Revolution

by George Barna

  The New Church of Laodicea

  The second stream of concern contends that believers will become spiritually lazy and even compromise the principles and theology of the Christian faith because of their disconnection from the local church. The problem with this argument is that we find a measurably greater degree of lukewarm faith among the believers in the pews. Revolutionaries, almost by definition, are zealous and passionate about obeying God’s Word and honoring Him. More often than not, they resort to departing from a local church in order to foster that focus.

  Warnings about heresy creeping into the minds and hearts of the Christian body are always worthy of consideration. However, it is just as easy to identify heretical teachings proposed from America’s pulpits as it is to identify heretical Revolutionaries. After all, our research shows that only 51 percent of the pastors of Protestant churches have a biblical worldview! The embarrassing belief profile of Christians across the nation can be largely attributed to the quality of teaching they have received in sermons, Sunday school classes, and small groups. It is inappropriate to suggest that Revolutionaries are worse off because they do not receive teaching from a nearby congregation. In fact, we have learned that many Revolutionaries rely upon Bible teaching delivered through Christian media or via teaching of trusted Bible expositors whose recordings they subscribe to.

  Revolutionaries are spiritual warriors. They do whatever it takes to lead a holy and growing Christian life. Because they are vitally concerned about the truths and principles they absorb, their media usage and organizational affiliations reflect the care they take to limit their exposure to that which is edifying. They are not perfect, by any means, but they are sensitive to the importance of exposure to people and information that will raise them to a higher standard, rather than drag them down to a defiling level.

  Tearing Down the Institution

  The final thread of dismay is based on the argument that massive departures from the local church will dissipate the hard-won, expensive resources of the church community and its influence upon culture.

  As part of the Church, Revolutionaries have no interest in denigrating any segment of the Kingdom; their goal is to be agents of transformation who support and add value to the good that exists in the Church.

  Again, from a practical standpoint, it is hard to take the “undermining church influence” argument seriously. Our research shows that local churches have virtually no influence in our culture. The seven dominant spheres of influence are movies, music, television, books, the Internet, law, and family. The second tier of influencers is comprised of entities such as schools, peers, newspapers, radio, and businesses. The local church appears among entities that have little or no influence on society. It seems that if Revolutionaries approach faith from a different angle, the Church has little to lose and much to gain.

  To those who are worried about their investment in congregational real estate, the only answer is to recognize that the Kingdom of God is not about buildings and programs. Those resources can be useful in building up the body of Christ, but we can never allow bricks-and-mortar to be the engine that drives the Church.

  Five Reactions to the Revolution

  Thus far, we have uncovered five distinct reactions to the Revolution.

  The first—and at this moment, the largest of the groups—is those who are completely ignorant of the Revolution’s emergence. As word gets out and the Revolution expands in numbers and influence, this segment will shrink considerably.

  A second group is those who are antagonistic toward the Revolution. These individuals feel threatened by the extreme change represented by the seemingly unorthodox approach to spirituality. These individuals tend to believe (or to hide behind theological arguments contending) that the Bible disallows a believer to intentionally live at arm’s length from the local church. The response of these folks ranges from outright hostility toward Revolutionaries, to genuine prayer that the wayward sons will return to a church home, to pity for these “backsliders.”

  A third group is the coexister segment. These are Christians who have adopted a “let them be” attitude, refusing to judge the spiritual journey of others. Often, these people search for ways to have a peaceful relationship with Revolutionaries and attempt to build bridges that facilitate continued harmony within the body of Christ. Most coexisters have little interest in becoming Revolutionaries, but they are willing to embrace them as brothers and sisters in Christ. Some of them will eventually join forces with the Revolution.

  A fourth category is the late adopters. As in any situation where significant innovation is introduced, these people are nervously waiting on the sidelines for the transitions to become mainstream so it is safe to get on board. Because believers have a huge degree of confusion about life purpose and spiritual meaning and a latent desire to clarify such matters, this group will become a major feeder for the Revolution as time progresses. This group disdains risk. They will cast their lot with the Revolution once it seems socially acceptable and culturally unremarkable to do so. Whether their timidity will effectively remove the cutting edge of the Revolution or whether these pliable saints will be spiritually energized by the passion and focus of the Revolution remains to be seen.

  The final category, of course, is the Revolutionaries. Millions of them attend church, and millions of others do not. But they all love Jesus Christ and are devoted to Him as their Lord and Savior. Knowing that they can be more effective lovers of God by recasting themselves as humble, single-minded servants, they are committed to the Revolution for the duration of the battle, willing to endure the criticism of fellow believers so that they can be the Church in the best way they know how. They are not so much interested in converting their detractors to be Revolutionaries as they are determined to honor God through their purity and passion for Him.

