Emergent Church Flow Chart

Will this blogger be denounced by fake-Ichabod?
Click the image to enlarge it.

The Emergent Church is the new fad, creating a place (you dasn't call it a church) for people who hate church.

"There Is No Church Growth Movement in WELS" - Wayne Mueller

VALLESKEY QUOTATIONS



"2. The distinction between a witness and an evangelist. a. Some are evangelists (Eph. 4:11-12) 1) C. Peter Wagner: 'The average church can realistically expect that approximately 10 per cent of its active adult members will have been given the gift of evangelist' (Your Spiritual Gifts Can Help Your Church Grow, Glendale: Gospel Light, 1979, p. 176)...3) but don't expect everyone to have that gift – C. Peter Wagner (op. cit.): 'It is a misunderstanding of biblical teaching, in my opinion, to try to convince every Christian that he or she has to be sharing the faith constantly as a part of their duty to the Master."
Prof. David J. Valleskey, Class Notes, The Theology and Practice of Evangelism, PT 358A p. 51. [C. Peter Wagner is a prominent Church Growth leader.]

"Assignments:...2. Prepare a term paper on the subject of evangelism and/or church growth."
Prof. David J. Valleskey, Class Notes, The Theology and Practice of Evangelism, PT 358A p. 3.

"Useful Ideas for My Ministry from the Church Growth Movement...The Church Growth Movement—Strengths and Weaknesses...The Church Growth Movement—An Evaluation...Church Growth Sounds Good, But...Dangers of the Church Growth Movement...Friendship Evangelism...Rationale for Friendship Evangelism..."
Prof. David J. Valleskey, Class Notes, The Theology and Practice of Evangelism, PT 358A

Theses very close to Valleskey's Quarterly article (Spring, 1991, p. 117). Questionnaire mentions CG "underemphasizing the Means of Grace as the power of the Holy Spirit." [That is like saying that Lutherans underemphasize the Assumption of Mary.]
David J. Valleskey, P.T. 418, The Church Growth Movement—An Evaluation, Summer Quarter, Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, June 23-July 11, 1986

"This downplaying of the importance of the means of grace on the part of many in the Church Growth Movement would seem to stem from several factors." [That is like saying that many Lutherans downplay the infallibility of the pope.]
David J. Valleskey, "The Church Growth Movement—An Evaluation," Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly, Spring, 1991 88, p. 105. Holidaysburg, 10-15-90

"There is a fourth option, which is the choice of this writer. It is the same kind of approach Lawrence Crabb, a Christian counselor, advocates over against the use of secular counseling resources. He calls it 'spoiling the Egyptians' (Exodus 12:36, KJV), after the action of Israel at the time they left Egypt, when they took from the Egyptians what would stand them in good stead on their journey."
David J. Valleskey, "The Church Growth Movement—An Evaluation," Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly, Spring, 1991 88, p. 115. Holidaysburg, Pa, 10-15-90. Exodus 12:36. [The KJV is good only when backing a Fuller favorite!]

"Yet this writer is confident we won't go astray in adopting a 'spoiling the Egyptians' approach to the various Church Growth Movement sociological principles and the research that produced them."
David J. Valleskey, "The Church Growth Movement—An Evaluation," Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly, Spring, 1991 88, p. 116. Exodus 12:36. [So they promoted him to president of The Sausage Factory.]

"The instructor may find it best not to distribute the Spiritual Gifts Analysis (pp. 33-49) until the end of the course, when the time has come for class members to work through it."
David J. Valleskey, Gifted to Serve, Parish Services, WELS. [Spiritual Gift Analysis was widely promoted through Fuller Seminary.]

"So, what should the members of St. John evangelism committee do with [C. Peter Wagner's] Your Church Can Grow?...They can probably pick up a few helpful hints. They might, for example, appreciate research which provides an insight into the way unchurched people think."
Prof. David Valleskey, "The Church Growth Movement, Just Gathering People or Building the Church?" The Northwestern Lutheran, May 5, 1991, p. 185. See Oct 15 NWL Jeb Schaefer editorial

Bob: "..I'd like to share with you a book I came across the other day. It's interesting, easy to read, and may be the answer to our problem..." [Could this be the Bible, The Book of Concord, What Luther Says?] "Its title is Your Church Can Grow, and it's filled with all sorts of practical hints that could help us turn things around here." Author: "Bob didn't realize it at the time, but in his browsing he had stumbled upon one of many similar books written from the perspective of the church growth movement, books with such titles as How to Grow a Church, Ten Steps for Church Growth, Church Growth: Strategies that Work, and Leading Your Church to Growth."
Prof. David Valleskey, "The Church Growth Movement, Just Gathering People or Building the Church?" The Northwestern Lutheran, May 5, 1991, p. 184.

