I added Necessary Roughness to my blog list. He updates fairly often and participates at Bailing Water.
ICHABOD, THE GLORY HAS DEPARTED - explores the Age of Apostasy, predicted in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, to attack Objective Faithless Justification, Church Growth Clowns, and their ringmasters. The antidote to these poisons is trusting the efficacious Word in the Means of Grace. John 16:8. Isaiah 55:8ff. Romans 10. Most readers are WELS, LCMS, ELS, or ELCA. This blog also covers the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, and the Left-wing, National Council of Churches denominations.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Welcome Dan at Necessary Roughness
More Lutheran Heroes
Someone has been trying to promote the Church of the Lutheran Confession (sic) as an alternative to WELS, the Little Sect, and Missouri.
I won't let those comments through because the CLC is worse than the rest, always praising themselves while aping the Shrinkers in the larger groups. The more influential pastors are Paul Tiefel (cousin of James) and David Koenig. Both of them attack anyone who questions the Shrinkers in Lutherdom. As Dale Redlin said about both men, "They constantly have doctrinal problems, and they never listen to anyone."
David Koenig devoted an hour service (all sermon - nothing else) to a rant saying that Lutherans are wrong about evangelism. The Catholics and Reformed to it right. So the CLC (sic) made him a world missionary again. There may be a few Lutheran members among the legalists in that sect, but the pastors are anything but, and they are even more spineless than the garden variety.
Steve Kurtzahn is a hoot. He was CLC and is now WELS. He likes to comment on LutherQuest (sic) about the superiority of WELS. I think his congregation has issued a "divine call" to everyone in the parish except the church mice.
As regular readers recall, Koenig asked Valleskey if the Sausage Factory president really did go to Fuller Seminary. Valleskey had denied it to my face, but he admitted it to Koenig. Poor Dave leaves no thought unrecorded, so he sent one of his ferocious letters to me, including that fact. When I published this information, Koenig went ballistic on me. Apparently Valleskey was not at all happy with the leakage.
Plagiarism and the Emerging Church, Becoming Missional?
What A Shock!
MacArthur: The Emergent Church is a Form of Paganism
Paul Edwards (On Crosswalk.com - oddly enough)
"The Paul Edwards Program," WLQV Detroit
Paul Edwards, host of “The Paul Edwards Program” on WLQV in Detroit, interviewed pastor-teacher of Grace Community Church John MacArthur about the emerging church movement in America. Paul begins the interview by asking Pastor John to respond to a radio interview with prominent emerging church leader Doug Pagitt. In the clip from October 22, 2007, Pagitt denied that there is a place of eternal conscious torment for persons who die apart from faith in Jesus Christ.
Paul Edwards: Help me with this—the emerging church prides itself on conversation, having a conversation, so let’s have a conversation. How can you have a conversation with someone, when you’re not even speaking the same language?
John MacArthur: Let me just cut to the chase on this one: [Doug] Pagitt is a Universalist. What he was saying is real simple. He was saying when you die your spirit goes to God and judgment means that whatever was not right about you, whatever was bad about you, whatever was substantially lacking about you, gets all resolved. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a Buddhist, a Hindu or a Muslim—doesn’t matter whether you’re a Christian really; we’re all going to end up in this wonderful, warm and fuzzy relationship with God. That’s just classic universalism.
I think you know it’s most helpful, Paul, to go back and kind of recast how we view these people. He’s not a pastor; he’s not a Christian; that’s not a church. When you call yourself a Christian and you call yourself a pastor and you say you have a church, all of that has to be—to be legitimate—defined biblically. And if it’s not, that’s not a church and you’re not a pastor and you’re not even a Christian.
What you have here is a form of false religion … A form of paganism that basically wants to be thought of as Christian because it gains a certain ground. But the underlying bottom line of this whole emerging movement is they don’t believe in any doctrine, they don’t believe in any theology. They don’t want to be forced to interpret anything in scripture a certain way and the out is, “Well the Bible isn’t clear anyway.” In other words, we don’t know what it means; we can’t know what it means.
Brian McLaren says nobody has ever gotten it right—we haven’t got it right now—so let’s not make an issue out of anything. Let’s just be open to everything. Let’s not take a position on theology, or for that matter, on morality or behavior because, hey, there’s no judgment anyway so we’re all going to end up in God in some ethereal, eternal relationship. And that’s just non-Christian. It is blatantly, flagrantly non-Christian. It’s as non-Christian as any false religion.
Edwards: [When “Emergents” and many seeker-sensitive church advocates say “We do church a certain way,”] it seems to me that they do it by totally ignoring the book of Acts and the Epistles.
MacArthur: I’m going to seem anachronistic if not an outright dinosaur at this point. I believe the church has one function, and that is to guard the truth, to proclaim the truth and to live the truth. So you take the Word of God, you teach it, you proclaim it, you protect it, you defend it, and you live it, and that’s a church. The Word of God rightly divided, rightly understood.
That’s not the idea in a seeker church; that’s not the idea certainly in an emerging church. Everything becomes style and contextualization and everything is built around the manipulation of people’s hot buttons as if we were selling a product like any other product in our culture. This fails to understand that the only real power in the spiritual realm is Divine and that God works His power through His truth, and that’s all that matters.
I think the illusion of success is created by crowds. You’ve probably heard recently that Bill Hybels, who is the guru of the seeker movement, has openly confessed that they did a big survey and found they’ve been doing it wrong.
Edwards: “We made a mistake,” he said.
MacArthur: Yes, we made a mistake. And so, the solution is—one of the lines in the statement was—we gotta get a blank piece of paper and start all over again. That’s exactly the problem. Why do you want a blank piece of paper when you have all kinds of paper full with the Word of God?
Edwards: Right.
MacArthur: If you want a biblical mandate and you want to do ministry biblically, you teach and preach the Word. I don’t think it matters whether you have smoke and mirrors. I don’t think it matters whether you wear a tie, or don’t wear a tie, whether you wear a black T-shirt and holes in your knees or a blue suit. (I think there are reasons to go with the suit rather the grunge approach—of dignity, respect, sober mindedness, seriousness, loftiness, etc, etc.)
At the end of the day, the only thing that matters is that we proclaim the Word of God. Look, I’ve been doing this for so long, and I haven’t changed anything. Contexts come, contexts go; fads come, fads go; styles come, styles go. I just keep doing the same thing. We show up on Sunday morning, we sing a little bit, we pray, we open the Word of God and explain His meaning to the people. The people just keep coming and coming and what I say goes around the world, on radio, and then it gets transferred into 50 languages and books and commentaries because [the Word] knows no boundaries. It knows no cultural restraint, because the Word of God is transcendent.
Edwards: One of the things I get most frustrated about is whenever people like you who are standing for truth point out the error both in the emergent church and in the seeker movement people will immediately run to 1 Corinthians 9 and begin screaming, “You know Paul said, ‘I became all things to all men,’ which means to the grunge I become as grunge, to the Universalist I become as a Universalist.” But in 1 Corinthians 9 Paul isn’t saying that we compromise the message and we become whatever the audience needs us to be in order to make the gospel palatable.
MacArthur: Well, of course not. All he is saying is there’s a foundation in the proclamation of the gospel with the Jew and there’s a different starting point with the Gentile. If I’m going to evangelize a Jew, I’m going to start with the Old Testament because that’s the substantial basis. So every time the Apostle Paul preached to the Jews he started with the Scripture—the Old Testament Scripture. Every time he evangelized Gentiles he started with creation. For example, in Acts 14 and Acts 17 he talks about the unknown God. Who is the unknown God? He’s the God who made everything—that was the foundation.
All he is saying in 1 Corinthians 9 is you must understand the starting point of your audience and here’s the point: ideologically. In other words, how do they think ideologically, philosophically, religiously? What are the ideas, the theories, the viewpoints that they hold? It’s not about identifying with their lifestyle; it’s not about being able to converse about every episode of South Park, every R-rated movie and every Rap song—that’s not it at all.
