Where have you gone, Babtist Ed Stetzer,
Wisconsin turns its lonely eyes to you (Woo, woo, woo)
What's that you say, Mrs. Robinson
Paul Calvin Kelm has left and gone away
(Hey, hey, hey...hey, hey, hey).
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Find Your Local Purpose-Driven WELS Church":
FYI, The WELS has an approved, paid for the rights, rewrite of The Purpose Driven Life along with edited study materials for the 40 Days of Purpose small group study, and even "replacement" videos to substitute a more WELS based message in place of Rick Warren. I'm sure you won't be impressed that it was all produced by St. Paul's, Muskego. However these materials were used by other Milwaukee Area WELS churches. Maybe NPH has them by now. I haven't looked. Just sayin'
Karl G.
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Expand the "Show advanced search options" bar and choose "Lutheran - Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod" (it's listed, so they are there). Put in zip code and select widest range.
Below are three WELS congregations and one LCMS parish.
Ascension Lutheran Church -- Plymouth, MN -- Pastor Bruce Janisch.
Shepherd of The Hills -- Pewaukee, WI -- LCMS
Shepherd of The Hills -- Pewaukee, WI -- LCMS
St. Paul's Lutheran Church -- Muskego, WI -- Peter Pan-denominational
Crown of Life Church -- Corona, CA -- Rick Johnson, a Leonard Sweet-heart. Read about one Shrinker praising another Shrinker.
Crown of Life Church -- Corona, CA -- Rick Johnson, a Leonard Sweet-heart. Read about one Shrinker praising another Shrinker.
There's also a "Lutheran -- Unspecified" option. Could be many more in those lists... It would take someone familiar with each state to fish though all the names in the unspecified list... Here is a link to a zip code finder: http://maps.huge.info/zip.htm. When I briefly checked, I did not see the usual suspects, like The CORE, or St. Mark's DePere, but I was only looking at the "Lutheran - Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod" option -- they could have listed themselves as lutheran unspecified, or simply not specified "Lutheran" at all -- which is more than likely IMHO if they are going that direction anyway. Also, I believe that Brothers of John the Steadfast are compiling a list of LCMS Willow Creek and Purpose Driven churches...
Purpose-Driven Church Finder.
Willow Crick Association Church Finder
Supposedly Al Barry and Paul McCain were against CG, but St. John in Ellisville was a member of the Willow Creek Association and probably still is.
Does it require seminary graduation to determine that membership in a Lutheran denomination and another denomination--like Willow Crick or Saddlesore--is rank unionism?
WELS laity - use the church finders to locate dual membership congregations in your region. Post comments here and I will compile a list.
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Find Your Local Purpose-Driven WELS Church":
Porpoise Drivel Churches:
The advanced search function isn't working at this point.
A ZIP code search starting with "54" covering most of northern Wisconsin turned up only this one below. Note the date of their campaign.
Central Lutheran Chippewa Falls WI 450 40 Days of Community: February 2006 40 DOC. Someone said WELS, but there is no clear identification. Another said LCMS.
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Find Your Local Purpose-Driven WELS Church":
In my search I didn't find any WELS, but many LCMS congregations:
Bethlehem Lutheran Church
Lutheran - Lutheran (Missouri Synod) Altoona WI
St Matthew Lutheran Church
Lutheran - Lutheran (Missouri Synod) Eau Claire WI
Mount Olive Lutheran Church
Lutheran - Lutheran (Missouri Synod)
http://www.mtoliveweston.org
Weston WI
Trinity Lutheran Church
Lutheran - Lutheran (Missouri Synod)Wausau WI
St. Mark's Lutheran Church
Lutheran - Lutheran (Missouri Synod)Wausau WI
St Paul Lutheran
Lutheran - Lutheran (Missouri Synod)Madison WI
Bethlehem Lutheran Church
Lutheran - Lutheran (Missouri Synod) Sun Prairie WI
Christ Memorial Lutheran Church
Lutheran - Lutheran (Missouri Synod)Madison WI
Trinity Lutheran Church
Lutheran - Unspecified/other
Merrill WI
(Trinity doesn’t list their affiliation here or on their website. Their pastors/lay minister are all LCMS trained.)
St John Lutheran Church
Lutheran - Lutheran (Missouri Synod) Merrill WI
St Lukes Lutheran Church
Lutheran - Unspecified/other
Wisconsin Rapids WI
(Again, hard to find a synodical affiliation, but LCMS trained people and links.)