  The agents of transformation I’ve spoken with realize that the only way to silence their critics is to be Christlike at all times. Even that did not stop Jesus’ critics, and many Revolutionaries are resigned to the fact that perpetual criticism from Christians is simply an unfortunate and unjust price they will pay for loving and serving God with all their heart, mind, strength, and soul. Someday, they know, they will stand before the only true Judge and will be made whole by the One who reconciles everyone’s accounts.

  Chapter Fourteen

  This Revolution’s for You!

  I HOPE YOU HAVE GLEANED a few new insights into our culture and the Church from this book. Studying the Revolution has been a life-changing experience for me in many respects. It has stimulated my curiosity and restored my hope for the Christian body in America, redefined my beliefs about church and the Kingdom, and radically reshaped my spiritual habits. This book may not motivate you to become a Revolutionary, but I pray that it at least gives you a clearer understanding of what the Revolution is all about and how you can partner with the nation’s Revolutionaries to advance God’s Kingdom on earth. If this information strikes a deeper chord within you, then I pray that the book has provided you with the sense of value that Revolutionaries possess within the work of God’s Kingdom. I hope that you claim the freedom to be whoever God made you to be in fulfilling your role in His service.

  This is a great time to be alive—especially for those who love Jesus Christ. The opportunities to minister are unparalleled: the millions of searching hearts and agonized souls, combined with the abundance of resources Christians have at their disposal, make this a very special era for the Church. Throw in the rapid and profound cultural changes occurring, as well as the struggles local churches are undergoing, and we have an environment in which the birth of a spiritual revolution is inevitable. The confluence of those elements demands a dramatic response, and the emerging Revolution represents such a historic thrust.

  There can be no turning back at this point, no return to the old ways and the comfortable forms. Although we cannot accurately predict what the Church will look like twenty years hence, we can be confident that it w
ill be more different from than similar to the Church at the start of the twenty-first century. The Revolution is an extensive grassroots response to the undeniable and insatiable human longing for a genuine relationship with God our Father. The transformations it introduces are sometimes difficult to accept and oftentimes inefficient in their development, but the outgrowth is a stronger and more irresistible Church.

  The Church You’ve Always Wanted

  As you seek to comprehend the emerging Revolution and describe it to others, keep in mind its central facets. It is comprised of a demographically diverse group of people who are determined to let nothing stand in the way of an authentic and genuine experience with God. They are involved in a variety of activities and connections designed to satisfy a spiritual focus. They are God-lovers and joyfully obedient servants. They are willing to do whatever it takes to draw closer to God, to bond with Him, and to bring Him glory and pleasure. If that can be accomplished through existing structures and processes, they accept that; if not, they will blaze new trails to facilitate such a Spirit-driven life.

  En route to this intimacy with God, they are integrating the seven spiritual passions of a true Revolutionary Christian into their lives. Their daily expressions of worship refine their sense of the beauty, the creativity, and the majesty of God. Their joy at knowing Him naturally provides the impetus to communicate to others the Good News about Jesus’ sacrifice and offer of salvation. Their infatuation with the Kingdom fuels their consistent effort to know more about God’s ways. They respond to His love by seeking ways to invest the resources they control or influence for Kingdom outcomes. Their friendships hinge on spiritual growth. They pursue opportunities to use their abilities to affect the quality of life in the world. And they recognize that their most important set of relationships is within their family and that Christ must be the centerpiece of their experience together. These passions enable Revolutionaries to remain centered on God in a world of distractions and seductions. Their attention to these passions allows them to be the Church.

  At what stage, or under what conditions, is the Revolution successful? Revolutionaries recognize that spiritual success is more about surrender than results. They know that God examines the fruit of someone’s life, but the real fruit of the Kingdom is flat-out, no-excuses obedience to God. Such submission produces a perpetual string of behaviors and outcomes that may be imperceptible to a frenetic and hard-hearted world, but represent major victories within the Kingdom. Why? Because life is war, and every time a soldier willingly engages in sacrificial battle for the King, His honor is advanced. Revolutionaries’ complete and total surrender to Him and His cause is the essence of eternal victory.

  It is this holistic devotion to being Christlike that triggers the transformational legacy of the Revolution. First, Revolutionaries are changed so profoundly that they see life through a completely different lens. Then, armed with that new perspective and the courage to respond, these individuals set about transforming the world by being replicas of Jesus in every space they inhabit.

  The purity and authenticity of their cultivated spirit influence everything in their path. Their beliefs, identity, behavior, and relationships blend to project a persona that pricks the spirit in everyone around them. Analysts might say that the job of a Revolutionary is to reform the culture, but that confuses purpose and product. These extreme God-lovers reform the culture simply by being true representations of whom God made them to be. They do not create and enforce a carefully plotted and meticulously deployed agenda of reform. They simply live a holy and obedient life that a society suffering from the stranglehold of sin cannot ignore. The transformation that follows in their wake is not so much their doing as it is an inevitable result of God’s creatures waking up to the difference between living in the freedom of Christ or in the shackles of Satan.

