Is America Heading Toward a Cultural Revolution?
Ineffective leadership plagues Christian Churches, confuses followers.

Orlando, Florida (October 15) - "We are in the early stages of another cultural revolution, a time of great upheaval and shaking, a season of spiritual seeking, especially among youth," says Dr. Michael Brown.

Brown believes the Christian Church has not responded to clear opportunities to make a significant difference in our society. "There is a reason thousands of churches close down every year in America," says Brown. "There is a reason cities with thousands of church buildings are hardly affected by those churches. There is a reason why church growth has stagnated for more than two decades."

The author of Revolution in the Church (Chosen Books), Brown is convinced we must return to a "Revolutionary mentality." Yet, he warns, "everything must begin in the Church." "Just imagine," says Brown "what would happen if we actually took Jesus or Paul at face value and began to do what they said."

It is clear that Brown lays much of the blame for ineffectiveness at the feet of inferior Church leadership. The result of abusive spiritual authority in churches across the land is bloodied, battered and, bruised believers. While he recognizes that leadership is a tough and thankless job, he says the abuse of spiritual authority is reaching a critical mass.

Brown's concerns mirror recent comments from Christian researcher, George Barna, regarding the state of Christian leadership. There is widespread confusion about leadership. Our job as Christians, Brown reminds us, is to make true disciples-a term used 260 times in the New Testament (the term Christian occurs just three times).

As disciples, our responsibilities are not limited by the walls of a church building. In fact, Brown suggests we must return to a biblical definition of Church, one that includes followers of Christ using their gifts to produce new disciples. "Our faith is more comfy that costly, more dainty than dangerous, more reasonable than radical, more life-enhancing than life-threatening," says Brown.

"Church is not so much a word introduced by Jesus to describe all Christians around the globe as it is the Lord's way of designating His worldwide congregation."

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