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Growing Edge
posted 4/01/2001
 1 of 4
Boiling Point
Another book on demographics? Who cares? Haven't we heard that the church must change to survive? That pastors must lead or perish?
Skeptic that I am about futurism and projections, my defenses were up when I picked up Boiling Point by George Barna and Mark Hatch (Regal, 2001). Like I haven't enough to do already? And change? You've gotta be kidding. I can't get my church to let go of choir robes without a fight!
But there are days when I am desperate. Really desperate. This thing called postmodernism is scary. It turns people and principles into jellyfish.
We've seen massive change in America and in the American church in the past ten years. I live in Silicon Valley, five miles from Stanford, ten miles from Yahoo, one block from Starbucks. Life races by here. But when I talk to pastors in small towns where the pace is supposedly slower, I find we all sound like Tevye from "Fiddler on the Roof": "I don't understand what's happening today, everything is all a blur."
Ten years ago I made fun of Barna's Frog in the Kettle. So why read the sequel? I have to admit this book was helpful.
First, it puts handles on postmodernism. I have tried to explain that idea to people. They nod off until I am done. But statistics about marriage and family awaken them.
Boiling Point is not just a book worth reading, but one worth putting on index cards. I can use the researcher's numbers to show my church how the world really is different today.
Second, Barna takes seriously the threat of technology. He calls it techno-stress. Good name! Barna says the use of technology is identical among Christians and non-Christians. He asks: Is this healthy? Is technology neutral? And how many times a day do we need to check our e-mail?
Third, there is bleak honesty about the church. Barna confirms my impression that evangelical Christians are in decline mode, largely unaware that they are transitioning from insular separation to indistinguishable integration with society.
Some of this book we've heard before. Yes, we are in a crisis of authority. No, people don't care about truth or morality as long as they are well paid. Barna deserves credit for compiling quantifiable proof that our suspicions of dramatic cultural change are correct. But there are limits to the use of his demographics. These are national statistics, not local. In my case, that skews the applications. Silicon Valley is not middle America, and in some ways our values are different.
What's new is Barna's view on the influence of technology; there he presents fresh perspective. But what do we do with the data? Barna's book is full of recommendations, but the cumulative effect of the lists is burdensome. I feel exhausted at the end. I wish he would boil it down a bit more. What two or three things are best?
Boiling Point serves as a good reference tool, especially for explaining a changing world to fellow Tevyes.
Mark Lauterbach, pastor
First Baptist Church of Los Altos, California Mark@fbcla.org
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