How do people think religiously, how do they perceive truth?—those are the starting points that Paul was establishing. That’s a far cry from saying that to reach this generation we must do their music, we must dress the way they dress, we must live the way they live, we must be familiar with the baser components of their culture. That’s a million miles from what the Apostle Paul had in mind. He was talking about those things that controlled their thought process and their worldview.
Paul Edwards: Help me with this—the emerging church prides itself on conversation, having a conversation, so let’s have a conversation. How can you have a conversation with someone, when you’re not even speaking the same language?
John MacArthur: Let me just cut to the chase on this one: [Doug] Pagitt is a Universalist. What he was saying is real simple. He was saying when you die your spirit goes to God and judgment means that whatever was not right about you, whatever was bad about you, whatever was substantially lacking about you, gets all resolved. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a Buddhist, a Hindu or a Muslim—doesn’t matter whether you’re a Christian really; we’re all going to end up in this wonderful, warm and fuzzy relationship with God. That’s just classic universalism.
I think you know it’s most helpful, Paul, to go back and kind of recast how we view these people. He’s not a pastor; he’s not a Christian; that’s not a church. When you call yourself a Christian and you call yourself a pastor and you say you have a church, all of that has to be—to be legitimate—defined biblically. And if it’s not, that’s not a church and you’re not a pastor and you’re not even a Christian.
What you have here is a form of false religion … A form of paganism that basically wants to be thought of as Christian because it gains a certain ground. But the underlying bottom line of this whole emerging movement is they don’t believe in any doctrine, they don’t believe in any theology. They don’t want to be forced to interpret anything in scripture a certain way and the out is, “Well the Bible isn’t clear anyway.” In other words, we don’t know what it means; we can’t know what it means.
Brian McLaren says nobody has ever gotten it right—we haven’t got it right now—so let’s not make an issue out of anything. Let’s just be open to everything. Let’s not take a position on theology, or for that matter, on morality or behavior because, hey, there’s no judgment anyway so we’re all going to end up in God in some ethereal, eternal relationship. And that’s just non-Christian. It is blatantly, flagrantly non-Christian. It’s as non-Christian as any false religion.
Edwards: [When “Emergents” and many seeker-sensitive church advocates say “We do church a certain way,”] it seems to me that they do it by totally ignoring the book of Acts and the Epistles.
Paul Edwards is the host of The Paul Edwards Program, a columnist and pastor. His program is heard daily on WLQV in Detroit and on godandculture.com. Contact him at paul@godandculture.com.
***
GJ - I want to steal a march on Brett Meyer and post the obvious - Universal Objective Justification is an ideal doctrinal partner with Church Growth and implicit Universalism.
One WELS DP denied to me that WELS has ever taught Universalism, but I mentioned the "evangelism" campaign with posters that read, for all the world to see, "You are saved, just like me." Everyone is saved = Universalism.
Everyone is forgiven, without the World, without the Means of Grace, without faith - that is the UOJ message and the basic content of Universalism.
Teaching grace (forgiveness) apart from the Means of Grace is Enthusiasm.
The WELS, Missouri, and ELS leaders cannot defeat the Schwaermer Shrinkers because they are also Enthusiasts, as long as they cling to UOJ.
Memo to Church and Chicanery - It's Not Working for the Babtists Either
The Christian Post
Southern Baptist Head: We Have a Vision Problem
By Lillian Kwon
Christian Post Reporter
Tue, Jun. 23 2009 06:02 PM EDT
Southern Baptist president Johnny Hunt delivered an impassioned and fiery message to fellow Baptist leaders on Tuesday, imploring them to get out of the lukewarm state found in many of America's pulpits.
Related
* So. Baptists Now a 'Declining Denomination'
* So. Baptists Seek Great Commission Resurgence
* Southern Baptists Convene to 'Love Loud'
Referring to the recent national spelling bee word that had puzzled many, Hunt said, "America has not heard of the word 'laodicean' but I'm afraid that the Church has not perceived it."
His address during the Southern Baptist Convention's annual meeting in Louisville, Ky., was a challenge to a denomination that has begun to see decline in membership.
"How do you feel you're doing?" Hunt posed. "How do you feel the Southern Baptist Convention is doing?"
According to statistics recently released by LifeWay Research – the research arm of the SBC – Southern Baptist membership will fall nearly 50 percent to around 8.7 million by the year 2050 if the current trend continues.
Membership dipped by 0.2 percent in 2008. While losses only began in 2007 after years of growth, Ed Stetzer, director of LifeWay, said the rate of increase had been declining by 0.06 percent every year.
Titling his message "The State of the Southern Baptist Convention from Where I Sit," Hunt cited a passage from Revelation and indicated that many have become apathetic, indifferent and have lost enthusiasm.
"You can walk to the pulpit, you can lead the music, you can teach a Sunday School class and the attitude is 'I've been there and I've done that.' There's no tear in your eye, there's no fire in your soul, and there's no anticipation after delivery," he said.
"You can get to the point [where] you're so strong you can get up, read through your devotion, have this brief prayer and go. We become professionals. We know how to do it," Hunt added, lamenting how many have lost their dependence on the grace and Holy Spirit of God.
One of the greatest needs of the pulpits of America, he pointed out, is "more emulation of the truth of almighty God to match the exhortation of the proclamation of almighty God's word."
Southern Baptists this week will consider adopting the Great Commission Resurgence declaration, which reaffirms core Christian doctrines and aims to renew a passion for evangelism and church planting in America.
But Hunt is not concerned with simply adopting a document. After all, talk is cheap, he said.
What he's concerned with is seeing true commitment among Southern Baptists to the Great Commission Resurgence.
"I really do believe we need revival in the Southern Baptist Convention," said Hunt.
Revival, he indicated, must first happen in the more than 43,000 Southern Baptist pulpits in America.
"If God were to break the hearts of us, the pastors, and we would ... realize out there in those pews there's gold in them there pews! It's amazing how God's people will rise up and take a challenge," he highlighted. "They're not looking for a program to follow. They're looking for a vision to embrace."
He stressed that they don't have a money problem, for God has been good to them. "We have a vision problem," he said.
"God help us to get a vision of the lostness of the world," said Hunt, who is still convinced that the Gospel will be "taken and penetrate the lostness and the darkness of all nations" in his lifetime.
Hunt was re-elected for a second, one-year term as president of the SBC – the largest Protestant denomination in the country.
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A good read - click here.
Rick Warren, on the far left, tries to distance himself from Robert Schuller now. (Sound familiar?) Ed Stetzer, on the right, is the fox in the hen house, doing "research" for the Southern Baptists while selling his goods to the Southern Babtists and anyone else who will listen - WELS, Missouri, the mini-synods and micro-mini-sects.
Both men seem to be reading the details of the Kirstie Alley diet.
Excellence in Smokescrees - WELS Church and Change
http://www.shepherdofthebay.com/Assimilation/Resources/4-Excellence%20in%20Worship.pdf
One of the crypto-phrases used by Church and Change is "excellence in worship."
James Huebner, trained at Fuller, Second Synod Veep, uses the same phrase on his church website.
Friday, June 26, 2009
WELS Rock Concert - Minnesota - Where Else?
Churches plan outdoor service, rock concert
By Herald staff (Contact) | Austin Daily Herald
Published Friday, June 26, 2009
The Joint Communications Team from Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church (WELS), located just north of South Grove Park and Trinity Lutheran Church (WELS), north of Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park Camp Resort on County Road 20, have some summer activities planned.
On Sunday, they will be having a joint outdoor service at Trinity. Pastor David Fleischmann will have a Bible study at 9:15 a.m., followed by the outdoor service. The joint service will start at 10 a.m. Hot dogs and beverages will be provided. Members are encouraged to bring a picnic type hot dish or dessert to go along with the picnic.
If you are not able to bring anything ,you are still encouraged to stay and eat as there will be plenty of food. The joint service will help with fellowship and welcome summer.
The service is also a reminder that service times will be switching the first Sunday in July. Beautiful Savior will have a 9 a.m. service and Trinity will have a 10:45 a.m. service. This is following the long tradition of switching service time for a one year period starting with the first Sunday in July.
