Jesus Cropped from the Picture

Jesus Cropped from the Picture

and were sincerely concerned about others. I knew there was something deeper taking place.

I also starting hearing rumblings from other church leaders from a variety of traditions and denominations. For example, a Presbyterian manual reported their observations about the church in America: “Some 85% will self-identify as Christians. Yet less than 40% of Americans attend church with any regularity. They believe—they just don’t go. They see no point. They have tried church…And they have decided to stay home with the paper and a cup of coffee.... Over 70 million persons in America believe in God and would join a church if they could find one they liked!” 2 George Barna wrote, “Driven out of their longtime church by boredom and the inability to serve in ways that made use of their considerable skills and knowledge, they spent some time exploring other churches. After months of honest effort, neither found a ministry that was sufficiently stimulating and having an impact on the surrounding community.” 3 Reggie McNeal added, “A growing number of people are leaving the institutional church for a new reason. They are not leaving because they lost their faith. They are leaving to preserve their faith.” 4

At the same time, I began to hear about the explosion of the Church in other parts of the world, such as Latin America, Asia, and Africa. For example, David Wells said:

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