The Friday Fax - Trends

Good news for church builders: you only need half the budget!

nospam@example.com (Friday Fax) — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 10:40:00 +0200

The financial challenges facing traditional Christian churches are often linked to building projects. Many undergo great tensions when considering the massive investments required, which are a burden for the members for many years. But many church building projects are not even necessary, according to a recent study in the USA. "Revolution", George Barna's new book, will be published in September. Barna leads a church research institute, and is currently the most-quoted person in the Christian church in the USA because of his statistical work. To summarize the book's most important conclusions:

The number of Christians attending local church in the USA is declining rapidly. Today, 70% of Christians attend traditional churches, but this will sink to 30-35% in 20 years;
The number of followers of Jesus who do not attend a local church will grow from 30% to 70% in the next 20 years;
Alternative fellowship forms (house church/simple church, post-modern churches etc.), currently home for 5% of USA Christians, will grow to make up 30-35%; another 30-35% will live out their faith in the fields of media, arts and culture; the remaining 5% of Christians attending non-traditional forms of church will have a family-based spiritual life;
Conclusion: a minority group presently not even noticed by many will become the mainstream of North American Christianity in only two decades.

"This is a revolution, and will change not only the recruiting strategies of seminaries and Bible schools, but also radically question church building projects," says Barna. If only half as many people will be visiting traditional congregational services in 20 years, a smaller building will suffice.

Source: George Barna "Revolution"

Megashift

nospam@example.com (Friday Fax) — Fri, 15 Jul 2005 14:41:00 +0200

That's the title of American author Jim Rutz's recently-published book. It's hotly debated on TV, and one of Amazon's top sellers. It has also caused controversy in broad swathes of self-contented US Christianity. 'Megashift' is a sharp-minded analysis of current Christianity around the world, and is partly based on dozens of carefully-researched Friday Fax reports. Rutz is now one of the popular columnists in the Internet news site World Net Daily. What are his main observations?

The 1700-year nightmare is over: the Constantinian Shift is shifting back. Under Emperor Constantine, the Church became an imperial audience, but is now finally freeing itself from the corset of state control.
An unprecedented transfer of divine power is underway, from clerics into the hands of ordinary people. According to Rutz' research in 49 nations, hundreds of people have been raised from the dead in the past 15 years.
This is giving rise to an entirely new form of Christianity - with far greater repercussions than the Protestant Reformation.
Over 1 billion non-Christians could become active Christians in the next 10 years.

When millions of ordinarly people do extraordinary things

The Charismatic Evangelical movement, currently numbering 707 million people around the world, is growing by 8 percent per year. That alone is exciting. The centre of this movement, though, is a mostly unknown and little-understood movement of 100 million Christians who have no building and neither pastor nor programme. "A church without vertical hierarchies," says Rutz, "which will change the future." They have experienced what Rutz calls a 'lifestyle upgrade':

Lifestyle upgrade

Anyone who uses computer software knows what an upgrade is: a new and better version of a programme replaces the old version. Through an act of God, many millions of people have experienced an 'inner upgrade' leading to an entirely new quality of life. Rutz lists a number of chances and advantages offered by this upgrade, which were previously unthinkable for many people:

People experience release from the limitations and burdens of a traditional, hierarchical (and unbiblical) religious system, being freed into an 'open Christianity' with 100% participation.
They are no longer a number in someone else's religious programme.
They experience personal empowerment and are able to do things they previously could not even have dreamed of, including the supernatural (healing, prophesying, performing miracles etc.)
They learn to overcome their own problems, and help others to overcome theirs.
They experience fellowship with a small group of close friends who give mutual support, so that each person and the whole group reaches God's aims, which are their calling.
In doing so, they find that which they have sought for their whole life.

Away from spectator religion

The path away from spectator religion frees people from fixed church role-playing. Previously, many people were passive, conformist churchgoers, experiencing church as a television without a remote control. The personal involvement of every follower of Christ, though, rouses millions of talents and abilities to solve even the most difficult problems. The result is a 'Megashift', a quantum leap in church history.

