Book Review:

“The Present Future
Six Tough Questions for the Church”

By Reggie M= cNeal
Copyright 2003 by John Wiley & Sons

I received a copy of the book at an ABA meeting, without cost, upon the con= dition that I commit to read the book. I determined in addition that I would prepare a summary of the book, both to = help me absorb the content as well as to provide an informative review of its contents. This report is a gr= owing installment, to be completed as I find time. I will first state the six questio= ns and provide an initial impression of the focus of the book. Later installments will be written= to expand each “question” or pairs of “questions” as I find time to digest each chapter.

The Table of Contents:

&nbs= p; New Reality Number One: The Collapse of the Church Culture

&nbs= p; New Reality Number Two: The Shift from Church Growth to Kingdom Growth

&nbs= p; New Reality Number Three: A New Reformation: Releasing God’s People

&nbs= p; New Reality Number Four: The Return to Spiritual Formation

&nbs= p; New Reality Number Five: The Shift from Planning to Preparation

&nbs= p; New Reality Number Six: The Rise of Apostolic (mission minded) Leadership

&nbs= p; Chapter 7: Things I Didn’t Say

The Six Questions:

&nbs= p; Each chapter states first, a “Wrong Question” and then a “Tough Question.” The question= s by chapter order are:

Chapter<= /p>	Wrong Question	Tough Question
One	How do we do church bette= r?	How do we deconvert from = Churchianity to Christianity?
Two	How do we grow this chur= ch? (How do we get them to come to us?)	How do we transform our community? (How do we hit the streets with the gospel?)
Three	How do we turn members in= to ministers?	How do we turn members in= to missionaries?
Four	How do we develop church members?	How do we develop follow= ers of Jesus?
Five	How do we plan for the fu= ture?	How do we prepare for the= future?
Six	How do we develop leader= s for Church Work?	How do we develop leader= s for the Christian Movement?

Overview:

I would say that the broad focus of the book is to rec= onnect God’s people with their missional calling. It addresses key areas in which we= need to recover a biblical focus in order to return and reconnect with that miss= ion.

This book is a publication of Leadership Network. The mission of Leadership Network states: “To identify, connect, and help high-capacity Christian Leade= rs multiply their impact.” This book, I believe addresses one of their stated focuses to “Enable effective leadership.”

This means to me the book is written primarily for Chr= istian leaders who seek to engage in “high-capacity” Christian endeavors. Does that mean it = would not be useful for small or medium churches? Not necessarily. When Jesus discipled the Twelve, w= ho would have known, except Jesus, how their witness would change the world. T= here are many churches at a crossroads for potential growth and ministry. There = are also many challenges in meeting present day needs that can only be faced by adapting to those needs rather than holding to entrenched forms.

Chapter 1: New Reality One: The Collaps= e of the Church (club) Culture

This chapter makes the central point that God is on a mission of redemption, not building institutional organizations. This has been true in both the Old Testament as well as the New Testament body of believers. We are off mission, says Reggie Mc= Neal regarding North American Christian churches. According to McNeal, instead of as= king, “How do we do church better”, we should be asking the tougher question, “How we deconvert from churchianity to Christianity.” Another way I might phrase this question is, “How do we recapture a N= ew Testament mission mindset?”

McNeal indicates that the wrong mindset is entrenched = in the North American expression of Christianity.= The church has taken on “club” or “refuge” status, rather than outreach or mission focus. Presenting a theology of mission, = McNeal states, “deliverance is not just from something, but to something.= 221; In the Old Testament it was “to the Promised Land.” In the New Testament it is “to Abundant Life.” In addition, “God has= a purpose and an assignment for the (His) liberated people.” That purpo= se is “so they could partner with him in his redemptive mission in the world.” The church, in union with Christ, is “designed for reproduction, the growth of the kingdom.”

In a landscape where there is legitimate interest in spiritual matters, the church has “lost its influence,” its “identity”, and its “mission.” McNeal states, “the collapse of the church culture (chapter 1) along with the five o= ther realities (chapters 2 through 6) is God’s gracious invitation to the church to rediscover itself. It will do this by dying to itself and coming alive to God’s mission.” = - back to top -

Chapter 2: New Reality Two: The Shift f= rom Church Growth to Kingdom Growth

This chapter points out, on one hand, that the Church = Growth movement has had a valid impact in the Christian mission in America= . However, there is a need to move b= eyond the concept of growing the organizations to the growing of the kingdom. McNeal points out that the Growth movement raised the awareness of diversity and cultural relevance as “= ;a key component of being obedient to the Great Commission.” However, he also points out that the Growth movement involved a lot of migration and ca= nnibalization from smaller churches. As the mega church phenomenon grew, a “dark side” arose among some church leaders because of the money and power = that came into play. The growth mo= vement also created a host of “loser” pastors and church leaders who w= ere not in high profile.

McNeal points to an “emerging (church) culture&#= 8221; that is “still waiting for the church that only God can get credit for.” In the growth movement, churches have scrambled to apply various techniques and campaigns to become “attractive.” The addition of programs, the rede= sign of worship, and infusion of technology have presented a “steep learni= ng curve to church leaders.” However, the results have been “diminishing returns!” followed by repeated quests for the next program or latest fad. Whether traditional church (those McNeal calls “refuge churches”) or gr= owth movement church, he points out that an eminent collapse of the church cultu= re makes it impractical to “pour all ministry efforts on the institution= al church” or depend upon “methodological fixes.”