In July, the church is sponsoring a float in the Austin Fourth of July parade. Members interested in participating should let one of the Joint Communications Team members know. They will be using the same theme as in the joint week of Vacation Bible School in July, “Soaring High with Christ.” This will start on Sunday, July 12 and will go through Thursday, July 16. This summer, Bible study for young children to adults will run from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Let Pastor Fleischmann know if you are able to assist with this program.
There will also be a light meal served at 6 p.m. before the start each evening. Volunteers are needed to help with meals. Let a Communications Team member or pastor know if you can assist.
The church is sponsoring a concert with Wendy Sue at the Paramount on Sunday, Aug. 2 at 2 p.m. Sue is a well-known Christian rock musician. She performed in Austin a few years ago. The performance is free.
The church will have its second outdoor theater night Sunday Aug. 23 with ice cream sundaes prior to the show and popcorn and pop available during the movie. The movie will be “The Reluctant Astronaut” and will show as soon as it is dark enough, approximately 8:45 p.m. Last year’s movie-goers were treated with a live animal show as several deer were walking on our church yard prior to the movie.
Call Greg Larson or Gordy Handeland with questions.
***
GJ - This is called hitting all the buttons. Get the aging Boomers with Rock N Roll, the kids with live deer. Memo to marketing director - "Need live deer at church...yesterday!"
JR (Ewing?) pointed out this is Austin, Minnesota.
Showdown at the WELS Convention
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Pastor Rick Avoids the Real Isssue - Again":
There needs to be a showdown at next month's convention. Either all WELS members are aware of the Church Growth situation and agree to stay and sway to the music, or it gets cut out 100% and we start over. Let the chips fall where they may. Church Growth will be a deal breaker for our family's involvment with the WELS.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Pastor Rick Avoids the Real Isssue - Again
Pastor Rick Johnson, in Corona, California, got his Geneva gown in a bunch because I posted a typo on Bailing Water.
First, Bailing Water posted the Open Letter, which I also published.
Second, Rick Johnson offered a typical Church and Change rebuttal, attacking the author for being anonymous, for being "too general," etc. Sanctimoniously, he signed his name (for once), as if that made his response credible. The Shrinkers have always used the same method. They avoid the issue of false doctrine because they hate Lutheran doctrine. They change the subject and cloak their agenda.
Third, I posted a quick response, identifying Rick as a Shrinker and Leonard Sweet-heart.
Rick follows the old lawyer's trick: "If you have the law on your side, pound the law. If you have the facts on your side, pound the facts. If you don't have either on your side, pound the table."
Rick is a table-pounder, just like the rest of the Changers. He belongs to the secretive cabal that has controlled the finances and agenda of "conservative" Lutherans for decades.
Doctrine - not on his side.
The facts - let's avoid what the Changers have done and spent.
The Changers are offended that people have not held their hands and explained their sins to them (Matthew 18). Of course, when people did exactly that to Kelm, he wrote he would not discuss Leonard Sweet at all.
The Changers are offended that someone would write without his real name. About 100% of the attempted rebuttals on Ichabod are anonymous. A number of them are too obscene and crude to reproduce, even with the words deleted.
Rick and Company enjoy seeing names so they can activate the Changer Slander Machine, the same one which labeled Koeplin, a senior pastor, "brain-damaged" for criticizing Church Growth and amalgamation. The same Changer Slander Machine labeled the former seminary president as "senile" for opposing amalgamation.
When I revealed that Rick was a Sweet-heart with offerings deep in the red, he erased the facts he published and began yelping about his public blog being quoted. He forgot to mention that he erased his slobbering reference to Sweet. Table pounding.
The Shrinkers are terrified now. The laity and pastors can see what Mischke-Gurgle-Patterson-Mueller did to WELS. (Yes, I know how to spell Gurgel. Just having fun with a name.) I hope the Shrinkers keep shrieking like little girls who just saw a spider. People can see them for what they are - insubordinate, dishonest, lazy false teachers. They are clouds without rain, belly servers, wolves wearing the finest fleece (bought with synod subsidies).
Paul warned about wolves from within and without. The Changers are the wolves within.
Believing this relieves WELS pastors from writing their own sermons, visiting their members, and studying the Book of Concord.
Leonard is so much Sweeter, and he is FB friends with Stezers.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Advising the Financial Advisor
Beatings by walker? Retirees get revenge
Posted Jun 24 2009, 01:26 PM by Kim Peterson
Image credit: © BrokenSphere / Wikimedia CommonsRetirees in Germany were so upset with their financial adviser that they ambushed him outside his home and beat him with their walkers, the adviser claims. Then they taped his mouth closed and hauled him into a car.
"It took them quite a while because they ran out of breath," the financial adviser, James Amburn, told the U.K.'s Daily Mail. The kidnappers ranged in age from 60 to 74.
Amburn said they eventually got him to a house, where they chained and tortured him for four days. Two retired doctors also reportedly participated.
Amburn said the group chained him, burned him with cigarettes, broke two of his ribs and talked repeatedly about their money. Apparently, they had invested in properties in Florida and lost it all.
"I told them what I had told them before, that due to market conditions, unfortunately it was gone," he told the Daily Mail.
This story -- as Amburn tells it -- just gets crazier. He convinced the group to let him send a fax to a Swiss bank asking for a money transfer, but he wrote a secret message on the fax asking for police help. Then he escaped, only to be chased down the street in a car by his elderly captors. They grabbed him and dragged him back to the house.
Finally, 40 German special commandos stormed the house. They brought a doctor to help the captors into police vans because of their infirmities, the Daily Mail reports.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Koeplin Essay Found! in the Ichabod Archives
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "The Corky Koeplin Essay":
I grew up at Atonement and fondly recall Pastor Koeplin. I would love to read this essay if anyone can find the text somehwere. It shocks and saddens me that synod leaders would try to discredit this essay by claiming he was "brain damaged" when he wrote this - but I suppose it's easy to pick on dead men, what with them not being able to answer back and all.
***
Here is the text of the paper - Click here.
Note that the essay text is now at the top of the convention information.
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Koeplin Essay Found! in the Ichabod Archives":
Corky's paper should be on the convention agenda.
***
GJ - I went to a WELS convention some years after I sent the Koeplin essay to Christian News for publication. Someone had removed the cover letter on top which said, "For circulation among the brothers only."
The convention began with a solemn declaration that no one could publish anything about the convention unless that individual had permission from the synod. Later, one pastor said to me, "Did you hear that announcement? That was because someone leaked the Koeplin essay to Christian News."
I said, "I know someone leaked it. I did."
"You did?"
Twitters, blogs, and email mean that this kind of information reaches people quickly. But people have to make an effort to stay informed.
Ski's Mentor Does the Worm
Way cool and totally awesome, dude!
Yeah, Craig Groeschel is the man.
I’m pretty sure that you’ll be able to see and experience much more than this at Catalyst’s 10 Year Anniversary gathering in October.
Get your tickets early because unlike Craig’s obviously unlimited breakdancing talent, the tickets to Catalyst aren’t
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This video of Craig Groeschel contains the one quote that I have not only come to love but has been one of the driving forces behind what I do through and for online ministry:
“To reach people that no one is reaching you have to do things that no one is doing.”
I feel that for the first time in my life I’ve done the “planned abandonment” and discovered the “assignment” that God has given for me to do. Thus, I’m going to give it everything I’ve got.
Thanks Craig for your words. The impact has been huge.
Who Is Minding the Store? - At The CORE?
but turn off the lights and the popcorn machine.
Bishop Katie:
Headed to Iowa for a little baseball and a couple days away from a-town.
7:07 AM Jun 22nd from Tweetie. Field of Dreams?
Pastor Ski emerged from total Twitter silence to post this alarming message:
On our way 2 Dyersville, IA - Field of Dreams. Nice detour on the way 2 Clinton, IA 4 the Midwest All-Star game. about 22 hours ago from TweetDeck.
***
Verified, via the Internet, a lot of trips for this hard-working team of Shrinkers, Ski and Katie:
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Who Is Minding the Store? - At The CORE?":
The dot.com website builders had the same motto: "if you build it, they will come." Most of them went out of business during the dot.com collapse. The synod building mania is going down the same road. Oh, well, they have a lot of offerings to squander.
