A Baptist leader once explained that there are Baptists and Babtists. He stretched out the word Babtists, as "Ba-a-a-abtists." I thought that was pretty funny. Many did not. I think they were the Babtists.
That is why I remind Church and Change leaders about organizing ther sacred pilgrimage to hear Babtist Ed Stetzer, who has abandoned the pulpit in favor of telling everyone what to do. That must work. One LCMS leader threw himself at Stetzer's feet, begging for pearls of wisdom.
Some people think WELS and Missouri are joined at the hip through Thrivent, but I believe the Church Growth Movement is the glue holding them together. This is Ed Stetzer, discussing the difference between Missouri and WELS, since both groups are paying him to speak:
I like Lutherans.
In one of my first blog posts (about one year ago now), I wrote about my time speaking with their leadership at Concordia University. I talked about what I learned from one of their bishops and how they rebuked me.
I am excited about speaking to the Missouri Synod Lutherans North American Mission Executives in St. Louis in April 2009.
Also, I will be with another tribe of Lutherans in 2009. In this case, I will be with some Wisconsin Synod leaders at a meeting hosted in Milwaukee by a group called WELS Church and Change in November 2009.
(I am sure that someone will tell me the differences along the way, and it may include a famous episode of the T.V. show Cheers, where Woody and his fiancé discover they are from different Lutheran denomination.)
My favorite Cheers / Lutheran exchange:
Woody - "Ask her why she thinks the Book of Concord is not in line with the Scriptures!"
Kelly - "Because it's not."
Woody - "HERETIC !!!"
Good people, those Lutherans.
And, they (the Missouri Synod) have a plan for planting 2000 churches by 2017, the anniversary of something in Europe.
So, I received the email below and answered with some ideas from Planting Missional Churches. However, I think it would be helpful to hear from you on some of the job descriptions you would want for a core team. I will probably use them for an article as well, so be sure to put your name a church if you have any insights.
Here is the email. Please take a look and let's give a little blog help to some Lutherans who love Jesus and want to plant churches.
My name is Dick Evers, and I am part of The 72-Partners on the Road (formerly Harvesters for Christ) a ministry of LCMS World Mission.
It is our understanding that you have considerable expertise in church planting.
The 72 teams provide training to existing congregations to begin, enhance or revitalize their outreach activities. You can check out our website: www.lcms.org/The72. There are about 70 of us, located in various areas of the country.
Our ministry was recently asked by the LCMS to get involved with our congregations who want to sponsor a church plant. We are trying to establish a training program for The 72 teams who will work with the congregation and the church planters. As you will note from the attached "Areas of Training" information which discusses what we do, we believe we can be of real help to the church planting teams and the church planter.
We understand that the congregation is to provide a "core" group (40 members or more) and a launch team to work with the church planter. However, we are not exactly sure of the responsibilities of the core group and the launch team. We want to gear our training to help both groups be better prepared, as well as the church planter. We will be only acting in a "helping equip" role, not doing any supervising.
Can you give me any direction as to how we might find the basic "job descriptions" of the "core" group and the launch team? By knowing more about what the core group and launch team are supposed to do (or what additional help they could be to the church plant with more training), we can modify our existing modules, or create new ones, to help equip them.
Any information or direction you can provide us on how to find the "job descriptions" or any other comments you have that might be helpful to us would be greatly appreciated.
May God continue to bless your ministry,
Dick Evers
The 72-Partners on the Road
Plus these two comments:
Michael Schutz
08/08/08 @ 1:24 AMHi Ed,
Just saw this blog post, and though I don't have much of an on-topic response at this point (though the topic of church planting always intrigues me, and I've been following your blog for a while), I just wanted to give a shout-out as an LCMS Lutheran to say I'm glad you're connecting with some of us. We can be a bit of an odd bunch, definitely out of many mainstream evangelical (I use the small "e" intentionally) conversations, but I think we can learn a lot from one another! Blessings as you prepare to enter this brave new world (for you). :)
Dick Evers
08/24/08 @ 7:44 AMI want to thank you Ed for putting my e-mail on your blog. I also want to thank all those that provided comments. They were most helpful. As Michael Schutz said, we LCMS Lutherans can learn a bit from one another. Many thanks again to all.
***
GJ - The blog speaks for itself. Stetzer discussed Lutheran differences by quoting a TV show. He might have addressed the issue of Baptist sects. One of his responders, did, and this is but a tip of the iceberg:
Lynn Pryor
08/06/08 @ 12:38 PMYour quote from the Cheers episode reminds me of the old Emo Phillips routine:
Once I saw this guy on a bridge about to jump. I said, "Don't do it!" He said, "Nobody loves me." I said, "God loves you. Do you believe in God?"
He said, "Yes." I said, "Are you a Christian or a Jew?" He said, "A Christian." I said, "Me, too! Protestant or Catholic?" He said, "Protestant." I said, "Me, too! What franchise?" He said, "Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?" He said, "Northern Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?"
He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region, or Northern Conservative Baptist Eastern Region?" He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region." I said, "Me, too!"
Northern Conservative†Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879, or Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?" He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912." I said, "Die, heretic!" And I pushed him over.
