Church and Change Hymn

Paul Kelm, Yes-But Theologian for Church and Change

Zion, Sleep! (TLH #479, Zion Rise)

Zion. Sleep! Zion, Sleep! Slumber while we slay thy sheep.
Let’s not talk of efficacy, Never let them lose their sleep.
Church and Change will lull them always,
Zion yonder will not gain the prize.
Zion, sleep! Zion, sleep!

Scorn the cross, scorn the cross. Zion, get the taste of death,
Load them down with hate and jeering, spiteful til you’re out of breath.
See the Gospel disappearing,
Zion count the Lutheran name as loss.
Spread the dross, spread the dross.

MBO! MBO! Zion ever plan thy days,
Lest the Holy Spirit guide thee, and they trust the Means of Grace.
Leonard Sweet reprove and chide thee,
Zion, you must have more parking space.
MBO! MBO!

Therefore, woe to the Church which has no men of this stripe, men who stand as watchmen on the walls of Zion, sound the alarm whenever a foe threatens to rush the walls, and rally to the banner of Jesus Christ for a holy war!"
C. F. W. Walther, The Proper Distinction between Law and Gospel, trans., W. H. T. Dau, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1928, p. 28.


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GJ - Lutherans can no longer sing Zion, Rise with a clear conscience, so this version will suit the synodical mood.

By the way, Kelm's congregation no longer lists a "life coach" on the staff. No email has arrived to explain why they abandoned this crucial aspect of a ministry based on the Means of Grace.

Compare and Contrast: Church & Change vs. Luther

Leonard Sweet, Guru to WELS and LCMS

Bailing Water, Quoting a Church and Change Cheerleader (Kelm?)

We do want to seek to be effective as we share THE efficacious. To fail to differentiate these two will likely cause one to either fall into the liberal left ditch of "Church Growth Theology" or into the loveless right ditch of "Us Four, No More, Shut the Door" or "All I Have To Be Is Faithful" mentality.


Luther, quoted by Walther:

Luther: "For if it were possible that the devil were to preach this truth, the preaching would not be false or made up of lies and a person believing it would have what it promises.--After this fruit, which is the principal and most reliable one and cannot deceive, there follow in the course of time other fruits, namely, a life in beautiful harmony with this doctrine and in no way contrary to it. But these fruits are to be regarded as genuine fruits only where the first fruit, namely, the doctrine of Christ, already exists." Martin Luther, St. L., XIII, pp. 800ff.
C. F. W. Walther, The Proper Distinction between Law and Gospel, trans., W. H. T. Dau, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1928, p. 413. Matthew 7:21.

Luther: "Now, the Lord in this passage speaks, in particular, of preachers or prophets, whose real and proper fruit is nothing else that this, that they diligently proclaim this will of God to the people and teach them that God is gracious and merciful and has no pleasure in the death of a sinner, but wants him to live, moreover, that God has manifested His mercy by having His only-begotten Son become man. Whoever, now, receives Him and believes in Him, that is, whoever takes comfort in the fact for the sake of His Son, God will be merciful to him, will forgive his sins, and grant him eternal salvation, etc.,--whoever is engaged in this preaching of the pure Gospel and thus directs men to Christ, the only Mediator between God and men, he, as a preacher, is doing the will of God. That is the genuine fruit by which no is deceived or duped." C. F. W. Walther, The Proper Distinction between Law and Gospel, trans., W. H. T. Dau, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1928, p. 413. St. L. XIII, 800 ff. Matthew 7:21.

"For the devil at all times assaults the grace of God; no heresy can bear the teaching of divine grace." Martin Luther (on Deut 4:24; St. L. III, 1691 ff.)
C. F. W. Walther, The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel, trans., W. H. T. Dau, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1928, p. 160.

"Luther's remark about the enmity of all heretics against the grace of God is an important axiomatic statement. Every heresy that has sprung up was caused by the heretic's inability to believe that man becomes righteous in the sight of God, and is saved, by grace alone. That is the real rock of offense against which all heretics, all false teachers, dash their head."
C. F. W. Walther, The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel, trans., W. H. T. Dau, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1928, p. 163.

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GJ - Does anyone else detect loathing in the Church and Change quotation?

1. The Word of God is not effective until we make it effective. The ignorant lobbyist tries to hair-split about effective and efficacious, essentially the same words.
   
2. Loveless right ditch! The pure Word of God is so loveless, unlike Church and Change with its overflowing love for...Leonard Sweet.
   
