George Barna, The Second Coming of the Church, Nashville: Word Publishing, Hardcover $18.99, ISBN 0-8499-1490-6.

In George Barna's latest work, he provides hard medicine for church leaders. Armed with statistical data and his sociologist's eye for observation, he predicts that the next generation will either experience a massive revival or a marked decline in the churches. While praying fervently for the former, data suggests that the latter may be more likely. In some respects, Barna's analysis was depressing to read, because it paints such a stark picture of the types of changes which are needed in order for the church to reach the next generation and to remain a vibrant influence on our culture.

Central to Barna's argument is the observation that culture reinvents itself every 3 to 5 years. With such rapid societal change, the burden on churches to keep pace is greater than ever before. Programs and ministries must constantly be re-evaluated in order to experience maximum effectiveness. Preaching is not exempt from change in Barna's reinvention of the church.

Barna makes observations which are relevant to the preaching task (Many of these appeared in The Pulpit Meister: Preaching to the New Majority, Preaching, January-February 1997). In preaching to Baby Busters, that generation following immediately after the Baby Boomers, the keys to communication are relevance, genuineness and authenticity -- much more so than excellence, professionalism, and polish.

Recognizing shortened attention spans and learning how to think and preach "mosaically" will also be important in reaching the next generation. Barna points out that in an MTV culture, attention spans are very short. The preacher must hold and continually recapture attention. He describes today's young people as "mosaic" thinkers. Learning how to think and communicate "mosaically" seems to be a wide-open field for further research.

Throughout the book, Barna makes much of the observation that being a gifted preacher/teacher doesn't necessarily mean that one is a gifted leader. Learning how to live within that tension will be a challenge for preachers in the next generation. Barna defines a Christian leader as:

... someone who is called by God to lead, possess virtuous character, and effectively motivates, mobilizes, resources and directs people toward the fulfillment of a jointly-embraced vision from God.

By definition, those who "have the pulpit" for 20 to 30 minutes (give or take) on Sunday morning are the leaders of the congregation. A preacher who is not naturally gifted in leadership will need to work through a team of individuals, lay or staff, who are recognized as leaders and not feel threatened by their leadership. A pastor who is more gifted in leadership than in preaching and teaching will need to recognize the unique potential of the preaching event to shape a shared congregational vision. While Barna advocates freeing gifted teachers and preachers from leadership "burdens," as a practical consideration, it is difficult to see how that can be done.