Worship Is Not a Means of Grace--Explained
Their children are Little Rockers. Next - recruiting for the KISS Army.
The Open Letter to WELS has a statement that may puzzle some, as it did me:
"Worship is not a Means of Grace."
Many WELS members have not heard the term Means of Grace for 20 years, unless they stumbled upon my websites. Now worship is not?
I did some questioning for clarification, and the answers were satisfying. The authors drew upon a pastor saying this, meaning - and this is important -
Worship is not an event for recruiting new members.
Following is my explanation and why this distinction is crucial.
Calvin, following Zwingli, declared that the Holy Spirit operates independently from the Word and Sacraments. That is what Luther and the Book of Concord editors called Enthusiasm - the foundation for all doctrinal error. For example, the LCMS pastors leaving Missouri for Rome or Constantinople are just leaving one Enthusiasm franchise for another.
Because the Church Growth gurus are all trained in some form of Calvinism, whether Double Dutch TULIP or watered down Arminian, Baptist or Babtist, not one of them believes in the efficacy of the Word. The Holy Spirit works independently of the Word, as they imagine, so they must make the Word effective, germane, and attractive to others.
Thus every service is an attempt to apply man's wisdom to make the dead, lifeless Word of God become real, relevant, and relational (Ski channeling Groeschel).
Thus the WELS Friendship Service parroted Fuller Seminary, and Valleskey urged his loyal followers not to use the Biblical, Aaronic blessing.
Nothing should turn off unchurched Harry, as Willow Creek's Hybels solemnly declared, and WELS paid people to learn from the Obi-Wan of Chicago. So WELS pastors began posting a notice in their bulletins that "We don't expect visitors to donate to the offering." The same bulletin often marketed Thrivent insurance.
The Rock N Roll services at St. Marcus (Milwaukee), St. Mark (Depere, WI), and Round Rock (TX) are all affirmations of Calvinist doctrine. The Word is dead by itself, so they must goose it up with exciting music.
The Sacraments? Sunday is for recruiting, so the altar and baptismal font are replaced by a performance stage. I heard Hybels tongue-lash his Sunday audience for not showing up for the real worship service on Wednesday, when they offer communion. (I know - not the real thing - but their version - a memorial meal, symbolic, an ordinance.) So Ski was excited that his movie theatre was getting a performance stage.
Why do the Church and Change pastors used plagiarized sermons from false teachers? The false teachers like Groeschel, Stanley, and Driscoll know how to market themselves to those nominal members who hate church and love entertainment. Almost all the CG membership comes from other churches. It is not skimming the cream, but skimming the skimmed milk. Nevertheless, the effect is to adulterate and diminish the Word in all congregations. The contagion spreads.
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Worship Is Not a Means of Grace--Explained":
This explanation is a great way to explain the difference between the "Church and Changers" in the WELS and the liturgical Lutherans in the WELS. Just how they see Sunday worship is so different that there actually is a "different spirit". My husband is a WELS pastor and he and I will be teaching our children who are close to being on their own how to look for a church since you no longer can just look for the WELS affiliation. We will look on the Evangelical-Lutheran Liturgical Congregations website. (The ELLC directory.)This is more helpful than which synod the church belongs to. Sorry, WELS, you really blew it as a synod.
***
GJ - That's nothing. One WELS pastor told his congregation, "If you move to a town without a WELS church, join a Baptist church." This WELS pastor was Church Growthy. When his comment got back to him, he denied saying it.
When Ski and Katie were at Granger Community Church for more training--they leave town a lot--they met a former member of St. Marcus, who had joined GCC. Ain't that cute? So WELS has done a great job of training members and pastors to leave Lutheran doctrine and worship altogether. St. Marcus seems to be central in this effort, and WELS promotes LutheranTime of Grace twice on its WELS.net website.
Monday, June 22, 2009
An Open Letter to WELS - From a Layman
[Dear Friend in Christ],
[A number of folks] and I have been corresponding for some time regarding pressing issues of Church Practice in the WELS, issues which are potentially revealing doctrinal disunity, and which with all certainty, are going to surface during the 2009 WELS Synod Convention. Although I doubt these issues will be agenda items, they will undoubtedly surface in conversation among laymen, in committee discussion, and possibly in floor discussion resulting from committee reports, motions or even Memorials. I have been in contact with many individuals across Synod. I know that these topics will be raised, whether on the agenda proper, or not. Indeed, one internet source has proclaimed, "This 2009 convention will be the great divide. The laity will have to do their share -- and more than their share -- to move toward sound doctrine."
[Someone] informed me that he had briefly spoken to you regarding these issues, and he has asked me to share these issues with you by having me to forward to you pertinent information. There is a lot of it. I hope you don't mind reading. I will list the internet and attached document sources below, in order, providing a developing picture of the issues. My intent is to provide you with a reading of source material so that you can come to your own understanding of the gravity of these issues, can develop your own opinions, and be prepared for what may well be one of the most important Conventions since the amalgamation debate. I will provide an overview, and then only brief summaries for each source I link to.
Summary
Briefly stated, there seems to be a growing rift in our Synod's unity resulting from decades of tolerating the aberrations of the "Church Growth Movement" (CGM). While those who have imported these teachings from sources in greater American evangelicalism, and have promoted them among us, claim to have "cleaned them up" and "made them Lutheran," the damage created by these teachings is now surfacing in the form of divergent and sectarian practices within our congregations, especially worship practices, which are in turn not only exposing possibly divergent theological convictions of those in WELS who engage in these practices, but are most certainly exposing our people to heterodox perspectives as the practices themselves teach them, are watering down our public confession as our distinctiveness from the sectarians becomes less acute, and are eroding the consistency of our Fellowship standards, and thus also the firm testimony against doctrinal error that Fellowship is intended to communicate. This trend has not gone unnoticed by Synod. As a result of growing, and vocal concern, the WELS Council of Presidents (CoP) has recognized such influences among us, declaring under the "Doctrine" heading of its January meeting minutes:
5.D.03 Establishment of "non-traditional" ("new style") congregations We feel that the underpinnings of this "non-traditional" type of worship cannot be ignored. We also feel that the issue is extremely complex and will take great care to be careful to walk the "narrow Lutheran road" between legalism and ignoring and failing to admonish where practices are contrary to or a danger to the principles of gospel proclamation and the efficacy of the means of grace. We move that an ad hoc committee be convened that can study and address this issue and produce a study document that can be shared with circuits and also congregations for study and careful evaluation of practices in worship, sacraments, outreach, organization, music selection, etc. Motion carried.
5.D.05 C & C and outside speakers We recommend that our Synod President and District President(s) continue to work with the representatives of Church and Change to come to an understanding of our desire for them to withdraw their invitation to the speaker proposed for their next conference.
