The Reformed Church in America is closing down its magazine. The United Methodists did the same a long time ago. The RCA (Robert Schuller's denomination) had a tiny circulation, down to 20,000 for a denomination of 166,000. The Lutheran (ELCA) said the RCA magazine was prized for its editorial independence. I supposed that means prized by very few.
An interesting note added that some of the magazine's money was diverted for a quarterly Church Growth periodical - RCA Today, the Reformed equivalent of WELS' TELL magazine, started in 1977 by Ron Roth and Paul Calvin Kelm.
Fantasy Satire
A radical departure would have looked like this - a secretive cabal--The Means of Grace Network--diverted some RCA money and started a magazine called The Efficacious Word, Living Sacraments, but called TEWLS to fool the masses.
In spite of a few objections, TEWLS announced its goal of promoting Lutheran doctrine. Editor Paul Luther Vanderkelm used his position to affirm Reformed doctrine while covertly promoting Lutheran doctrine. "We all know the Word of God is not efficacious," wrote Vanderkelm, in an editorial, "but wouldn't it be great if it were?"
Various stooges were trotted out to praise such books as Luther's Commentary on Galatians, and The Large Catechism. David Lutherskey wrote a magazine article called "Just the Word and Ordinances, or God's True Means of Grace?" He cleverly used a question as a title, to avert suspicion. "I've come across some strange books in the church library," said layman Dutch Vanderhooft. Professor Lutherskey said, "Maybe Luther's sermons could help us with our work. His denomination is still the largest Protestant group in the world. We can learn a lot from Luther. He was a Christian too."
More funds were diverted and outside grants requested for sending pastors to conservative Lutheran seminaries. (This is a fantasy folks, so assume the seminaries were still Lutheran and not promoting Deformed Dreck.) RCA ministers came back to write in TEWLS that they could all learn a lot from those Lutheran schools.
TEWLS editors and supporters managed to get their buddies, who studied at the Lutheran seminaries, into positions at their headquarters. Their first real triumph was replacing the evangelism professor at their seminary with a Professor of the External Word. Fortunately, most people did not know what that meant. The Means of Grace Network members winked at each other during the solemn installation of their chosen professor Artful Seelsorger.
When the MOGN met, they worked on good dodges for the accusation they were covert Lutherans.
- "Didn't you study at both Concordias and Bethany?" Answer - "I am thankful to God that I had the chance to learn firsthand about the errors of the Lutherans. But they do have a lot of useful tips we can use. They are Christians too - we can learn from them."
- "Your statements in TEWLS are almost identical to Lutheran doctrine. In fact, you are always quoting Luther, Chemnitz, Gerhard, Gerhardt, Chytraeus." Answer - "We sing Gerhardt's hymns. Does that make us Lutheran? Don't fall for legalism. I am well trained by our seminary. I can separate the wheat from the chaff."
- "You seem to be weak on the ordinances. We have to maintain our standards that baptism and the Lord's Supper do nothing and are merely symbolic." Answer - "We are not introducing anything new or changing anything. The Means of Grace are doctrinally neutral. We can call ourselves anything we want, but the Word is still effective. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater."
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GJ - But that never seems to happen. The Deformed trash Lutheran doctrine and worship, and the Lutherans pay them tuition money and go to their expensive conferences.
One word about baptismal regeneration, the Real Presence, the Means of Grace, or the efficacious Word and the Reformed will go into epic shunning mode. So who has doctrinal discipline - the Reformed or the Lutherans?
