Book Review | The Seven Faith Tribes by George Barna

“We often speak about wanting to be light in the darkness. America… has plenty of darkness, although it masquerades as light. Are we really providing illumination? Could we do a better job of being love in the midst of ambivalence, hostility, and fear, or of delivering wisdom in the middle of a confusing and distracted culture?” –George Barna

The Seven Faith Tribes by George Barna

I am not sure what George Barna set out to achieve by writing “The Seven Faith Tribes” given that the book is a combination multiple themes: a segmentation analysis of the American population based on spiritual beliefs and behaviors, social commentary on the decline of American culture, a call for Christians to live differently by embracing love and service to others, and laying a foundation for a vision of how society can be restored. My challenge with this book was that Barna addresses each of these themes with a different tone (stark and alarmist when decrying the decline of America’s culture, analytical and moderated when discussing statistical differences between the faith tribes) and their juxtaposition made the book feel inconsistent.

But, Barna does tie the points together and reflecting on the book I do feel that the message of this book is good and important, even if that wasn’t always clear during the process of reading it.

The point

The point is (in retrospect) very straightforward:

• American culture is declining; the composition of America’s society contributes to the decline AND influences how the problem might be addressed;
• addressing the problem needs to begin with aligning the values and worldviews of the different segments of society;
• from there, leaders must be selected based on the values that they must embody;
• changing the culture and role of the media in society will be necessary;
• the role of American families is crucial and many family-specific challenges need to be addressed;
• success depends on all of society working together, building on the success of the past while preserving the opportunity and potential of the future.

What to expect from the book

The book is 195 pages long. Barna has a fairly straight-forward writing style, though he does attempt to reach the reader at an emotional level and introduces a variety of tones (alarmist, voice of doom, down to earth, conciliatory, harmonious, etc.). My fear is that because the different sections are not consistent in theme and tone, it is difficult for most readers to maintain the attention span necessary to explore Barna’s argument from start to finish. Only focusing on one or two sections of this book isn’t dangerous; however, on their own, the sections do not achieve what they do when put together.

For example, the first chapter “America Is on the Path to Self-Destruction” is intentionally alarmist (as you can tell by the title) in order to (I assume) draw the reader in and evoke some reaction that compels them keep reading and to assign a level of importance to what Barna has to say. All fine and good. However, isolated from the rest of the book, the chapter sounds very similar to the morally superior and self-righteous rants of “Christian” pundits that have shaped most of the opinions that non-Christians have of Christianity. Absent of the plea for love, humility and service that is represented in later chapters, this chapter paints a very cold picture.

Which wouldn’t be a problem (who cares if George Barna is a crotchety naysayer? — he isn’t) except that Barna very clearly positions himself as a Christian in this book. Thus, the attitudes in the first chapter become representative of Christian attitudes. Fortunately, Barna presents a more accurate representation of how a Christian is called to address the problem of a declining society in chapter 13 “Faith Tribes Must Pull Their Weight”. Again, you have to read the whole book to appreciate to see the picture Barna paints. I’m not optimistic that most people will read the whole book.

Implications for a Kingdom Strategist

First, this book incorporates an excellent framework for developing a kingdom strategy. It addresses key issues such as:

• what is the environment in which we’re operating and which considerations have the greatest influence on our ability to achieve our Kingdom goals;
• what type of leadership is most effective for creating the kind of revolutionary transformation in peoples’ lives, in society, and in culture that results from seeking God’s Kingdom;
• how do understand others’ worldview and values so that we can share the Gospel in a way the contextual relevant; (to give an example of this, a missionary friend in Thailand describes the importance of Karma in the people’s faith system there. So when sharing the Gospel, they tell how Jesus came to wipe everyone’s Karma clean forever. Sharing the Gospel in this context helps the people they are trying to serve both hear the message and comprehend the power within it.)
• how to incorporate aspects of history and culture without becoming slaves to them.

Second, this book presents research on American society segmented by spiritual beliefs and behaviors.  This research helps us to better understand the people we are called to love and serve. Such research should always be the first step in developing a Kingdom strategy. Research creates a foundation of knowledge from which we can determine the best ways to achieve the Kingdom goals we are striving for.

More importantly, we are called to love our neighbor as we do ourselves (Matthew 22:39) and to love each other as Christ loved us (John 15:12). How did Christ love us? By engaging us, knowing the condition of our hearts and lives, speaking truth in love, and giving infinitely of himself for us. In life, in ministry, in business, in whatever, research is how we are able to engage others, to gather information and insight about their lives and situations, and to understand their worldview, values and beliefs so that we can speak truth in love. Making the effort through research demonstrates that we value the other person, who they are, what their story is. It gives us opportunity to know them and thus love them and treat them with the same dignity as God, our Father, who knows each one of us perfectly because he created us.

Perhaps the most significant value of Barna’s book is that the core research presented in it equips us with knowledge and insight needed to fulfill our calling.