The speaker referred to by the CoP, in 5.D.05 above, is Baptist "Church Growth" expert, Ed Stetzer -- and this specific issue has been a lightning-rod of controversy in the WELS for almost a year. But this is nothing new for the group Church and Change (C&C) -- an external group of WELS laymen, pastors, and theologians who seem to thrive on such controversy. In 2005, they invited the Methodist "Emergent Church" expert, Dr. Leonard Sweet, to instruct them, in order to disseminate his advice directly to WELS congregations through their organization. C&C was asked at that time by Synod to cancel their Conference because of their invitation, but C&C ignored this request. Because of the political positions in Synod occupied by those associated with this organization, C&C seems to have had free rein to "largely ignore them" (a quote from one of the papers I source, below). This year, it seems, they have finally been effectively pressured to "uninvite" the heterodox teacher, Ed Stetzer, but it remains to be seen whether the inclination to invite similar experts has also been reversed. In addition, many of our wealthy members seem to have gravitated to C&C leaders, perhaps because of their celebrity status, perhaps because of the “success” that their meticulously researched marketing plans seem to guarantee. As a result, several individuals have set up large endowment funds to finance the efforts of C&C -- perhaps without realizing the theological compromises and dangers of the Church Growth Movement that they are supporting. The fact is, C&C and its constituency have been active doing this sort of thing for decades, exposing laymen to "Church Growth" theology/methodology by sponsoring trips to evangelical Mission events, like the Exponential Conference and the Drive Conference, by holding their own Conferences celebrating heterodox keynote speakers, by encouraging our pastors and professors to attend grossly heterodox institutions (like Fuller in Pasadena, CA) to learn and import these practices into our Synod, by erecting supporting power structures within Synod (the Board for Parish Services, for instance), and by ultimately implementing these -- often very expensive -- CGM practices in their own congregations and by encouraging others to do the same. The sad fact is, even the statistical measures by which CGM promises “numeric growth,” CGM has instead proven to be an utter failure in those church bodies that have believed in its statistical promises and practiced its methods over the past generation. No evidence of growth in the Church can be found as a result of the methods promoted by CGM. Even Barna Research -- a Christian research firm founded many years ago with the purpose of providing congregations with marketing data and various other forms of research as they seek to implement the methods of CGM -- has declared CGM a statistical failure, showing that over the past generation of its use in greater American Christianity, despite over $500 billion invested in CGM methods over the past 30 years, no evidence of growth is discernible. At most, all that can be seen is denominational shift. Barna, almost five years ago, publicly has given up on CGM. If you think that the decline in numbers we face in WELS today is bad, the fact is, American Evangelicalism is in precipitous decline, the youth are leaving in droves for either liturgical churches, for the open apostasy of the Emergent Church (which seems to be overtaking Evangelicalism), or for nothing at all, and the ineffective Church Growth missions and mega-churches are closing down. CGM, far from helping, has ruined Evangelicalism in America. It has ruined most of Lutheranism in America, and threatens us, now.
Many are tempted to say, "Since false teaching is not tolerated among us, the 'Church Growth Movement' must be orthodox." The first problem is that CGM falsehoods are subtle yet insidious, and when cloaked in otherwise wholesome evangelical zeal, these subtleties (which expose horribly false foundations when they are closely examined, such as the decentralization of the Marks of the Church and the replacement of the Means of Grace with the means of man) are easily overlooked. The second problem is that CGM, in order to bring about the results it promises, requires an organizational power structure, and creates this power structure for itself as its "programs" are carried out. Thus the vaunted role of Parish Services. The Church Growth Movement has transformed WELS into a political institution (this is shown in one of the papers sourced, below). The fact is, several of our pastors and theologians have reportedly come out against the errors of CGM, and as a result have been forced out of their positions and parishes through political pressure. Others have left for reasons of conscience. Reportedly, many pastors are reluctant to say anything as a result. But the struggle continues. One of the papers sourced, below, is a paper received by the 2008 Michigan District Convention -- a sweeping condemnation of CGM, and a call to repentance issued to those who have been deceived by it.
What follows is a listing of the sources I have found compelling, and which I invite you to read in order to be up to date on the issues as they are being considered today, and in order to understand how the "Church Growth Movement" has negatively impacted not only doctrine and practice and created division in our Synod, but is in large part responsible for our current financial situation (outside of ambient economic conditions that affect everyone equally, that is).
The Details
What is the "Church Growth Movement?"
Read the attached paper, Tendrils of the Church Growth Movement. (also reproduced online, here)
This is the paper that was delivered to the 2008 Michigan District Convention. It was commissioned by the MI District Convention in 2003, and represents five years of research by a team of WELS pastors and laymen. Presented in 2008, it is a comprehensive analysis, and sweeping condemnation, of the "Church Growth Movement." As I understand it, Rev. Aaron Frey (who was principal author of this paper), is active on C&C lists calling "Church Growth" adherents to repentance. He has been doing this for a number of years now, but it is unclear if there has been any change of heart among them.
The Plague of "Contemporary Worship" and the Role of the Lutheran Confessions
So-called "Contemporary Worship" is one of the hallmarks of CGM theology/methodology. In order for man to "grow the church," he must make it inviting for the unregenerate, by presenting worship in a way that is entertaining. It is easy to promote among us, since the prevailing thought is that "worship practice is adiaphora without qualification." The fact is, there are bounds to worship practice -- Scriptural bounds which are elucidated in our Confessions. The Lutheran church, as our Confessions inform us, is not only evangelical, it is also catholic, apostolic, and orthodox, and these facts underlie the use of traditional hymnody and liturgical forms. Worship practice is not merely and entirely a matter of personal choice. Among the leading voices against the "Church Growth Movement" in WELS is a layman who writes under the name of "Freddy Finkelstein." He has contributed mainly to the blog, Bailing Water, a blog created and maintained by another WELS layman that is dedicated to discussing issues in Confessional Lutheranism, particularly in the WELS.
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http://bailingwater.blogspot.com/2008/11/traditonal-service-contempo-service-rob.html
Read Freddy Finkelstein's post in response to "Ben." The links he provides to other blog entries and articles on Bailing Water are quite important, so follow those links and read their content. Some of the blog entries he links to are quite extended with commentary, so search these pages for "Freddy," and specifically read his contributions. Read the surrounding material too, if you've got the time.
http://bailingwater.blogspot.com/2008/10/reformation-and-restoration.html
Read Freddy's light commentary regarding Confessionalism, and his response to those supposed Lutherans who find the Lutheran Confessions irrelevant -- especially since they restrict supposed adiaphora in practice. Read also a full and authoritative Confessional assessment (by Rev. David Jay Webber, ELS) regarding Communion frequency, here.
http://bailingwater.blogspot.com/2008/10/crusaders-unite.html
Read Freddy's quote from C.P. Krauth's Conservative Reformation. It was reposted on Bailing Water (here) and elsewhere on the internet. Also in this blog entry, read Freddy's response to "Mr. Seeking Truth, not Hysteria."
http://bailingwater.blogspot.com/2008/12/christmas-miracle.html
Read the "extended reparté" between Freddy Finkelstein and Rev. Tomczak (WELS). Read the articles referenced by Freddy, as well -- especially the list of articles in his final comment.
http://bailingwater.blogspot.com/2009/01/anything-that-isnt-unbiblical-is-fair.html
This is an excellent commentary, as Freddy sounds off on an "alternative WELS church" that is running a coffee shop and calling it Divine Worship (now known on the internet as "Latte Lutheran"), and is then grilled by C&C Church Growth advocates. Worship is not a Means of Grace. Worship is not evangelism. Sectarian worship is not catholic worship. Profane amusements have no place in an Ecclesiastical worship setting. Etcetera. Of great benefit, is the old worship resource he points to: Dr. P.E. Kretzmann's 1921 book, Christian Art, in the Place and in the Form of Lutheran Worship (this is a full length book, worth perusing if you have the interest -- it is not necessary reading to get a grasp of the issues at hand).
http://bailingwater.blogspot.com/2009/04/they-sold-their-soul-for-rock-and-roll.html
This blog entry started off with a commenter warning of the inherently pagan nature of modern entertainments, and on this basis, questioning their use in the Divine Service. Freddy chimes in somewhere in the middle with two back-to-back posts, one addressing "Cultural Discernment" in our selection of forms, and the second, a lengthy quotation from C.P. Krauth defining the Confessional Principle, particularly "the independently normative nature of the Lutheran Confessions."
The Lutheran Church is a Liturgical Church, according to the Lutheran Confessions...
http://www.blc.edu/comm/gargy/gargy1/liturgical_church.html
This article is linked to at least twice in Freddy's commentary, above, but I link to it directly for the sake of this email, because I agree with Freddy regarding its importance and helpfulness. An anthology of statements from the Book of Concord, this article was compiled and edited by Rev. David Jay Webber of the ELS, and was published originally in 1992, in their theological journal, Lutheran Synod Quarterly. This online version includes an addendum that has since been included, indicating the suitability of certain Byzantine Rite liturgies in addition to the Western Rite, based on the recent experience of the Ukrainian Lutheran Church. Liturgical worship forms and traditional hymnody are antithetical to the objectives of the "Church Growth Movement," hence its insistence on so-called "Contemporary Worship". The Confessions very clearly indicate, however, that rites are necessary, that the liturgy belongs to the Church, not to individuals or to single congregations, and that catholic practice by definition is to embrace the expression of the Church, not that of the sectarians.