"Accordingly, when Christ says, Disciple (matheteusate) all nations by baptizing them, matheteusate can mean nothing other than to make disciples, to turn unbelievers into believers; for that is the Spirit-produced effect of baptism."
David J. Valleskey, We Believe—Therefore We Speak, The Theology and Practice of Evangelism, Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1995, p. 127. Matthew 28:18-20. [Fuller Seminary promotes the manufacture of disciples.]

"It is true that only God the Holy Spirit can effect the end result of making a disciple out of an unbeliever; all we can do is sow the seed. But it is also true that our Lord, by speaking specifically of making disciples in his commission to his church, is encouraging it to keep that intended goal in mind when it does its seed sowing."
David J. Valleskey, We Believe—Therefore We Speak, The Theology and Practice of Evangelism, Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1995, p. 135. Matthew 28:18-20. [But He told His disciples to "teach all nations, baptizing them" not make disciples.]

"Is the mission of the church to preach the gospel or to make disciples? The two--preaching the gospel and making disciples--are closely connected. Making disciples is the goal, or end result, our Lord had in mind. He does not want any to perish, but all to come to repentance and faith. He wants all to be saved, to come to a heart knowledge of the truth. Preaching the gospel (employing the means of grace) is the means by which the Lord will achieve his goal of making disciples and so of gathering in his elect before he returns."
David J. Valleskey, We Believe—Therefore We Speak, The Theology and Practice of Evangelism, Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1995, p. 134. [Cloaking Schwaermer doctrine.]

"David Hubbard, president Fuller Seminary: 'Not all of us have the gift of evangelism. I admire people who can lead others to Jesus Christ right on the spot...."
Prof. David J. Valleskey, Class Notes, The Theology and Practice of Evangelism, PT 358A p. 52.

"Introduction to the Church Growth Movement by Lutheran authors, Hunter, Kent R., Foundations for Church Growth (New Haven, MO: Leader Publishing Co., 1983) - the author, an LC-MS clergyman who has now set up his own church growth consulting service, performs the valuable service in this 204 page book of presenting an introduction to church growth goals and terminology. Werning, Waldo, Vision and Strategy for Church Growth, (Chicago: Moody Press, 1977) - Werning, active for years in LC-MS stewardship work, explains the foundations, presuppositions and principles of church growth and then shows how a congregation can benefit from making use of certain church growth principles - of the two books listed in this category, Werning's is the more practical."
Prof. David J. Valleskey, Class Notes, The Theology and Practice of Evangelism, PT 358A p. 6.

"3. Establish your goals. a. definition: goals are those things that are required for an organization to carry out its objectives ('How') 1) short-range targets 2) SMART, Specific...Measureable...Acceptable...Realistic...Timed...."
Prof. David J. Valleskey, Class Notes, The Theology and Practice of Evangelism, PT 358A p. 101. [This is business advice and happens to be exactly the same as the LCA's and Fuller's. I heard this in the LCA in 1978.]

"But a cold heart can beat close to a correct mind. There are too many churches with impeccable credentials for orthodox theology whose outreach is almost nil. They are 'sound,' but they are sound asleep." [Babtist] Leighton Ford, The Christian Persuader. Valleskey asks: "true to a certain degree of us?"
Prof. David J. Valleskey, Class Notes, The Theology and Practice of Evangelism, PT 358A p. 24. [Dost we wonder why WELS is so Babtist today?]

"a receptivity rating scale (adapted by Win and Charles Arn in The Master's Plan for Making Disciples, p. 91...."
Prof. David J. Valleskey, Class Notes, The Theology and Practice of Evangelism, PT 358A p. 58. [More Church Growth manufacturing of disciples.]

"The term 'spiritual breathing' originated with Dr. William Bright in his booklet, 'Have You Made the Wonderful Discovery of the Spirit-filled Life?'"
David Valleskey, Forest Bivens, New Life in Christ, September, 1981 p. 1. [Does anyone wonder why so many Mequon graduates have turned Pentecostal? This book was so full of false doctrine, NPH would not publish it, but both authors were good enough to teach at The Sausage Factory.]

***

GJ - Why would anyone think WELS was full of Church Growth doctrine?

How are those numbers looking, after all the SMART goals have been followed?

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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post ""There Is No Church Growth Movement in WELS" - Way...":

I get the idea now. Shift the responsibility and work of the Lord to the disciples. That should eliminate any accountability of synod officials and pastors. Then blame the disciples for not making more disciples.

Church and Change: The Sacred Cow Is Hamburger

Church and Change overlaps the previous WELS leadership so much that one can say the two are synonymous.

For example:

1. The Love Shack backed every Church Growth project and pastor, such as paying for training at Willow Creek with offering money.
   
