At Church Central and in the Society for Church Consulting we build better churches. So I keep an eye out for the natural flow of an institution toward stagnation. And I keep an ear out for the latest ideas about stemming that flow, changing or reversing it. Great ideas for church breakthroughs, turning plateaued congregations back to growth and re-invigorating dead churches?— these are Church Central's and any church consultant's lifeblood.

That's why George Barna's new book, "Pagan Christianity," caught my attention recently. This 2008 release from Tyndale House is actually an update of a book by Frank Viola released a few years ago. (That name struck me as familiar, so I tracked it down to a guy who writes some very weird stuff about house churches. And I like house churches.)

Anyway, in all fairness, I haven't yet read this book. But I have read from Viola's other works. And, I read Barna's previous book, "Revolution," which I think has the same premise: the Church has it all wrong.

However, instead of calling for churches to change— as Church Central does— Barna and Viola call for churches to recognize how unbiblical they are and to abandon traditional forms. I'm getting this from the excerpt I read on Crosswalk.com:

"... if you happen to be one of those people who gathers with other Christians outside the pale of institutional Christianity, you will discover afresh that not only is Scripture on your side—but history stands with you as well."

Outside institutional Christianity may be simple church, organic church or emerging church, I guess. At least Viola speaks to these groups at conferences. But I haven't heard any other speakers in these groups as divisive and condemning as he is toward churches that have pews and bulletins (granted, an outrage.)

Viola claims churches don't examine what they're doing. Here's a quote from his book: "Most Christians who claim to uphold the integrity of God's Word have never sought to see if what they do every Sunday has any scriptural backing. How do we know this? Because if they did, it would lead them to some very disturbing conclusions that would compel them by conscience to forever abandon what they are doing."

I can't imagine my conscience being pricked to the point of forcing me to abandon such innocuous church traditions as pews. Except, wait, I've already abandoned those. In fact, unlike Viola, who hasn't been in a "traditional" church since the late 1980s, I've seen most new or growing churches abandon what he claims as heretical traditions, i.e., pews, church clothes and steeples. Alas, most are keeping sermons, seminaries and choirs.

Anyway, if institutional church leaders read this book, hopefully only more examination will result— the kind that Church Central also promotes as useful to churches interested in healthy growth. Noted church consultant Bill Easum may agree. He reviewed the book on Leadership Network and wrote:

"Every church leader ought to read this book and respond to its criticism of modern day Christianity with the goal of addressing the passivity and elitism of today's church."

Any churches that close their doors as a result of this book may not really help the cause of Christ. I don't know; I think it depends on the church. But I certainly don't think de-institutionalizing an institution will render it flawless. No matter the form, all churches are made up of one continuously imperfect entity— people.