What is "catholicity"?
http://four-and-twenty-something.blogspot.com/2008/12/congregational-catholicity-pastoral.html
This is a good blog entry on Lutheran catholicity from a conservative LCMS pastor (Gene Veith pointed this one out on his blog). He starts out defining and describing catholicity, and indicates how it is manifest in both doctrine and practice (first several paragraphs). He then goes on to apply it to the specific political problems in LCMS -- which may or may not be interesting. This, in combination with the previous link and with Freddy's numerous quotes from C.P. Krauth, should provide clarity on this term regarding how it is used in reference to Worship practice.
What is "lex orandi, lex credendi"?
http://pastorstrey.wordpress.com/2009/02/05/lex-orandi-lex-credendi/
This is a blog entry from Rev. Johnold Strey (WELS), defining and defending the Latin liturgical term lex orandi, lex credendi, which seems to pop up frequently in these discussions. He recently wrote an article that appeared in WELS' theological journal, Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly (WLQ), to which I link, immediately below. Another excellent resource discussing this phrase, and sound Confessional Lutheran practice in general, is a recent book by Rev. Klemet Preus (LCMS) entitled, The Fire and the Staff: Lutheran Theology in Practice. It is a very accessibly written book, suitable for consumption by laymen and clergy.
"Contemporary Worship" teaches that Worship is a Means of Grace
Read the attached paper, Proclaiming the Gospel in Worship. (accessible online, here)
This is the paper that Rev. Johnold Strey (WELS) wrote and which was published in the Fall 2008 issue of WLQ. It can also be accessed online via his blog, here. In it, he examines the worship practices of the sectarians, especially the phenomenon of so-called "Contemporary Worship" and insists that the false teaching of "Worship as a Means of Grace" is at the root of it. Freddy Finkelstein, in many of the links, above, observes this same fact. Not only is "Contemporary Worship" rooted in false doctrine, it teaches these same false doctrines through its use (lex orandi, lex credendi).
"Church Growth" is not Lutheran evangelism
http://bailingwater.blogspot.com/2009/01/calling-all-confessional-pastors.html
This is another Bailing Water blog entry, highlighting the recent sermon by Rev. Webber (ELS) in which he calls out and condemns "Church Growth" by name. More of our pastors need to do this. In the course of discussion, it became clear that there was confusion regarding how to interpret Christ's statements in the Great Commission. Freddy Finkelstein offered two posts, one of exceptional importance which explained the Great Commission, and further demonstrated how Church Growthers, for all of their evangelical zeal and despite the fact that they use the Great Commission as their clarion call, are in reality teaching and acting contrary to Christ's Commission.
http://web.me.com/trinityh/Site/LCMS_Convention_Blog/Entries/2007/7/15_Pastor_Henson_Blog.html
The issue of Evangelism is central to "Church Growth" theology/methodology, but it is a wrong approach to evangelism. One of the hallmarks of CGM practices is to turn the Divine Service into an Outreach Event -- to turn Worship into Evangelism. Freddy sounds off on this at length, multiple times, in the links, above (especially, here). But this is not unique to Freddy. It is a legitimate concern in greater Confessional Lutheranism. The link at the head of this sub-section is to "Day One" of Rev. Henson's (LCMS) 2007 LCMS Convention blog. His congregation memorialized the Convention, calling the LCMS to repentance for many of the issues also outlined by Freddy. One of these issues is the nonsense that "Worship is Evangelism." Read through "Day One" -- it is relatively benign -- and at the bottom, click "Next." It will take you to "Day Two." Read through "Day Two", etc., through "Day Five." Pay attention to "Day Three", however, where Rev. Henson points out that "[t]here are some in the LCMS who maintain that by 'natural knowledge' non-Christians can worship the true God, though they are not saved." This is the rationale used by Church Growthers to justify the ordering of worship around the preferences of the unregenerate. Needless to say, Rev. Henson's congregation left the LCMS. Many others have followed him, most recently, and notably, Rev. Heimbigner's Texas congregation (his bio is here). Most LCMS congregations who leave under these circumstances continue as independent Lutheran congregations.
The Political Nature of "Church Growth" in WELS
Read the attached paper, Fifteen Years Under the MOV. (also reproduced online, here)
This is a paper that was (presumably) written by Rev. Marcus Manthey (WELS) and delivered to an "Issues in WELS" conference in 2005, prior to that year's Synod Convention. He traces the development of Synod reorganization with respect to Strategic Planning efforts that are necessary for the "success" of CGM, and centered on the creation of the Board for Parish Services. This Board subsequently declared for itself in 1992 that "Parish Services has primary responsibility for carrying out the goals of the synod's Mission-Objectives-Vision Statement". Naming many of the names associated with the Church Growth Movement in our Synod, he examines their statements in light of the Scriptures, in light of the WELS Constitution, and in light of the scripture doctrines of Church and Ministry, and very politely deprives CGM advocates of sound foundation. He expresses grave concern over the unbiblical and unbrotherly centralization of power (which is called for by "Church Growth" programs), noting that it bypasses the local congregation and deprives the Pastor of his Divine Call. Further, he emphasizes, the creation and centralization of distinct power structures has transformed WELS into a political animal, into something that, twenty-five years ago, it was not.
Read the attached paper, Reflections, Concerns, and Questions about our Beloved WELS. (also reproduced online, here)
This is a letter written by Rev. Kurt Koelpin (WELS) in 1992. Originally meant for internal consumption among the clergy only, this letter has since seen fairly wide public dispersal. In it, Rev. Koelpin clearly recognizes aberrations caused by the Church Growth Movement in WELS, even at that time, and warns against them. Shortly after writing this letter, Rev. Koeplin suffered a stroke. In an apparent effort to protect the designs of CGM, its proponents in WELS allegedly responded by referred to Rev. Koelpin as having been “brain damaged” when he wrote the letter, and thus successfully kept his concerns from being regarded seriously enough to prevent CGM from advancing among us.
http://randomintolerance.blogspot.com/2009/01/promised-rant.html
In this blog entry "Random Dan" (a WELS layman of some connection, it seems), complains, first, about the C&C Ed Stetzer invitation, mentioned above. Then, he goes on to detail some of the internal politics involved in the recent call of Rev. Paul Kelm (WELS) back to the Board for Parish Services, to serve (again) as a BPS consultant. He was called from St. Mark in DePere, WI, where he was serving with Rev. John Parlow. For your information, St. Mark seems to be “the seat of Church Growth" in our Synod - "contemporary" or "new style" congregations in our synod almost universally look to St. Mark as their model. Other hotspots that I am aware of include southern Ohio, Texas, Arizona, and the West Coast -- with the leaven of "Church Growth" teachings working just about everywhere nowadays. In this blog post, Random Dan makes plain some additional issues. One of them is the infamous practice among "Church Growth" congregations of "borrowing" from heterodox sources, verbatim. Often, entire sermons are regurgitated nearly word-for-word, and heterodox "outreach resources" are used verbatim and without qualification. This has happened at St. Mark more than once, and even though these issues have been brought before their DP several times, nothing has been done. More importantly, in one of the final paragraphs of Random Dan's blog post, he points out that St. Mark DePere is a member of the Willow Creek Association (WCA). Read WCA's "About Us" section, and you'll see that WCA is an ecumenical ministry, and that its members are collaborators and beneficiaries of this ministry. Further, members are required to subscribe to WCA's Statement of Faith. WCA, in describing membership, states:
"While we do not oversee the ministry expressions of individual churches, WCA Membership is intended solely for churches that hold an orthodox understanding of biblical Christianity. All WCA Member Churches have affirmed the central doctrines of the Bible reflected in the WCA Statement of Faith and also presented in the historic creeds of the Christian faith. WCA Membership is open to churches of any size or denomination that are marked by a deep commitment to furthering the cause of Christ."
