Rummaging around in evangelicalism’s spiritual garage, we find a number of old “Next Big Things” cluttering up the works.
1970s:
Homogeneous Church Growth
Homogeneous church growth is pioneered by Donald McGavran (missiologist and professor at Fuller Theological Seminary): “People like to become Christian without crossing racial, linguistic, or class barriers. …The world’s population is a mosaic, and each piece has a separate life of its own that seems strange and often unlovely to men and women of other pieces.” (1)
1980s:
Church Growth Boom
The church growth boom is defended by George Barna: “Think of your church not as a religious meeting place, but as a service agency’an entity that exists to satisfy people’s needs.” (2)
2005:
Revolution
Barna celebrates the growing abandonment of local churches for Internet communities and resources. (3) (4) “Millions of believers…have moved beyond the established church and chosen to be the church instead.” (5) Institutions are no longer relevant and should be replaced by informal gatherings and Internet communities, he argues. (6)
2006:
Emergent Movement
A Generous Orthodoxy: Brian McLaren defines the “Emergent Movement,” growing out of the Leadership Network of the 1990s.
2007:
From Megachurch to Self-Feeders
Willow Creek Community Church releases its findings from a study of its members. Surprised that committed members described their Christian life as “stalled” or in decline, the leadership nevertheless concludes that it was not because the ministry itself was failing to deepen believers in faith and worship. Instead, they conclude that as believers grow in faith, they need the church and its programs less. Sheep must become “self-feeders” who are able to carry out their spiritual program without the aid of the church.
2009:
The New Christians
Emergent writer Tony Jones is fascinated with the Internet analogy: “There is no Internet headquarters. You can’t drive to an office building, park in the parking lot, and walk in the front door of Internet, Inc.” (7) Coining the term “Wikichurch,” Jones says that “one can look at the qualities of Wikipedia and analogize them to many other scale-free networks, including the emergent church.” (8)
