Pagan Christianity? (Frank Viola and George Barna)

Over the past 6 months I've finished many books on the topic of "The Church". Some of them have been good (see my summary on "Why We Love The Church" and "Sharpening The Focus of The Church") and some of them have been "different". This book by Frank Viola and George Barna is in the "different" category. I must preface this by saying, I was very intrigued when I read the back cover of Pagan Christianity?

It says:
Are we really doing church "by the book?" Not cure? This books amakes an unsettling proposal: Most of what present-day Christians do in church each Sunday is rooted, not in the New Testament, but in pagan culture and rituals developed long after the death of the apostles.

It peaked my interest! Here are a few other quotes from the book. Let me implore you, if you're going to read my summary on this book, please read my summary on "Why We Love The Church"!!

What follows is Luther’s order of worship:
Singing
Prayer
Sermon
Admonition to the People
Lord’s Supper
Singing
Post Communion prayer
Benediction (pg 56)

We grow by functioning, not by passively watching and listening. Let’s face it. The Protestant order of worship is largely unscriptural, impractical, and unspiritual. It has no analog in the New Testament. (pg 77)

This is a good point and I agree that the order of service is never prescribed in the New Testament.

The word “pastors” does appear in the New Testament. “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers” (Eph 4:11). This is the only verse in the entire New Testament where the word “pastor” is used. [footnote: a derivative form of the Greek word “poimen” is used in Acts 20:28 and 1 Peter 5:2-3] (pg 106)

Okay, this is a good point too. But then Viola goes off the chart and states:

We believe the pastoral office has stolen your right to function as a full member of Christ’s body. It has distorted the reality of the body making the pastor a giant mouth and transforming you into a tiny ear. It has rendered you a mute spectator who is proficient at taking sermon notes and passing an offering plate. (pg 136)

Wow! He's pretty passionate about that one eh? Listen to these stats too about the pastoral office:

- 90% work more that 46 hrs a week
- 81% say they have insufficient time with their spouses
- 40% of pastoral resignations are due to burnout
Most pastors are expected to juggle 15 major tasks at once (1. casting vision 2. identifying and training leaders 3. preaching and teaching 4. raising money 5. serving the needy 6. providing strategy and planning 7. organizing church activities and programs 8. overseeing all administration 9. managing staff and volunteers 10. resolving conflict 11. representing the congregation in the community 12. providing congregation care and counselling 13. evangelizing the unsaved 14. administering the sacraments 15. discipling individuals)

Simply put: Jesus Christ never intended any person to sport all the hats a present-day pastor is expected to wear. (pg 139)

And I agree that God never intended any person to sport all of these hats. That's why the church needs a plurality of leaders.

Then Viola has a whole chapter on "dressing up for church", which I won't discuss here because I hope we're all past that.

I must say though that I did smile and agree with these quotes (if you'd like to refer to my previous 2009 summary of Master Plan of Evangelism please do).

Most evangelical Christians believe in and practice believer’s baptism as opposed to infant baptism. Likewise, most Protestants believe and practice baptism by immersion rather than by sprinkling. The New Testament as well as early church history stand with both of these positions. (pg 188)

A complete examination of the methods by which Christian workers were trained in the first century is beyond the scope of this book. However, a small chorus of books have been dedicated to the subject. [footnote: Robert E. Coleman, The Master Plan of Evangelism (1993); A.B. Bruce, The Training of the Twelve (1979); Second Timothy 2:2 refers to the concept of training Christian workers that is exemplified in the Gospels and Acts.] (pg 201)

He also gives an interesting fact about the history of Bible chapter and verse divisions:

In the year 1227, a professor at the University of Paris named Stephen Langton added chapter to all the books of the Bible. Then in 1551, a printer named Robert Stephanus (sometimes called Robert Estienne) numbered the sentences in all the books of the New Testament (pg 229)

We need to abandon [the clipboard approach to pick and choosing verses to quote], step back, and take a fresh look at the Scriptures. We must become familiar with the whole sweeping drama from beginning to end. (pg 239)

Finally, he discusses church leadership and it in he makes some errors:

Decision making in the New Testament church fell upon the shoulders of the whole assembly. Traveling church planters would sometimes give input and direction. But ultimately, the whole church made local decisions under the lordship of Jesus Christ. It was the church’s responsibility to find the Lord’s mind together and act accordingly (pg 248).

I'm not sure if Viola missed reading Acts 15, but the elders played a much more important role than he seems to suggest.

Overall, the ideas in this book I hope will push the church to not be as "pastor" and "sermon" centric. However, "leaders" and "preaching/teaching" must remain!