The quotations about cell groups, below, prove two things:
- Pietistic lay-led conventicles are essential to the Church Growth Movement.
- WELS promoted cell groups through its educational programs, funded by the offerings of faithful members.
Did WELS know what was going on? Sure! David Kuske studied cell groups and researched cell group operations in WELS. He published an article in The Pope Speaks (Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly). 1991. I think some people were getting alarmed, so Kuske's article made cell groups safe for WELS.
Notice that a lot of my quotations came from a WELS Campus Ministers training event in Madison, Wisconsin, 1990. Hmmm. Would that be where the campus church joined the Willow Creek Association, under Thomas Trapp? Oh my - I just discovered another Church Growth Principle - Use your own guys to promote false doctrine. At the 1990 event, paid for by WELS, various pastors were trained in cell groupism, with a case of books by Occultist Paul Y. Cho brought to the workshop for the participants.
Have you noticed how quickly WELS, the Little Sect, Missouri, and ELCA have grown since Church Growth promotion started in all their groups? Whoosh, the statistics climb ever sky-ward. No?
In fact, cell groups are a great way to turn a Lutheran congregation into an Evangelical Covenant franchise...or a Pentecostal sect. Any doctrine (except Lutheran) will suit cell groups. Lutheran cell groups quickly begin to rely on prayer as a Means of Grace, which paves the way for praying in tongues. After all, where do they get their training manuals - from Pentecostal cell group authors, like Cho and Ortiz and C. Peter Wagner.
