Afterword

THE NEXT STEP

Now we have all this information about the origins of institutional church practices. So what? Is this merely (as my good friend Tom Lindholtz puts it) "cursing about the darkness instead of lighting a candle?"

Viola and Barna brilliantly open this epilogue with the words from Acts 2:37. They use the NASB, but I will substitute the NIV as I believe the word "cut" is more accurately translated there: "When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, 'Brothers, what shall we do?'"

The critical review taken on should impact all who have been or are still "caught up" in many unbiblical practices of the institutional church. Our souls should be "pierced" (like Mary's) and our hearts should be "cut."

Reading this book takes courage. Such courage is required not because of what the book says, but because of what you, as a follower of Christ, should do in response to what you have read.

...Having read this book, you must make a decision" Will you act upon what you have read, or will you simply be informed by it?

It's a prudent urging by Viola and Barna for those who want to earnestly fall in line with God's intentions for the Body. This is a plea to indeed light a candle in the darkness rather than cursing it.

The organized church has moved down a crooked path over the past two thousand years. The only way to get it back on track is for each of us to begin prayerfully exploring the original plan that God had for His people and then be willing to respond faithfully to that plan. In this way, the Revolution that has begun to take root in our day will spread far and wide. And God will get what He has always been after.