Post-Protestant revival

Protestantism was an important epoch in church history, but it is now time to stop protesting and start acting. The current post-Protestant awakening is larger than the great American revivals since 1727 under Wesley, Whitefield, the Herrnhuter or Johnathan Edwards. "This third Reformation," says Rutz, "has three characteristics:"

The church is transforming itself from an organisation to an organism

After 1700 years of institutional structure, the Body of Christ is emerging in the form described in the New Testament. People are rediscovering the original forms and functions in an open, participatory system mostly consisting of house churches.

100% active

Moving away from the one-man church system, in which the pastor literally did everything, a growing number of Jesus' followers are becoming active participants, leaving their spectators' seats and taking their place on the playing field. It should be no surprise the number of goals scored increases. When 100 people pray for the sick, prophesy, and plant churches instead of just 1, it is also reasonable to expect the number of miracles to increase.

Immense numbers of new believers

Church growth outside America is breathtaking. Tens of thousands of new believers (Rutz speaks of 175,000 per day) means that although all religions are growing naturally, only Christianity is experiencing significant growth through conversion. Where religions meet, Christianity almost always gains new believers, and new networks of house churches are formed.

How to be part of this Megashift

Stop going with the flow, and decide to actively turn away from the outdated control structures (clerics & laypeople).
Take responsibility. That also means paying the price of being a pionier, including Christian friends' suspicion and ostracism.
Learn to love others, overcoming selfishness and becoming a team player. That requires a lifestyle of repentance and obedience - out of healthy enthusiasm, not duty.
Help carry others' burdens, and not stagnate but take small steps forward every day.

Rutz says: "Is there a small voice inside saying "That's right!"?" Follow it. But you also have the choice to ignore it. That too is freedom. But please don't complain later..." Or, as C. Peter Wagner says, "Jim describes what God is going to do tomorrow. You can't afford to miss this book!"

Source: Jim Rutz, www.megashift.org, e-mail ocmoffice at openchurch.com

"DAWN around the world"

nospam@example.com (Friday Fax) — Fri, 01 Jul 2005 15:06:00 +0200

That is the name of the new newsletter published by Dawn Ministries, a global church planting strategy group. "DAWN around the world" replaces the DAWN Report, which they published for many years. Some highlights from the current issue:

Openness in Africa

"Africa is more open for the gospel than it has ever been," reports DAWN Africa Coordinator Danie Vermeulen. "Thousands of Muslims are finding Christ, and some of the most exciting church planting movements are among Muslims. Civil wars, AIDS and political repression are other factors leading growing numbers to open for the gospel..."

Interest in God is growing in Europe

"Secular ideology has failed in Europe, and there is a new interest in religion and spirituality," says Dawn European Network Coordinator Reinhold Scharnowski. "This is starting to affect European culture; writers, artists and talk show guests are speaking increasingly about spirituality. Until recently, people thought that religion is what people believe before they discover science. That has been revealed as myth. The secular faith in progress itself, which was supposed to replace religion, has failed, as clearly shown by the growing church attendance in London. The Hillsong Fellowship, for example, started with an attendance of only 70, but the numbers double every year; the attendance has now reached 5,500, with 1,500 new believers in 2004 alone..."

Uruguay: church numbers doubled

"Recent research shows that the number of Christian churches and the number of new believers in Uruguay has doubled since 1998," reports Amaury Braga, Prayer Coordinator for DAWN in Latin America. "There were around 1,000 churches in 1998, after 150 years of evangelism. This realisation gave birth to a new phase; the churches began a dedicated campaign to mobilise prayer for effective church planting. Now, in 2005, the figures show that in a period of only seven years, not only has the number of churches doubled to over 2,000, but the number of Christians has doubled with it."

Source, and to order the free newsletter "DAWN around the world": Dawn Ministries, PO Box 690787, Orlando, FL 32869-0787, USA, tel. +1 (407) 370-9312, fax +1 (407) 226-8713, e-mail tedmolsen (at) aol.com

24-7: rather die than think?

nospam@example.com (Friday Fax) — Fri, 03 Jun 2005 16:49:00 +0200

"There was once a card saying 'Most Christians would rather die than think', but thoughtless repetition of Christian ethics and doctrines doesn't make you a Christian," says Joe Riffe, member of staff of the young 24-7 Prayer movement started by Pete Greig five years ago. In that short time, the movement, which started with only a single prayer room, has become a many-faceted movement for mission and social justice, with related movements in 58 nations. "Inside and outside this movement, a new generation of leaders is currently taking shape," writes Riffe. "They are seeking humble, creative and relational expressions of Christian ministry. That's were 24-7transit comes in, teaching these people how to live well and hence lead well. We accompany them on the two most exciting journeys: the inward journey, which leads to spiritual transformation, and the outward journey, which leads to social transformation."

