During my recent trip to the U.S.A. I read Frank Viola and George Barna's Pagan Christianity. They explore the roots of our church practices in the book. Essentially they explain where every single part of the meetings that take place on Sundays comes from. And I mean every little itty bitty part of that meeting is explained in the book.
It can become tedious reading at times, and it is not even a scholarly tome. There are times in the book when the information being imparted, feels like well, information being imparted, which is not all that entertaining or exciting to read. The research seems solid enough, and I have read much of it elsewhere. They have included extensive foot notes, so further reading is made easier.
It is amazing when you research some of the practices that many Christians hold to be sacred and Biblical, only to find out that they are not Biblical. In fact most of all the common practices going on on Sunday mornings around the world come from pagan backgrounds.
Now it seems to me that Frank Viola and George Barna assume that since the roots are pagan, then they must be bad. Certainly God cannot use what we do if pagan's first did it? To be honest that sentiment is not overtly expressed in the book, but it is easy to draw that conclusion from reading it. I believe and my experience in life, is that God can use anything, even if it has pagan roots, to accomplish his will. However I do appreciate learning the roots of the things I grew up practicing.
There is a sequel to this book, that I have not yet read, called something like Reimagining Church, or something similar to that. Which I am assuming is Frank and George's grand plan how to fix things. I am not so sure we need a grand plan from either of them, but who knows maybe it will work? I just wish we all could assume Jesus knows how to build His church, and leave it to Him.
Pagan Christianity seems to imply that practicing our faith the way the first church did is the right way to go. We should meet in each other's homes, have no hierarchy, or paid clergy, and etc etc. The way I feel is that certainly the first group of believers practiced many good things, and we should incorporate the themes in our lives now. However we cannot copy what they did, mainly because we are not first century folks. Our context is different.
Pagan Christianity is a worthwhile read, especially if you are convinced the Christian religion is Biblical and that your particular tradition is following the scriptures in all that you do.
Missionary to Nakuru, Kenya. Co-founder of A Future and a Hope, a home for girls.
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