WELS Question on Community Churches

Someone asked AnswerMan about the number of WELS congregations without Lutheran in their title. The matter was not published. I recall that AnswerMan said something like this:

1. Ask the congregation about it. They pick the name.
2. Very few have left out the name Lutheran.

Number 1 is always the response when WELS leaders are dodging their responsibilities. Guess what happens when someone is direct with a false teacher?
A. Denial.
B. Cover-up.
C. Retaliation.

The Love Shack has been covering for false teachers since the famous Theodore Hartwig case. Nothing was ever done. Harwig was chosen to promote the feminist creeds in their ELCA-clone hymnal. So far, no other Lutheran sect has corrupted the creed to have Jesus "fully human," a denial of the Two Natures united in One Person.

Getting back to the fact of dropping the name Lutheran - The simple fact remains that eliminating the name Lutheran is a key component of the Means-of-Grace-hating Church Growth leaders. Lyle Schaller, a liberal Methodist, advocating the elimination of denominational names. Robert Schuller chimed in a long time ago. Dutch Reformed, he named his congregation Garden Grove Community Church, which is not far from Fuller Seminary.

Robert Mueller gave his blessing for Crossroads in Detroit, started as a WELS mission and no longer Lutheran at all. His Ed McMahon, Paul Kuske, started Pilgrim Community Church in Columbus, with the sage advice of Floyd Stolzenburg and Roger Zehms. Prince of Peace in Reynoldsburg, Ohio, semi-kicked out of WELS (the pastor and church, but not the money) dropped WELS from its church sign. Mueller had no problem with that.

WELS has a Church Growth congregation in Chicago: Crossroads Christian Church. The name itself is deceptive, because the Disciples of Christ churches (where McGavran came from) are always called Christian Church with the denomination in parentheses, as in First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

Finding out that Crossroads in Lutheran and affiliated with WELS is a chore. I found this:

In an age of anxiety, we believe that real peace comes from Jesus Christ.
In an age of confusion, we believe that the Bible is the word of God, without error.
In an age of doubt, we believe that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.
In an age of guilt, we believe that Jesus died on the cross to remove the power of sin from our lives.
In an age of hopelessness, we believe that Jesus rose physically from death -- and so will we rise.
In an age of skepticism, we believe that God is at work in the sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion.
In an age of despair, we believe God's promises to heal and transform us.
In an age of violence, we believe that God calls us to embody his love in the world.
In an age of constant change, we believe in the unchanging Holy Trinity -- Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Crossroads is a Christian community with roots in the Lutheran tradition. We hold the three ecumenical creeds and the Lutheran Confessions to be faithful expressions of God's truth revealed to us in the Bible. Crossroads is affiliated with the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod.

The first part is adapted from my We Still Believe brochure, used all over Lutherandom, which amuses me no end. CLC congregations also use it. Too bad so few actually believe what they say.

CrossWalk in Phoenix does not offer Holy Communion, so how Lutheran are they? They are contagious, but not sacramental.

What AnswerMan avoided saying is this - WELS has increased its emphasis on stealth congregations in the hopes of fooling people into joining. They create third-rate Baptist congregations, denying their confessional heritage, in the hopes of making a splash.

PS - I missed Comedy Night at Crown of Life Church. Notice the web page does not call it a Lutheran church and the WELS affiliation is sublimated. You may recall the pastor is a big fan of Leonard Sweet, the hero of Church and Change. He was, until I pointed this out on Ichabod. Now his website and blog are unSweetened.

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M Schottey has left a new comment on your post "WELS Question on Community Churches":

My sister is a member of Crossroads in Chicago, and I myself have attended their services many times. In addition, I have sat down and talked to the pastor. Trust me when I say that the Gospel is preached there in its truth and purity and sacraments rightly administered.

GJ Question - So why are they ashamed of the name Lutheran?