Young leaders in the monastery

Move in to a 'boiler room' in Britain or the USA and spend 8 months in a monastic community, living a life of prayer, study and action? 24-7 is convinced that the time has come for such a discipleship training programme. They are offering the training starting in September 2005, focussing on building a "Biblical world view". "Our world view forms the way in which we see society. However, a world view is not simply the filter through which we see the world, but our philosophy of life, including the answer to the question 'Why am I alive?' Our world view also has a strong influence on how we see Christianity. When Mark 12 tells us to love the Lord with our whole mind, we need to know what we believe, and understand the world which God made. We aim to build three things: authentic spirituality - truth in our relationship with Jesus ("Love the Lord with all your heart", Luke 10:27); relational spirituality - lovingness to others ("Love your neighbour as yourself", Luke 10:27) and missionary spirituality - take the Gospel to the world ("Make disciples of all nations", Matthew 28:19)" says Riffe. "As Jon Stuart Mill said, one person with a belief is equal to a force of 99 who only have interest."

Source: 24-7prayer.com

England: holy spies in 70 churches

nospam@example.com (Friday Fax) — Fri, 20 May 2005 13:48:00 +0200

"On Sunday, 24^th April 2005, we sent out a small army of "Mystery Worshippers" into London's churches. These holy spies reconnoitred 70 services in the English capital, checking how hard the pews are, the length and quality of the sermon, strength of the coffee and warmth of the greeting. Many of our readers are dedicated pew warmers, and were excited to accept the challenge," says Simon Jenkins, editor of shipoffools.com, the Christian internet news site behind the project. Each of the mysterious spies left a card depicting a lone masked rider – the only sign for the churches that they had been examined by the service testers. The results were published on 10^th May. Here's a selection of what London's churches have to offer, compiled by Assist News Service's Michael Ireland:

rhythmic snoring during the (silent?) prayer time;
four old women on the back pew, criticising the pastor;
an immediate invitation to join the choir;
passionate singing of the Vatican national hymn;
"We'll be back in a moment" – a service with a commercial break;
a barking dog, accompanying the sermon for a full 52 minutes;
a 2½-hour service, with a sermon by a (female) preacher who spoke for a long time, said nothing and finally collapsed of excitement (or exhaustion?);
being discovered in a Puritan church and escorted out;
no coffee – but Champagne!
fleeing made impossible by pews which close automatically once you're seated;
in one church, visitors were greeted by attractive young women;
a Catholic church which didn't even mention the new Pope;
a church which welcomed the 'spy' so intensely and successfully that he was the last one to leave…

Do you want to know more? www.shipoffools.com has the full reports.

Source: Simon Jenkins, Steve Goddard, publisher of www.shipoffools.com

20,000 'Neo-Apostolics'

nospam@example.com (Friday Fax) — Fri, 13 May 2005 18:18:00 +0200

While researching his soon to be published book 'Apostolic Genius', Alan Hirsch, author of 'The Shaping of Things to Come' "stumbled upon some extremely notable, even astonishing, discoveries by important observers of the global Christian scene." Already in 2001, Professor David B. Barrett and Todd M. Johnson mentioned that there were already 111 million Christians without a traditional local church. Barrett highlights particularly the development of the so-called 'Neo-Apostolic' networks and movements, of which there are already over 20,000 around the world, numbering around 394 million Christians. According to Barrett, these Christians reject historical denominationalism and all restrictive central authority, and attempt to lead a life of following Jesus, seeking a more effective missionary lifestyle. They are the fastest-growing Christian movements in the world. Barrett estimates that by the year 2025, these movements will have around 581 million members, 120 million more than all Protestant movements together. Hirsh, who has invited all of Australia's missionary movements to a conference in Victoria (Forge National Summit, 1-3 July 2005), confirms the trend from his own experience, and believes that these new Christian movements "are simply under the radar of traditional Christianity", at least as long as it holds on to the classical Constantine church structure (pastor + building + programme = church).

Source: Alan Hirsch, www.forge.org.au