Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Clueless Times Two":
I thought they were marketing to an older age group. Sure sign of shoddy evangelism when what should be good solid Christian demographic marketing of the gospel actually brings in the wrong target group. Equally appalling, and likely to come as a complete shock, is that they may not be prepared to speak in the language of 12 year olds today. The gospel given in the language of today's 25 year olds would never be understood. What's a Methodist Baptist Universalist Lutheran to do?
That "language of today" position was actually presented by WELS Pastor Jared Oldenburg (Mission pastor to Covington, Wa.) in a church news letter titled, "Multicultural Urban Missionary?" May, 2005. He had just returned from a two day Leadership Seminar in Milwaukee that featured speaker Dr. Reggie McNeal (Baptist Church Growth disciple and Fuller Seminary instructor). Quote, "I can't explain the whole two days in 400 words, but it comes down to this: Generations are different and to connect you almost need to speak a different language. Different generations have different ideas, they have different ways of communicating, different job choices and sometimes even different core values. There is no doubt that the seriousness of sin and the wonder of Jesus dying for us is necessary for every generation. However, if we try to communicate this wonderful message in the language of a different generation, we may not be communicating at all. Obviously this is a scary thing - but with the Lord's help we will have the courage to learn the language of every generation in our multicultural ministry."
Pastor Oldenburg was also active in having his new mission congregation create new creeds and using Lyle Schaller and Herb Miller's The Parish Paper articles in directing church efforts. One such presentation to the church elders was, "Recovering Inactive Members" (June 2002) which began, "I'm glad we're getting a new pastor," she said. "Yes," her friend replied. "Maybe she can get some of our inactive members to come back."....... The article goes on to point out 20 reasons people drop out of church and how to respond - none of which dealt with using God's Word.
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GJ - Lyle Schaller (another leader I met and spoke with) has some interesting ideas never mentioned by Church Growth feminists. He is a liberal and says so. He also pointed out that every church position occupied by a woman will never be taken by a man again. It becomes a woman's position and no man will take it. Notice the WELS churches with council secretaries who are women. Wait for a man to take the position. Ditto Sunday School superintendent or children's sermon speaker (a woman at St. Mark Depere). The old fuddy-duddy position of WELS forced men to do the spiritual work and kept more men coming to church. Feminist churches quickly become all-women churches. One woman talked about this with my wife. Her church had a woman pastor and an all-woman council. Hardly any men attended. Mrs. Ichabod said, "How do you like that?" The woman, after bragging a bit, said, "I miss them."
People can flip all the rules around but human behavior remains the same. A girl will ride a boy's bike, but a boy will not ride a girl's bike more than once. His friends will see to that.
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dk has left a new comment on your post "Schwaermer Input Equals Schwaermer Output":
That Hideous Strength
A quote Reggie McNeal quote cited by Brett:
“Different generations have different ideas, they have different ways of communicating, different job choices and sometimes even different core values.”
This lie is spread by Educators everywhere, who indoctrinate their pupils to think that humanity can reinvent itself every twenty years. If this statement were true we would not be able to understand “The Epic of Gilgamesh” and other ancient literature, not to mention The Holy Scriptures, since we're so far removed from ancient culture.
McNeal is just one more liar fooling around with language for his own purposes.
Quick book review: I cannot recommend C.S. Lewis’ theology, but Lewis is very observant about language problems of our modern age. In his fictional story “That Hideous Strength”, which I highly recommend, (A great metaphor for the current WELS problems) Lewis shows how the manipulation of language is used and why manipulation of language is so powerful.
For the folks on the fence—the ones who are disturbed by the liberalism in the WELS but yet are unsure of who to listen to—“That Hideous Strength” would be a good choice. Lewis’ characters are understandable; we find them thinking and reacting the way we have thought or reacted. We see real tension and real inner introspection happening in the characters that compare quite easily to our own experiences. Lewis vividly and accurately depicts how groups of people work—and how people work groups.
It’s not theology; it’s very readable. (not to say that theology is unreadable) It is a great analysis of the modus operendi (sic) of Pastor Kelm, and the other heads in the basement of 2929 N. Mayfair.