2. The Love Shack engaged in a series of joint religious ventures with ELCA, including a radio worship services (Joy!) and evangelism (Church Membership Initiative, etc).
   
3. Name changes just happened to leave out the word Lutheran - Northwestern Lutheran to FIC, WELS Lutherans for Life to Christian Life Resources, The Lutheran Hymnal to Christian Worship.
   
4. WELS just happened to find discipleship in everything. Wayne Mueller turned adult education and youth education posts into Adult Discipleship and Youth Discipleship. Jesus changed His mind, telling the apostles to go out and "Make disciples."
   
5. Fuller activists were constantly promoted and bailed out of their messes, while critics of the Fuller infection were driven out.
   
6. The worst false teachers--Kelly Voigt, Floyd Stolzenburg, Mark Freier, Paul Calvin Kelm, James Huebner, Larry (Staph Infection) Olson, Rick Miller, David Valleskey, Forrest Bivens, Norm Berg--were paraded as examples to follow while faithful pastors actually worked, finding their efforts blessed by God but cursed by meddling Shrinkers.
   
7. Wild hair spending bankrupted the synod, in spite of the enormous annual giving of the Schwan Foundation.
   
8. The synodical schools were strangled out of the budget to pay for all the ridiculous CG projects that used up money faster than the Prodigal Son. As the Kuske Report shows, synod spending doubled while giving stayed the same.
   
9. Mueller-Gurgle forced the synod school tuition up so high that a whole generation of students was lost. At least one school will be closed soon.
   
10. Project Airport--linked from the WELS.net jumpword list--is another example of pursuing the fads of Fuller and ELCA, wasting money, and enforcing Schwaermer orthodoxy. Airport is big on cross-culturalism, a way to spend huge amounts of money to assuage liberal guilt.
    
11. The Church and Change missions just happen to look like Andy Stanley Babtist efforts: dishonest names, big screens, expensive sound systems, rock music, and plagiarized sermons.
    
12. The sheep are directed by the false shepherds to read the works of false teachers among the Enthusiasts and the aping Enthusiasts among the Lutherans. The last Church and Change conference was promoted from the WELS.net website jumpword list while Gurgle told pastors "Church and Change is over, gone, finished, taken apart." Meanwhile, Gurgle has joined forces with Kudu Don Patterson and has an activist brother placed at The Sausage Factory.
    

The wolf-pack is howling now. The Chicaneries have been identified and quoted too often to deny their agenda, their cost to the synod, and their future doom.

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Brian P Westgate has left a new comment on your post "Church and Change: The Sacred Cow Is Hamburger":

Well, technically the full title of Christian Worship is Christian Worship: A Lutheran Hymnal." Though I'm not sure anybody uses the full title . . .

***

GJ - "The congregation will now turn to Hymn 100 in Christian Worship: A Lutheran Hymnal."

Yeah, I hear that echoing throughout WELS, especially at Christ the Rock Lutheran Church and The CORE Lutheran Church.

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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Church and Change: The Sacred Cow Is Hamburger":

Holy cow! Pastors have almost killed that cow. They overdo it during hallucinatory binges that they are on a mission from God. Actually the greater fools of leadership have demanded it.

Ape And Essence

Fake Inchabod apes this blog because Church and Change has no originality: clouds without rain, WELS without water.

I am glad the fake-Ichabod is presenting his case--anonymousely.

First of all, he is a coward who is afraid to sign his name, either to his posts or his comments on this blog. I do not think Joe Krohn is the blogger, because he knows how to format and has a sense of humor. Tim Felt-needs is similar. Besides - both guys have signed their names to comments and their blogs while the new/old blogger never has.

Secondly, the fake-Ichabod has to ape this blog. Envy and malice are the fruits of Church Growth, but only when leavened with deceit, stealth, and timidity.

Thirdly, the doctrinal stances of Church and Chicanery are revealed - exactly as I have stated so many times. The three hobbyhorses are:
1. Universal Objective Justification.
2. The Church Growth Movement.
3. Valleskey's We Believe, Therefore We Sneak.

Does the fake Ichabod want to promote Deutschlander's Theology of the Cross and his comments on Whoopee Worship? No-o-o-o-o.

Does the fake Ichabod want to inform readers about Pietism? No-o-o-o-o-o.

Someone suggested that I complain to Blogger, but I love seeing Church and Change reveal itself in its simian glory.

WELS' Church and Change, started with a synod grant, is secretive, but they gather to do good works. Here they stock their Food Bank for missionaries soon to be fired for the budgetary disasters of...Church and Change.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Ape And Essence":

The fake Ichabod has a mission: protect and preserve the misguided C&C, its minions, and the illusion that all is well by attacking any and all Truth.

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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Ape And Essence":

Sadly synod leadership refuses to see that it is not only part of the problems but also the cause of so many problems in synod. This includes the Great Valleskey.

