Fox Valley has confirmed that Ski is taking members from local WELS congregations. So much for "doing anything--short of sin--to reach the unchurched."
The Shrinkers illustrate the journalistic term I learned a few decades ago. When one tabloid gets readers with a particular type of story or photograph, its rival "goes under" the previously established barrier in search of new readers. "Goes under" means lowering the standards.
A Shrinker church goes under, to sheep steal. The ALC used to do that with WELS and Missouri. So did the LCA. If Missouri and WELS have closed communion, the new mission has open communion. If lodge members have been bumped off the membership list, the new mission takes them in and sympathizes. As one LCA mission boss said, "That town only had WELS and Missouri there before we came. They never heard the Gospel before."
Shrinkers have no conscience, so they gleefully take members from their own denomination. That is why Larry Oh's old congregation in Love's Park is moving away, because another WELS congregation was set up nearby. Apparently, Love's Park went Lutheran after Our Staph Infection left, so LP had to be punished.
Stadler was famous for taking in members from WELS congregations, members who were being disciplined. Eventually Stadler and his fellow pastors, Iver Johnson and Mike Albrecht, left. Logia put Albrecht on the board. I think Albrecht was on an ELCA magazine board at the same time. Oh, those Confessional Lutherans.
The CORE is ideal for all those WELS members trained in Pietism and Enthusiasm. Hate the liturgy and creeds? Go to CORE. Need to be tickled and entertained? Go to CORE. Prefer Groeschel to Luther? Go to CORE. Favor women's ordination? Talk to Bishop Katie.
But CORE is not so dumb that they will compete with normal WELS services. That would leave the gigantic, expensive movie theater ("20 sub-woofers!") almost empty.
Geometry students figure the Appleton pie now has more slices in it. That does not make the pie bigger. Enormous amounts of money have already been spent to make each slice smaller. That is the Shrinkage Movement at a glance. For confirmation, look at the statistics for WELS and Missouri, ever since they started sending all their leaders to Fuller and Willow Creek.
The joke is on the Synodical Conference, because second rate Lutherans make fourth rate Babtists. Whatever Lutherans think they can do in going under each other, the Babtists have already done it and done it "better," as judged by their peers in apostasy.
The CORE is not the first Emerging Church in Appleton. It is the fourth or fifth, the others being well established. That is where Ski went during his initial exile from Milwaukee. He was going to the Appleton Alliance worship services and hoping against hope he could hear the big guy preach there.
Nor is The CORE the first Shrinker WELS church in Fox Valley. Many of them are already thoroughly infatuated. St. Mark Depere is a member of the Willow Creek Association. Perhaps those other WELS congregations lack a movie screen, popcorn machines, gourmet coffee, and ice cream. Is that really enough to make people forget they are hearing recycled Groeschel material?
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TShinnick has left a new comment on your post "Church Growth Go Zunder":
How has it been "confirmed that Ski is taking members from local WELS congregations"? While I have not attended the core, I have heard from multiple people who were present at services shortly after they opened their doors that at some point in the service Ski plainly stated that if anyone was an active member of another congregation that the core was not for them, but that it was, instead, there for those who were not involved in a church proclaiming God's grace in its truth and purity.
I'm interested as to the source that has confirmed your presupposition.
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GJ - That is an old WELS trick:
1. I can't believe it, so prove it's true.
2. Demand the source.
3. Attack the source, because not even a videotape is good enough.
I am sure Ski or Bishop Katie could offer a list of actual, communing members, along with their previous memberships.
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Church Growth Go Zunder":
If you go to St. Matthew Appleton's website www.stmatthewlutheran.com, select "File Downloads", and select the December newsletter, they have listed a family that indeed did transfer to the CORE. This is ironic, since St. Matthew is probably the second most CG congregation in the Valley next to St. Peter Freedom / CORE...
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GJ -
Yes indeed, Gary and Connie Vanden Heuvel transfered to The CORE in October.
But St. Matthew cannot possibly claim Church-Growthiness. The same newsletter shows worship attendance down three years in a row, membership down three years in a row, and the budget $17,000 in the red.