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Find Your Local Purpose-Driven WELS Church":
Some more search results:
St. Paul's Lutheran Church
Lutheran - Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod
http://www.stpaulmuskego.org/
Muskego WI
Shepherd of The Hills
Lutheran - Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod
Pewaukee WI
(Shepherd of the Hills is LCMS)
Ascension Lutheran Church
Lutheran - Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod
http://www.ascensionlutheranchurch.org/site/default.asp?sec_id=1913
Plymouth MN
Crosswalk Church
Lutheran - Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod Phoenix AZ
Not really WELS. Their own district rejected them, but Pastor Jeff is on the WELS roster. Wisconsin Lutheran College got its prez from CW, plus two board members, including Gunn. WELS is really disciplining that church!
Shepherd of The Hills
Lutheran - Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod
Fountain Hills AZ
(Shepherd of the Hills is ELCA)
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Anonymous Shrinker has left a new comment on your post "Find Your Local Purpose-Driven WELS Church":
You guys are ALL Losers. Get a life.
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Find Your Local Purpose-Driven WELS Church":
2 more WELS congregations that have done a 40 Days of Purpose series are Good Shepherd Lutheran in Lake Benton, MN and St John Ev Lutheran in Pipestone, MN.
14 comments:
Willow Crick: In the "(920)" area code covering northeast Wisconsin, the only WELS church was St. Mark in Depere. The other churches staining the name of Luther were either ELCA or Mizzurah.
Are these churches sub rosa Lutherans? Christians? Baptists? What?
Follow such religious leaders at the risk of your soul and damnation.
Here is an interesting post from WELS Q and A.
I find the last paragraph to be good, but kind of a paradox from the previous one. This should explain a lot to those wondering why you are seeing what you are. For emphasis:
In recent years the WELS has been encouraging congregations to adopt biblically-based mission statements and to measure all they do by their mission statement.
(Could this explain why there is not only embracing of a mission statement, but all that goes with it. I mean what good is a mission statement and the like unless you are willing to embrace all of the CG stuff. I don't think that I am making an overstatement. Look at the whole post below and tell me, if the expectation is to have a mission statement against which measurable goals can be met, doesn't that make a church a slave to itself rather than to the Gospel of Christ and the simple proclamation thereof? And to what extent does a church body reject the so called "bad" stuff of CG? Unless you have the willingness to put everything in place, which winds up being the case, then there are no guts to it.
Here's the full post.
Q: A local WELS church is embracing a program called "Purpose Driven Church". Is this sanctioned by WELS for use in its churches? This church is changing it's structure, etc. to fit this concept, and it is frequently mentioned in the church itself. I am concerned about this change from other WELS churches that I have been in, and even heard from people at the church that "the WELS is dying, and changes have to be made".
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A: The term "Purpose Driven Church" comes from a book of the same name written by Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Valley Community Church. The church is located in Orange County, California, and is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.
"Baptist" is intentionally omitted from the church's name, largely because the intent of this congregation from the beginning of its existence in 1980 was not so much to reach out to Baptists as to the unchurched living in the community. In its first 15 years of existence it grew to over 10,000 in attendance. Pastor Warren has also conducted numerous Purpose-Driven Church Seminars in which, according to his book, he has taught 22,000 pastors the principles that he sets forth in this book.
Warren's major premise is that "the starting point for every church should be the question, 'Why do we exist?'" First, Warren writes, you need to define your purpose. Then you need to communicate your purpose to everyone in the congregation. Thirdly, the congregation should organize around its purpose. Finally, a congregation should apply its purpose to everything that it does.
All of this is laudable. A congregation needs to know why it exists and needs to make sure that whatever it is expending time and energy on helps to further the mission God has given to it. In recent years the WELS has been encouraging congregations to adopt biblically-based mission statements and to measure all they do by their mission statement.
Congregations would be ill-served, however, to emulate the kind of purposes that Warren sets forth as the purposes of Saddleback Valley Community Church; for these purposes (he has five of them) are framed in terms of results rather than in terms of activities. Ultimately, the purpose of a congregation is to preach the gospel and administer the sacraments with the intent of nurturing believers in their life of faith and of converting unbelievers. Growth in faith and conversion is the work of the Holy Spirit. Since the Spirit works through the Means of Grace (the gospel in Word and Sacrament), congregations can and should see as their mission getting the Word out to as many as they can, both to their own members and to those who do not yet know Christ as Savior; but we must leave the results to God. God makes the seed of the Word grow (1 Cor. 3:6).