  In past spiritual awakenings, dynamic preachers went into society to bring people into a local church for further development. This era of spiritual growth is different. It features millions of individuals quietly using the weapons of faith that God has given them to be scions of transformation within the framework of their typical space and connections. The starting point is internal, not external: their message is their own transformation by Christ, made real in their words and deeds. Rather than draw people out of the world and into a relationship with an institution, Revolutionaries demonstrate what it means to be the presence of God wherever you are. This is a broad-based grassroots revival that has no single leader and no headquarters. The declaration of purpose is more than two thousand years old: the Bible.

  In the great awakenings of America’s history, the pattern was always the same: draw people into the local church for teaching and other experiences. In this new movement of God, the approach is the opposite: it entails drawing people away from reliance upon a local church into a deeper connection with and reliance upon God. In other words, past revivals were outside-inside phenomena, in which the dynamic and evangelistically gifted Spurgeons, Finneys, Wesleys, and Whitefields of the Church brought non-Christian people inside the local church to be ministered to. This edition is predominantly an outside-outside experience, where believers see the world as their church grounds and every human being they encounter as a soul to love into the permanent presence and experience of God. Many of these Revolutionaries are active members of a local church, but their primary ministry effect is not within the congregational framework but in the raw world.

  The Affirmations of a Revolutionary

  What we believe drives what we do. What we believe matters to God—which is why so much of the Bible painstakingly explains God and His Kingdom (i.e., theology). The Revolution fosters a stunningly diverse array of activities that work together to produce spiritual and behavioral transformation. But Revolutionaries connect at the level of theology. What are the affirmations common to Revolutionaries?

  I am a Revolutionary in the service of God Almighty. My life is not my own; I exist as a free person but have voluntarily become a slave to God. My role on earth is to live as a Revolutionary, committed to love, holiness, and advancing God’s Kingdom. My life is not about me and my natural desires; it is all about knowing, loving, and serving God with all my heart, mind, strength, and soul. Therefore, I acknowledge the following:

  I am a sinner, broken by my disobedience but restored by Jesus Christ in order to participate in good works that please God. I am not perfect; but Jesus Christ makes me righteous in God’s eyes, and the Holy Spirit leads me toward greater holiness.

  God created me for His purposes. My desire as a Revolutionary is to fulfill those ends, and those ends alone. When I get out of bed each day, I do so for one purpose: to love, obey, and serve God and His people.

  Every breath I take is a declaration of war against Satan and a commitment to opposing him.

  God does not need me to fight His fight, but He invites me to allow Him to fight through me. It is my privilege to serve Him in that manner. I anticipate and will gladly endure various hardships as I serve God; for this is the price of participation in winning the spiritual war.

  I do not need to save the world; Jesus Christ has already done that. I cannot transform the world, but I can allow God to use me to transform some part of it.

  My commitment to the Revolution of faith is sealed by my complete surrender to God’s ways and His will. I will gratefully do what He asks of me simply because He loves me enough to ask. I gain my security, success, and significance through my surrender to Him.

  I am not called to attend or join a church. I am called to be the Church.

  Worship is not an event I attend or a process I observe; it is the lifestyle I lead.

  I do not give away 10 percent of my resources. I surrender 100 percent.

  God has given me natural abilities and supernatural abilities, all intended to advance His Kingdom. I will deploy those abilities for that purpose.

  The proof of my status as a Revolutionary is the love I show to God and people.
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  There is strength in relationships; I am bound at a heart-and-soul level to other Revolutionaries, and I will bless believers whenever I have the chance.

  To achieve victory in the spiritual war in which we are immersed, there is nothing I must accomplish; I must simply follow Christ with everything I have.

  There is no greater calling than to know and serve God.

  The world is desperately seeking meaning and purpose. I will respond to that need with the Good News and meaningful service.

  Absolute moral and spiritual truth exists, is knowable, and is intended for my life; it is accessible through the Bible.

  I want nothing more than to hear God say to me, “Well done, My good and faithful servant.”

  Thank You, Lord God, for loving me, for saving me, for refining me, for blessing me, and for including me in the work of Your Kingdom. My life is Yours to use as You please. I love You.

  How a Local Church Can Respond Appropriately to the Revolution

  ON FRIDAY I HAD LUNCH WITH GARY, a senior pastor whom I’ve known for several years. We have shared speaking platforms together and have come to appreciate each other. Over chicken sandwiches and sodas I described the Revolution and its implications for local churches. His response was warm and affirming.