3. Us four, no more, shut the door! Ahem. Has this apostate lobby noticed that their takeover of WELS has coincided with rapid decline in membership, closing of schools, and financial insolvency? Financial insolvency while getting the largest charitable gift ever.

ELCA Makes Money on New Hymnal

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

October 31, 2007

Augsburg Fortress Board Acts on ELCA Publisher's Future
07-176-JB

MINNEAPOLIS (ELCA) -- The board of trustees of Augsburg
Fortress, the publishing ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA), looked toward the future of the
ministry by adopting a 2008 budget plan that calls for investment
in products and infrastructure. The board also approved a
confidential strategic plan for the publisher through 2010.
The board, which met here Oct. 19-20, learned that the
company had generated a net operating profit of nearly $3.3
million though Sept. 30 of this year. Net sales of $39,177,000
were spurred by continuing strong sales of Evangelical Lutheran
Worship (ELW) resources. John Rahja, chief financial officer,
Augsburg Fortress, said ELW sales through Sept. 30 were $11.4
million, most generated by sales of 513,000 copies of the ELW pew
edition in 2007. More than 825,000 total copies have been sold
since the pew edition was first offered for sale in October 2006.
Augsburg Fortress is expected to finish 2007 with net
income, Rahja told the board.
The primary goal of the company's strategic plan for the
next three years is "to focus and wisely invest the human and
financial resources of this organization for the future," said
Beth A. Lewis, president and chief executive officer, Augsburg
Fortress.
After adopting the strategic plan the board adopted a
proposal authorizing expenditure of up to $2.3 million for a
unified "Enterprise Resource Planning" business management
system to replace multiple operating systems already being used
by the publisher.
"The (investment in) information technology (IT)
infrastructure is essential," Lewis said, noting that, because of
the company's present systems, its employees have to engage in
time-consuming, laborious processes to do routine work. "There is
risk in an IT conversion, but I believe there is greater risk in
our not doing it," she said.
Based on the company's strategic plan goals and objectives,
the board adopted a budget for 2008 that projects a $1.4 million
net loss. Michael D. Bash, board chair, Long Lake, Minn., said
the board's decision about the 2008 budget was "significant"
because the budget proposal required investing $2.8 million in
product development and up to $2.3 million in infrastructure
improvements. The company's goals and objectives for next year
also require taking $1 million from the company's reserves for
investment in resources and infrastructure. If the company does
not make these investments, Augsburg Fortress risks losing money
in future years, Bash said.
"We are using the (financial) success of this year (and) the
success of ELW, to fund investments for the future," Bash
explained in an interview.
In recent years the trustees have had to make decisions to
help Augsburg Fortress survive, he said. "Now we believe that
we're making the right decisions to move forward," Bash added.
The trustees adopted a proposal to establish funds "to
receive designated and undesignated gifts for current projects in
accord with this ministry's purposes and mission." The publisher
hopes to use these funds for projects in "underserved markets"
that would not be possible without additional funding. In 2006
the trustees established a similar fund, the "One Mission
Endowment Fund" which resides in the ELCA Foundation.
Contributors can provide money to the endowment fund for special
concerns and scholarships, and to honor family, friends and
colleagues.

Craig's List Victim Was ELCA Pastor's Daughter

Funeral held Oct. 31 for Katherine Olson, graduate, ELCA's St. Olaf College
November 2, 2007


by Melissa Ramirez Cooper, ELCA News Service

A funeral service was held Oct. 31 for Katherine Ann Olson, 24, who was found dead last week after responding to a baby-sitting job advertised on the Internet site craigslist.com, reported the Star Tribune, Minneapolis-St. Paul. A 19-year-old man from Savage, Minn., has been charged with second-degree murder for allegedly luring Olson to his home, shooting her once in his bedroom and abandoning her body in the trunk of her car at a nearby park, the Star Tribune reported. Olson graduated from St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn., in 2006. St. Olaf is one of 28 colleges and universities of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).

"We are broken-hearted, but we will support you and stand beside you as long as this journey takes," the Rev. Craig E. Johnson, bishop, ELCA Minneapolis Area Synod, told the Olson family at the funeral. Johnson also read aloud part of a statement from the Olson family: "The outpouring of grief has come from more places than we can comprehend," and "we are truly surrounded by 'so great a cloud of witnesses.'" Olson's father is the Rev. Rolf E. Olson, pastor of Richfield Lutheran Church, Minneapolis. Richfield Lutheran is a congregation of the ELCA.

The funeral took place at Christ Presbyterian Church, Edina, Minn. More than 1,600 relatives, friends, neighbors and others attended the