St. Mark stands in "ministerial association" with WCA, and is in clear violation of the Bible's teaching on Church Fellowship (and, yes, their membership in WCA has been widely reported and is well-known in WELS). Their union with WCA unites the congregations of WELS with all "Christian groups" in WCA (this is called pan-unionism), including the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago, the ELCA, LCMS, various Reformed and pop-church Evangelical groups, and Pentecostals. In addition, there are Unitarian congregations (congregations that reject the teaching of the Trinity) which are also members of this Association -- if you recall from the Athanasian Creed (which we confess without reservation) such congregations cannot be regarded as Christian. St. Mark unites us in fellowship with them. Click here to view all of the churches on the WCA roster. The commentary accompanying Random Dan's blog entry illustrates the purely political nature of continued tolerance toward St. Mark, and other WELS congregations who follow them.
http://together.wels.net/2009/1/19
This is President Schroeder's 1/19/2009 entry on the WELS Insight blog, a WELS news service, in which he addresses the resolutions of the CoP, mentioned above. President Schroeder is a strong, confessional leader, and is, by all reports, working against the inroads of the "Church Growth Movement." Because of the institutional power structures erected by "Church Growth" advocates over the past two decades, this is by definition as much a political task as it is a Confessional and doctrinal one. He needs the help of the laity -- the WELS ministerium, while not powerless, seems to have been rendered impotent with reluctance or fear (apart from a few who are outspoken and bold). Here is an example of his attempt to communicate with the laity and build support.
http://bailingwater.blogspot.com/2009/01/what-kind-of-pastors-do-we-need.html
In case you hadn't received your February issue of Forward in Christ (and oddly, at mid-February, many people still had not received it...), you can read President Schroeder's article at the head of this blog article. Apparently, Bailing Water received an advanced copy of Schroeder's article, and published it online. It is tremendous, and represents a frontal assault against the "Church Growth Movement." Several C&C Church Growthers responded on Bailing Water by jeering at Schroeder, and at those who support him and sound Confessional Lutheranism in WELS. Several "Confessional Crusaders" responded by expressing relief, as if their job is finished. Freddy Finkelstein wrote two responses illustrating the doctrinal complexities involved, and indicating that the real work has only begun.
The Great Financial Cost of "Church Growth" Spending
Read the attached paper, The Kuske Report. (also reproduced online, here)
This paper is a research paper that Rev. Paul Kuske (WELS) wrote and posted on the "Issues in WELS" website in February of 2007. This site has been taken down (since the "Issues" were seemingly resolved with the change in Synod leadership), but the document is available from various individuals in WELS. This is the paper which exposed the extent of mind-boggling and irrational "Church Growth" spending and financial mismanagement that WELS has suffered over the past 20 years, and which is in many ways responsible for our Synod's current financial condition. It covers the same period of history as Manthey's Fifteen Years Under the MOV, above, and together they paint an interesting picture of how "Church Growth" power structures and financial control seem to go together.
http://together.wels.net/2009/2/16
This is President Schroeder's 2/16/2009 entry on the WELS Insight blog. While his article paints a bleak financial picture, he echoes key points made by Rev. Manthey and Rev. Kuske in the papers referenced above. Here are some excerpts (emphasis mine):
We are faced with the simple and painful fact that the level of funding available to support our synod's mission and ministry will be significantly less in the next two years than it is today. While support from congregations has been commendable and steady in these difficult times, expected support from other sources has dropped significantly. The blunt reality is that we will need to reduce our synod's budget by approximately $8 million, from about $38 million today to approximately $30 million in the next fiscal year. When the Synodical Council presents a balanced budget to the convention in July, which it is required by the constitution to do, significant reductions will need to be made in all areas of our synod's work.
...Our desire to proclaim the gospel to more and more people has led us to adopt ambitious plans across the synod. That is a noble goal, but we have often looked to support those plans on anticipated gifts from foundations, individuals, and other sources. We are now in a situation where some of those large gifts have been suddenly reduced. As commendable as our plans may have been, we simply do not have the financial means to continue at the same level as before.
...the Synodical Council will not simply be wrestling with the short-term reduction in the budget. It will also be looking to the need for providing long-term stability to our finances. The Synodical Council will be considering at least one proposal to achieve this goal. This proposal for long-term stability will not enable us to avoid difficult cuts now, but it will seek to provide a new approach to budgeting and planning that will greatly reduce the likelihood of a similar situation occurring in the future. One main element of the proposal is a commitment to planning our ongoing ministry based primarily on our most stable source of funding (Congregation Mission Offerings) and using large donations from other sources for one-time or limited-time programs.
The first paragraph I cite, above, is a straightforward high-level explanation of the reality. However, the second paragraph I cite admits that the funding priorities and methods of Church Growth have gotten us to our current situation (as the The Kuske Report obviates), and the final paragraph I cite indicates the currently favored solution as one which restructures budgeting and planning -- from one dictated by centralized Church Growth priorities to one reflecting our congregational polity. Elsewhere in Schroeder's article, he admits that sweeping Administration cuts and changes will need to be made, reminiscent of the concerns expressed in Manthey's Fifteen Years Under the MOV.
There are other, more salacious, internet sources detailing the massive costs of CGM methods, the extent to which many congregations in WELS have given themselves over to such ideas, and the willingness of our Synod's wealthy to underwrite these efforts through the establishment of external Trusts and Foundations devoted to the issuing grants for these purposes. It is too bad that this money, given in good faith, is used to support efforts founded on such ill-conceived financial notions as those expressed in The Kuske Report. Just because you build it, doesn't at all mean that they will come...
Conclusion
It is amazing that, in a church body such as WELS, which upholds purity in doctrine and true confessional unity, CGM has gained such a foothold among us, and now poses such a threat. After years of failed action in some cases, and of inaction in most other cases, Confessional Lutherans in the WELS stand exposed, organizationally, financially, ecumenically, and doctrinally. Today, there is a suggestive lack of unity in Practice among us as a result of "Church Growth" teachings/methodologies, a lack of unity that is, more-and-more, exposing a growing divergence of opinion among us regarding Scripture teaching. Left unaddressed and uncorrected, the result can only be a rank disunity of the sort tolerated in LCMS -- even celebrated among them in some quarters. Yet, it is tempting for our pastors, in an effort to emphasize our unity, to downplay the reality of these threats. After all, to admit the reality would only prove disturbing for lay members who may not have the capacity to fully understand or appreciate the issues, and would only erode confidence in their leadership and in the Synod's guidance. Regardless, these issues are real, they are serious, and they are going to surface one way or the other. I would encourage you to read the documentation above. Do so without interference from others, and draw your own independent conclusions. I would also encourage you to send this information, along with the attachments, to your fellow laymen, whether delegates to the 2009 Convention or not, that they, too, may be prepared for the 2009 WELS Synod Convention and will be prepared to respond to these issues as they may arise in their own congregations.
In Christ,
[Your Friend]
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "An Open Letter to WELS - From a Layman":
More and more self-aggrandizing pastors seek out the heady role of cult leader. This blog has pointed out a number of them for closer observation. None of them seem interested in work of an old fashioned pastor -- something they claimed they wanted to do.
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Freddy Finkelstein has left a new comment on your post "An Open Letter to WELS - From a Layman":
"Even Barna Research... has declared CGM a statistical failure... despite over $500 billion invested in CGM methods over the past 30 years, no evidence of growth is discernible."
Yes, this is true -- and this didn't come out just yesterday, either. It was like five years ago. His yearly "State of the Church" report for the couple years prior to this were quite shrill, to the point of practically shrieking, that Evangelicalism in America was about to collapse. Rumour has it that he went into some kind of depression over the failure of CGM.
Today, however, Barna seems to be advocating for the Emergent crowd -- with his recent books like Pagan Christianity attacking historic church practices, and his active support for home churches and the new-old apostolic way of "just being church" rather than "doing church" (realize, with really no doctrine of the Church, folks like Barna confuse Invisible with Visible Church). He has also identified and is now describing American "Christianity" in terms of "faith tribes," causing one to wonder where Jeske, and possibly other prominent Lutherans, gets the idea to refer to his public Confession as merely tribal membership (this was discussed on Bailing Water back in March, in case anyone missed it).