Porpoise Drivel Churches:
The advanced search function isn't working at this point.
A ZIP code search starting with "54" covering most of northern Wisconsin turned up only this one below. Note the date of their campaign.
Central Lutheran (Lutheran - Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod) Chippewa Falls WI 450 40 Days of Community: February 2006 40 DOC
In my search I didn't find any WELS, but many LCMS congregations:
Bethlehem Lutheran Church
Lutheran - Lutheran (Missouri Synod) Altoona WI
St Matthew Lutheran Church
Lutheran - Lutheran (Missouri Synod) Eau Claire WI
Mount Olive Lutheran Church
Lutheran - Lutheran (Missouri Synod)
http://www.mtoliveweston.org
Weston WI
Trinity Lutheran Church
Lutheran - Lutheran (Missouri Synod)Wausau WI
St. Mark's Lutheran Church
Lutheran - Lutheran (Missouri Synod)Wausau WI
St Paul Lutheran
Lutheran - Lutheran (Missouri Synod)Madison WI
Bethlehem Lutheran Church
Lutheran - Lutheran (Missouri Synod) Sun Prairie WI
Christ Memorial Lutheran Church
Lutheran - Lutheran (Missouri Synod)Madison WI
Trinity Lutheran Church
Lutheran - Unspecified/other
Merrill WI
(Trinity doesn’t list their affiliation here or on their website. Their pastors/lay minister are all LCMS trained.)
St John Lutheran Church
Lutheran - Lutheran (Missouri Synod) Merrill WI
St Lukes Lutheran Church
Lutheran - Unspecified/other
Wisconsin Rapids WI
(Again, hard to find a synodical affiliation, but LCMS trained people and links.)
FYI, The WELS has an approved, paid for the rights, rewrite of The Purpose Driven Life along with edited study materials for the 40 Days of Purpose small group study, and even "replacement" videos to substitute a more WELS based message in place of Rick Warren. I'm sure you won't be impressed that it was all produced by St. Paul's, Muskego. However these materials were used by other Milwaukee Area WELS churches. Maybe NPH has them by now. I haven't looked. Just sayin'
Karl G.
Central Lutheran in Chippewa Falls WI is NOT WELS.
Some more search results:
St. Paul's Lutheran Church
Lutheran - Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod
http://www.stpaulmuskego.org/
Muskego WI
Shepherd of The Hills
Lutheran - Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod
Pewaukee WI
(Shepherd of the Hills is LCMS)
Ascension Lutheran Church
Lutheran - Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod
http://www.ascensionlutheranchurch.org/site/default.asp?sec_id=1913
Plymouth MN
Crosswalk Church
Lutheran - Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod Phoenix AZ
Shepherd of The Hill
Lutheran - Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod
Fountain Hills AZ
(Shepherd of the Hills is ELCA)
You guys are ALL Losers. Get a life.
I don't know what to say. WELS has become a hodge-podge of doctrine and positions.
Can you say SPLIT ??
Central Lutheran (Lutheran - Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod) Chippewa Falls WI 450 40 Days of Community: February 2006 40 DOC
Knowing Chippewa Falls pretty well and knowing the WELS churches up there in the area, Cental is not WELS it's ELCA.
However, many people in ELCA think they are Wisconsin Synod. ELCA divides their "districts" which they call "synods". There is definitely a Wisconsin Synod in ELCA, but it has nothing to do with WELS. You'd be amazed at how many people tell me they are Wisconsin Synod when I have used the term, only to find out that they are actually ELCA, but part of what we would call a district and not a synod.
Hope that clarifies the issue. Perhaps, the person posting or listing their affiliation was under the same confusion. Many in ELCA don't even know that there is Lutheran life beyond their doors.
Of course there are plenty of WELS people who have joined ELCA and know the differences, but out of convenience and lack of any discerment, continue fellowship while being blissfully misled.
2 more WELS congregations that have done a 40 Days of Purpose series are Good Shepherd Lutheran in Lake Benton, MN and St John Ev Lutheran in Pipestone, MN.
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