but we are losing a generation. I work with teenagers everyday of my life. This book hits home, for the old way of doing "church" will not cut in the the near future. There is nothing unbiblical about Christ-centered change. Barna gives clear direction for the church to survive and thrive. Any church leader that reads this book and continues a mundane, boring church, shame on you!

Once again, pollster and pastor George Barna has trotted out a set of figures guaranteed to fan the flames of controversy within the Church. His numbers showing the rapid demise of sound preaching, general Biblical knowledge, and dozens of other key talking points affecting Christianity in America are a true wake-up call to a complacent Church. For this, we should thank Barna and his organization for weighing us in the scales and finding us wanting.

While Barna scores a hit with the poll figures in "The Second Coming of the Church", he fails miserably in his solutions for those problems. Barna claims that what the Church needs is better business practices, a closer hewing to successful management techniques when dealing with personnel, and plenty of other misguided answers that have their basis not in the Bible, but in Total Quality Management.

The fact is that every problem Barna has so adequately pointed out to us has its corresponding solution not in TQM or any other clever business approach, but in a new awakening of the Church via the work of the Holy Spirit. In short, unless the Church gets down on its knees and repents, then seeks true revival of each individual by the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, no amount of clever worldly wisdom will resolve the issues Barna raises. Why Barna himself is so led astray by the plague of failed marketing and business tricks that have, in part, led to the very dire conditions he notes, is beyond me. It's like spraying a drowning man with a fire hose.

Read the book for the excellent polling info, but toss it when Barna sermonizes on how to fix the problems.

As a church layperson that has a deep interest in church development, I believe The Second Coming of the Church is a must read for anyone interested in the role of the church in the 21st century. Although some readers may feel that Barna's assessment of the viability of the church in its present format is overly pessimistic, his sound research and careful study of the church and society argues otherwise. Importantly, Barna's book is a call to action for the church to finally deal with issues of leadership, change and the development of a biblical worldview. Even though the book raises a lot of issues and presents a lot of facts, it is an easy read - one that keeps you saying to yourself, `ah, yes...that's right'!

Having read several of Barna's books over the years and respecting his work, I have found The Second Coming of the Church to be the most important work Barna has done. "Second Coming" gives the reference points necessary to take an internal look at a congregation and ask the tough questions about the ministries of that congregation and its environment. His solid scholarly approach to the survey data shows the areas of need in the general public and how the congregation can equip itself to serve those needs. It is practical fodder for the work of the Gospel at the end of this century.

This title is one of those books I've wanted to read for a long time but didn't get to it until now. Written in 1998, it was a very timely, well-crafted work that gave a wake-up call to the church in America. As I read it in 2005 however, I wonder, "What would Barna say today?" He states here that the next five years for the church would be critical. Well, the "next five years" passed by 2003.

There are many points here that still apply to the church, just as points made in Barna's "Frog in the Kettle" still apply. This book however, is clearly dated. I would encourage a potential reader to look for a more recent treatment of the church as it presently stands in American society.

Barna's surveys and studies provide church leaders with a dependable source of diagnosis. Barna's expertise lies in his ability to pinpoint exactly what is happening.

I place much trust in Barna's ability to diagnose. His suggested solutions, however, I disagree with. We can offer teaching to our people, for instance, but what do we do with all the people who claim to be believers but yet refuse to excercise their minds?

My advice: read Barna to diagnose, that is his specialty. The treatment, that lies elsewhere, perhaps as a combination from Os Guiness in "Fit Bodies, Fat Minds," Gene Getz's classic, "Sharpening the Focus of the Church," and even the secular, "Bowling Alone" by Robert Putnam.

This book will astound you about the irrelevancy of the church in the current age. The church to be able to even maintain some success will need to reinvent all that it is doing to meet the needs of the common people in the streets. Barna is definitely hard hitting, and accurate. This book is a must read for the church to maintain any semblance of reality for our society. Barna points out that the church must turn the corner away from the culture impacting the church, but to the contrary the church must impact the culture. You will not want to miss this book, especially those of you who are Christians and wanting to see the world changed by the church.

The Second Coming is a well worth read for anyone interested in church change. "While poverty is growing and welfare is declining,the average church spends $6 on facilities for every $1 it spends on its ministry to the poor." states Barna. Such facts bring home the truth that the 21st Century Church will sink or swim depending on whether or not it's willing to change. Overall, Barna sails us through the state of the Church with a myriad of facts and figures combined with his intense yet interesting commentary. His early comments on leadership are very insightful but one can't help feeling a little lost with barna's "four types of leadership" comments that look more like a business plan than an early church model for the 21st century which incorporated the priesthood of all believers.