Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Review of The American Church In Crisis by David Olson

Synopsis


The contributions found in this book for the purpose of growing disciples intentionally fit into two main categories. First is the warning to the church – that if we are not intentional about discipleship then the American church will, as discussed in chapter 7, continue declining on its way to extinction. “Two factors will determine the future of the American church species. The first is the health and growth of its established churches…the second is the fertility rate of the American church…”(128) We also find that there are environmental changes that the church needs to recognize and address. These key transitions consist of a Christian world becoming a post-Christian world, a modern world becoming postmodern, and a monoethnic world becoming multiethnic.(162)

The second category consists of the actions the American church needs to take in order to become healthy and thrive again. A model is presented for a healthy growing church consisting of leadership supported by the pillars of spirituality (commitment to discipleship), chemistry (positive community), and strategy (a fruitful process that lines up with God-directed goals).(136) We also need to recover an authentic Gospel message, which should in turn redefine our mission.(chapters 13&14)


Personal Reflection

While the fact that the American church is declining was certainly not news to me, it was very informative to flesh out the reasons why. The concept of transitioning from a Christian to a post-Christian world was particularly helpful for me. We now live in a nation where much of the general population has no concept of the Bible or who Jesus is, and even many of the Christians have very limited knowledge of God. However, I believe we have in fact “overevangelized too lightly”(137, Dr. Perkins), and therefore a much more thorough model of spiritual formation is needed regardless of whether the world is post-Christian or Christian. I have seen this myself, and addressing this issue is a large part of why I feel I am being called into ministry.

The other contribution I found most relevant pertained to re-establishing a complete and authentic understanding of the Gospel message. Too often, as I myself have, we settle for just a portion of the Gospel, limiting its power to transform our lives as we focus simply on its promise of eternal life. I see such limited personal transformation as the reason for churches having limited impact in the communities they minister to. Intentional discipleship should apply a complete and authentic Gospel message for the transformation of lives pursuing Christ-likeness, in turn transforming the lives of people around them as this discipleship process reproduces. On a larger scale, as entire churches grow in spiritual formation, they in turn reproduce through church planting and discipling these new churches.


Ministry Application

The applications to ministry in the local church are many. First, we must recognize which century we are living in. The three transitions I mentioned above have “altered the relationship between American culture and the church, forever changing how the two will relate to each other.”(162) We must recognize that this post-Christian world does not know who Jesus is, and therefore alter our approach to more of a missional mindset. We must understand that postmodernism means that people are skeptical of certainty and truth and authority, and that in this new world people are looking for authentic community. A postmodern world is filled with people who are spiritually curious, and although this does not mean they are curious about Christianity, this is a great opportunity if we recognize it and engage these people accordingly. An increasingly multiethnic world means that we must grasp God’s love for all people, and that we have to free the Gospel message from our cultural identification.

I think most important is a re-establishing of a complete and authentic Gospel message and mission. We find this in the message and mission of Jesus. The message of the Gospel can be summarized in this way:

• Forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God.

• Victory over Satan and deliverance from bondage.

• Changing hearts of stone to hearts of flesh.

• God loves all people.

• An invitation to become the new people of God.

A resulting message and mission of the church that is true to an authentic Gospel message would consist of these five points:

• Evangelism

• Ministry

• Spiritual Formation

• Love

• True Community (205)

I believe the results of this are lives that are transformed to live as Christ has called us to, and a church that is salt and light to a lost world.

All of this, in a practical sense, is evidenced by and found in an intentional process of discipleship. Biblical discipleship reproduces, and the result is a healthy and growing church. As Olson discussed, most churches reach an attendance plateau and then decline with age, and I believe this happens due to a lack of intentional discipleship within those churches, at least on a church-wide basis. If discipleship is happening within a church then I think the natural result is a church that reproduces and disciples other new churches as well.

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