Freddy Finkelstein
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Mary Thompson wrote:
It may be entirely too late for WELS as an institution, for although it is heartening that some awakening seems to be occurring 40 years after the orchestration of systematically destroying the foundations, including the process of dispatching the reliable KJV to the dustbin of history, began in another convention (1967). When I was "terminated" by a WELS congregation in 1977, what I wrote in an open letter to the congregation has come full circle. A lot of conventions have come and gone since, but unless the fundamental mistakes made 40 years ago are understood and corrected, the next convention will only result in a temporary one step back for the agents of change who will emerge with two steps forward again.
EXCERPT from letter to Peace Lutheran Congregation, Santa Clara, CA (1977)
"Students of history always identify turning points resulting in long range changes in institutions. Rarely recognized as pivotal at the time, it generally takes a period of time before the fruits of the such events begin to manifest themselves to the general body of an institution. If such a 'turning point' were to be identified for the current (1977) facilitation of change' in synod, it would be the year of 1967. Two resolutions adopted at he 1967 Convention set the stage for fundamental, far reaching changes only recently coming apparent.
1) The resolution was adopted which provided the technical loophole which was used to justify the government grants to WELS schools. It set the stage for the idea that government educators had something constructive to offer Christian education, for in addition to monetary considerations, programs and philosophies of these educators have been assimilated into Christian schools until the distinction between church and government schools is becoming less distinct by the year.
2) The second action of that 1967 convention was the authorization of the restructuring of synod organization from a truly representative form of governance to one of Systems Analysis (Planning, Programming, Budgeting System). The name itself defines the management system. More than a budgeting system, PPBS also restructures the WAY decisions are made.
Plans are predetermined by an elite planning body. All factors involved are known only by that planning body. Programming for acceptance of the pre-determined plans are implemented to create the "need" for the planned goal or to obtain the necessary "feedback" to identify strong opposition, and if necessary, adjust the plan so it WILL be accepted by members at large who can be persuaded through various means to be receptive to the plan. They in turn ultimately legitimatize the predetermined plans with a vote in congregation, district, or synod. This process is in motion now to discredit the King James Version and condition for acceptance of NIV.
"The nature of PPBS is manipulative from the top. There is no escaping the ESSENCE of the process........the system should be denounced.".............
"As in every other church body including those calling themselves Lutheran, WELS will experience continued controversy. There can be no true peace or unity once a church body is divided on what the very Word of God is! If history repeats itself, and the pattern follows that which every other church embarking on similar paths...,.WELS will become more and more subjective. Larger and larger promotional synod-wide programs will multiply........Expect increased encouragement of emotional responses at all levels of church life. With more and more methodologically contrived situations designed to elicit subjective responses, there will be less and less doctrinal emphasis......." MT
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These days criticism of the assimilation of Systems Management is often expressed as "management practices" or "business method", etc. not appropriate for the work of the church. But the SYSTEM is more than mere consideration of how dollars and cents are spent.
PPBS, MBO, or whatever name by which it is identified, is a dialectical process which was introduced into military, and civic government at all levels as well as government schools from national to local applications. Not be considered outside the prevailing times, WELS and others ran after the methodology of the pied pipers of change which were "unfreezing the system" (a term used by RAND Corporation to define the process in government schools), a process which has proven as destructive in that secular arena as it has in WELS and elsewhere. Those of us who were battling the outrages in the government schools in the late 60's and 70's recognized what was afoot, and hearts sank when we learned that our own synod had hopped on board the PPBS bandwagon.
Unless that restructuring of synod governance is addressed and undone, and the issue of Reliable Bible translations addressed, the Church Growth Movement will remain symptomatic of a much deeper problem, with Church and Change the visible agents to bring the undoing about.
Mary Thompson
EastCoast and Freddy Finkelstein on Love
Greg,
That "Christopher" guy on Ichabod is a perfect example of what is wrong in WELS. I have such members. I believe all WELS churches do. I confront mine with the hard truths. Most don't like it one bit, and many leave for LCMS and ELCA et al. The "turnover" at this congregation has been nearly 80% in the years I have been here, with a net gain of maybe ten good, faithful members.
Most - almost no - WELS Pastors, even the really good ones, will not confront their mamby-pamby members. Its not just that they're afraid of losing members and offerings, but that they feel they must be super-tolerant and patient with these folks and not be too hard on them. If they were "shacking-up," or drunks or something, they would come down on them like a ton of bricks. But because their sin is a misunderstanding and misapplication of God's directives to His Church, and very often some quite false and dangerous beliefs as well, these members are allowed to stay for years and years. In turn, they contaminate many others in the congregation. Very slowly, over time, more and more people get the "warm fuzzy" disease. This then leads to calls for "contemporary," "casual," or "alternative" worship, among other nonsense. At first, this is supported only by 20 to 25% of the congregation. But then Confessional members quit or move, new and weaker members take their place, and in a decade or so, a once Confessional and orthodox congregation is starting a "coffee-house church" downtown, and looking for all the world like your typical "community, non-denominational" church. This has happened dozens of times already, and the poison has infected hundreds of WELS churches. The problem has become systemic. As WELS' roots are deep in Pietism, this infection is latent in nearly all WELS leaders, Pastoral and otherwise. The only cure is the theological equivalent of heavy pruning and copper sulfate - tough discipline on both members and the Pastors who tolerate them, and the anti-viral of the true pure Law and Gospel, properly divided and applied.
The point is - there are places and churches for these "limp Lutherans." I don't say they're going to hell. Probably not. But that's because of what Luther called "the blessed inconsistency," people don't often follow their false beliefs to their faith-destroying, and soul-damning conclusions. Praise the Lord! However, that doesn't mean we want them in our congregations! They are still dangerous, and their support, participation, and offerings are not worth giving up one iota of the Bible or the Confessions. This is what we in the WELS need desperately to understand and act upon. But, frankly, I don't think it will happen. Most likely, it is already too late. The Convention next month will tell the tale.
If you want to use this on Ichabod for Christopher, that's fine.
EastCoast
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Freddy Finkelstein has left a new comment on your post "Guess What Just Emerged from The CORE?":
Luther on the "Role of Love" when doctrinal error is involved:
"In the church, however, as far as the Word is concerned, it is not a matter of the forgiveness of sins; but this is the mathematical point and the highest purity. The Word is so irreproachable that not a single iota can err in the Law or the divine promises. For that reason we must yield to no sect, not even in one tittle of Scripture, no matter how much they clamor and accuse us of violating love when we hold so strictly to the Word. The beginning of all love is that the scepter of equity remains. If there is no other way of achieving this, then love or anything else must be broken, be it ever so great, just so the Word remains pure" (in his commentary on Psalm 45).
"We are prepared to preserve peace and love with all men if only they will permit us to keep the doctrine of faith entire and uncorrupted. If they will not promise this, they will demand love from us in vain. Damned be that love which is maintained at the cost of the doctrines of the faith! ...If a single one is set aside, they will gradually all be lost. They form one single, harmonious whole..." (from his commentary on Galatians 5:9).
Luther was such a fine influence in his day. Too bad he is culturally outdated and no longer relevant in ours. Fellowship used to be "the immune system of the Church," now it is an impediment to numerical growth.
Freddy Finkelstein
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ELCA NEWS SERVICE
June 8, 2009
ELCA Pastor Brings Words of Promise to Wichita Congregations
09-129-FI
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "Attitude is everything" was a phrase that Dr. George Tiller had made into buttons. Many mourners wore those buttons to his funeral June 6 at College Hill United Methodist Church, Wichita, Kan. Tiller was shot and killed the previous Sunday morning before worship at nearby Reformation Lutheran Church, where he was a member.
"Attitude is everything ... but not our attitude," said the Rev. Lowell R. Michelson, Tiller's pastor, during the funeral sermon. "God's attitude ... an attitude of love."
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GJ - Killer Tiller murdered 60,000 defenseless babies.
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