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Going to the Root - 9 Proposals for Radical Church Renewal
by Christian Smith
Herald Press © 1992

In the Introduction on page 14 we read:

The problem with many approaches to church renewal is not that they come up with the wrong answer–but that they don’t ask the right questions. Most begin by asking, “What strategy or program will work best to revitalize this church?” Wrong question. We need to dig deeper.

The right question is often not how to revitalize the churches we have. The right questions is “Do we even have the correct vision for what our church ought to be in the first place?” In other words, the first and most important issue, when it comes to thinking about church renewal, ought not to be pragmatic (”How can we do it?”) but normative (”What really ought we to do?).

When I read that, I said “Wow!” out loud. Christian Smith has hit the nail on the head in my opinion.

As I have been reading through the book of Acts again in recent weeks, I have found myself imagining what a church (ecclesia) like Acts 2 would look like today. What made them act so differently than the culture around them? What gave them the boldness and the joy they experienced? Isn’t that what the church should look like today?

I am coming to the conclusion that to rediscover and experience this kind of Acts 2 phenomenon, will involve radical changes, both in our thinking and in our structures. “You can take some people out of the old stale church, but you can’t take the old stale church out of some people.” We must change how we think about the church as much as how we practice it. I believe we must also alter or eliminate many institutional church practices, traditions, roles, rules and programs.

My spirit wants to be a part of that growing grass-roots worldwide movement that has a dynamic vision of what the church could be. It’s a vision that weaves together community, service, participation, spiritual transformation, functioning through giftedness, celebration, mutual accountability and social transformation into a fresh experience of church (ecclesia).

I’ve recently been diving into personal research about what the “Emerging Church” or the “Emergent Conversation” is all about. One of the resources I came across is a website called Emergent Village which appears to be a sort of clearing house for this movement in the US.

One of the resources they offer on the site are podcasts by a number of different speakers, writers and authors who are leading this movement or “conversation” as they like to call it. People like: Brian McLaren, Scot McKnight, Doug Pagitt, Diana Butler Bass, Tony Stone, and many more. You can also subscribe to the Emergent Village podcasts through iTunes.

I have found the communication by one of these leaders to be very good. His name is Scot McKnight, and he is a professor of Biblical & Theological Studies at North Park University here in the Chicago area. He has written a number of books, including one called Jesus Creed… which is also the name of his blog… which I highly recommend subscribing to.

One podcast that is outstanding is Scot speaking to a leadership group of Northpoint Community Church in Atlanta about “The Whole Gospel.” You really must listen to it.

Near the beginning of his talk, Scot highlights some amazing facts about “the church.” First, that there are 20 million Christians in the US who are currently not involved in any organized, institutional church. They are completely disconnected from it, and they meet in organic house-based churches. These organic churches are “growing like crazy” according to Scot, who was basing his facts upon research done and reported by George Barna. This growth is mostly by new believers being “added to the church.”

He also pointed out that a research group in Europe has been studying this same trend worldwide, and they estimate there are currently 125 millions Christians worldwide who do not go to a “local church.” They predict that in 2025, there will be 250 million Christian like this.

He notes that “This is the growing generation”… and that many of his college students graduate and then end up getting together informally with other believers informally on Friday night and weekends and they do not attend a local church. They feel that this is “good enough.” This pattern usually lasts up to 5 years.

My response is: what is the institutional, organized “church” have to say about this? Does this not reflect a growing sense of “irrelevancy” that many of the young are saying they experience toward “the church?” What is “the church” going to do about it? How will it respond?

I sincerely hope that we “moderns” who have grown up in the institutional and organized “church” can find the maturity and humility to look at ourselves, and change where we need to change in order to stay relevant to not only the younger generation of Christians, but more importantly to the “post-modern” culture around us.