McNeal then states his “tough question” for chapter two; “How Do We Transform Our Community? (How Do We Hit the Streets with the Gospel?)”

His main point; “If they aren’t going to c= ome to us, then we’ve got to go to them. … Churches that understand the realities of the present future are shifting the target of ministry efforts from church activity to community transformation.” He states also; “The North American church culture is not spiritual enough to reach o= ur culture.” He says we need to “be captured by His heart for peop= le, that our hearts be broken for what breaks His, that we rejoice in what brin= gs Him joy (ref. Luke 15).”

As an illustration, McNeal contrasts Jesus approach ag= ainst that typical of the Pharisee. Jesus ministered to the woman at the well, where apparently the disciples never s= aw her. Their background was tradition. Pharisees are concerned with external image, rather than the harvest. The Pharisee lived in a bubble where they expected outsiders to conform to their expectations. “Instead of ‘Come and get it!’”, Jesus evangelism strategy was, “Go and get ‘em!” McNeal states “Monoculturalism does not embrace kingdom growth.” Monoculturalism insists on conformity. According to McNe= al, North American churches have been “captured” by a Pharisee mind= set. We need more than new programs for evangelism or outreach that entice unchurched people into the “club.”

The church that gets it will spend its resources on strategies for transformation. For the consumer church, the transformation approach is seen to divert resources from the church. However, with a delivery system th= at different from the local church many can reach people that the traditional church programs will not.

According to McNeal, in order to achieve kingdom growt= h we need to think on new levels.

1. Do not expect to require people to come into church to hear the message.

2. Do not think membership is the same as Kingdom citizenship.

3. Penetrate the culture with the presence of the church by going out instead of inviting in.

4. As with Jesus and the woman at the well we need to place ourselves at opportune locations.

5. Don’t focus on ownership of real estate, but rather available space such as local restaurants.

6. Use these locations as opportunities to attract the curious.

McNeal presents a new model of service and message (evangelism and apologetics); provide and unprecedented service and give a truthful response to “Why are you serving?” We need to step into arenas of real need with ministry and service to “earn” the rig= ht to be heard. Then when asked why= , we make a clear statement of our love and devotion to the Lord as the basis for our service. = - back to top -

Chapter 3: New Reality Three: A New Reformation: Releasing God’s People

McNeal describes a new “reformation” which= is called for today in what he calls a post-modern world. The modern world sought to “demystify” everything. The modern mind sought to “explain the universe on the basis of its component parts.” The post-modern movement is “at heart a spiritual movement. It is a search for meaning.” In modernism “faith is rational … and focuses on doctrinal stances, not on character and spiritual connectedness to God and others.” The postmod= ern thought adopts a “quantum vision of the universe (which) is more interested in the whole.” McNeal states, “Postmoderns are wildly spiritual.” This is in contrast to the “nihilism that so many people predicted to be the next phase of Western thought.”

The wrong question is: “How do we turn members i= nto ministers?” The church has “interpreted it (the doctrine of the priesthood of believers) almost solely for its own use… (which) has resulted in ministry being defined largely in church terms … to get church work done.” “People (today) don’t want the church making decisions for them about their personal resources or mission.” “Church members who want to live missional lives don’t want to = be captured by the same concerns of club members that tie up their staff ministers.” “The typical church strategy for recruiting and deploying ministry is missionally counterproductive.” McNeal states: “We have failed to call people out to their true potential as GodR= 17;s priests in the world.”

The tough question is: “How do we turn members i= nto missionaries?” The challenge, states McNeal is “to release ministry” and to “release members from churchianity.” McN= eal describes “life in the church bubble” as a “shrink-wrap” mentality that limits “your vision to the s= ize of your church.” We need a “missiology” (i.e. a theologic= al imperative) as “a guiding operational paradigm.” In other words, our programs and activities need to fit within the perspective of our missi= on. Mission-mindedness requires “cultural relevance” so we can “build bridges to it (the culture) for the sake of gaining a hearing = for the gospel of Jesus.” “Only people without a missiology disdain attempts at being culturally relevant.”

McNeal lists several contrasts between the post-modern church and the modern era church. Among these are a focus on unifying versus splintering, affirmation versus condemnation, relationships versus moral co= des and beginning from a foundation of relationship with God rather than separa= tion from God. “Brokenness is what unites people in the postmodern world. = It is the common ground… The definition of sin is stunted life and stunt= ed potential.”

According to McNeal the evidence indicates that the ch= urch is more secular than the culture because the church adopts models or methods after the culture has cast them off. “When people come to church, expecting to find God, they often encounter a religious club holding a meet= ing where God is conspicuously absent.” Pre-Christians “may experie= nce more spiritual energy at a U2 concert.” According to McNeal, people a= re “in search of sacred space and sacred connections.” The typical church looks “at people as prospects … rather than as spiritual beings with the same q= uest for God.” Following the experience of Paul at Mars Hill, we need to l= earn that “superior living and superior loving (are) the best approach to engaging the culture with the attractiveness of the gospel.”

According to McNeal, we need to do two things; “= create a culture informed by missiology and create venues where people can practice being missionaries.” He gives nine suggestions for discussion, exposu= re, or participation to “create an informed missiological culture.”= The new reformation will be difficult, and will naturally “precipitate a crisis, both in individuals and in a congregation.” We need to change= the scorecard. Instead of countin= g how many “show up, pay up, or participate” we need to measure initiatives, conversations, volunteerism, and generally our cultural and community reach. From his own experiences, McNeal praised the man who asked= the question, “Who is this for?” regarding every church program. = - back to top -