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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Ape And Essence":

Pastors repudiate the examples of Christ. If they sought to emulate Christ, they would hand-pick Christians and go preach in shopping malls, or anywhere else for that matter. They don’t. Instead they wait for unbelievers to come to them in their churches.

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GJ - The Pietistic agenda is to have the sheep find the sheep, apart from the Means of Grace. However, the Shrinkers are not interested in unbelievers. Most of their gathering is from other churches. They have not increased the numbers of Christians in America, as they admit. Look at shrinking WELS, after 32 years of Church Growthism. Some WELS/ELS hives have grown in numbers from being anti-Lutheran entertainment centers. Kelm-Parlow's St. Mark Depere is one of those.

C&C wants to gather where they have not sown. For example, The CORE Lutheran Church aims at the WELS members in Fox Valley, not the unchurched. The services Sunday evening allow people to go to their own churches and gather for a C&C revival at the Imax Movie Theater.

Confidential to Just Kidding

***

GJ - Aren't our Missouri friends glad the McCain/Barry administration rolled back the Schwaermer tide of Romanism and Willow-Crickism?

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rlschultz has left a new comment on your post "Confidential to Just Kidding":

I have never posted anoymousely. I have always used my name. Mr. Meyer shows a good working knowledge of the Bible and the Confessions, as exhibited by the quality of his postings. The assumption here is that Mr. Meyer and myself both suffer from some sort of multiple personality disorder.

***

GJ - Mr. Schultz, you have to understand Church and Chicanery thinking. Because they hide, they think everyone else does. From the beginning, one particular nasty person (cussing, using foul and crude language) has posted, always anonymousely, overflowing with baseless accusations:
1. No one reads Ichabod. (He does, every day.)
2. I post my own comments. (Sure, I have time for that.)
3. I should not write about the past, the present, or the future.

I think the same foul-thinking person is the mastermind behind fake-Ichabod. No wonder he has Just Kidding and Felt-needs as followers. CGM and forgiveness without faith - their motto.

An Important Post on Autism

Dan at Necessary Roughness published a good post on autism.

I keep his blog linked in the left column.

I have no direct experience with autism and I am not well read on the subject. Congregations need to relate to children with special needs, from the gifted to the profoundly handicapped. Autism is a major challenge for parents, so the congregation should be a place where the family experiences love, understanding, and genuine help.

Why speak about the Gospel producing good works among believers when special needs are neglected?

I have had someone disabled in my household ever since 1974, with a few no-problem years in the middle. That experience has brought us into contact with many rare medical conditions, dozens of doctors, and famous medical centers. It is a special privilege to know families dealing with unusual medical conditions. The numbers are much higher than people realize, because they tend to avoid contact.

Instead of saying, "Oh no," people should say, "Here is a chance for me to learn, to see the world from another perspective."

KJV 2 Corinthians 12:7 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. 8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. 9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

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JR has left a new comment on your post "An Important Post on Autism":

Jesus Cares (www.jcministries.org) is an organization that provides a worship service especially designed for the developmentally disabled. They have worship services in several WELS/ELS churches.

I was fortunate enough to attend some of these services, and it truly is wonderful to see the Word at work.

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rlschultz has left a new comment on your post "An Important Post on Autism":

Thanks for the link to this posting. There are some congregations that have been able to enroll children who are in the Autism spectrum in their schools. I personally know of some cases. We tried to do this with our son, who is now eleven years old. He is in the Autism spectrum, is non-verbal, but is fairly high functioning compared to others. We began the process about one year ago. There were a lot of restrictions placed upon us. My wife and I believe that we were set up for failure from the start. One important point in the post states that the church should listen to the parents. That never happened with us. Here is an interesting coincidence. Yesterday, we received a letter from the Board of Education stating that our son would not be able to be enrolled in the school in the coming school year. My wife's dogged persistence with the Board of Education wore them out. Last week, one of the Board members told my wife that having an Autistic child could most likely shorten the careers of the two new teachers. I knew that the rejection letter would be coming soon when that little tidbit was told to us. There will be others who will come after our son. What will they do then? I will not even begin to list the challenges that many parents face with a special needs child. One of the pastors told my wife and I that he could not even begin to understand the challenges that we have. After I thought about this, I should have said, "maybe you ought to make a feeble attempt to try and understand". We have many members who have tried to give us support. This is so typical of the way WELS laity are. They will be sincere with you, but will cower under the authority of Boards and called workers. I have left the congregation. The way that we were handled with our son's situation speaks volumes about the leadership of this congregation. It is a symptom of a greater problem.

***

GJ - The congregation and pastor should not be one more burden for the parents and child.

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Schottey has left a new comment on your post "An Important Post on Autism":

MLC has a class called "Teaching the Exceptional Child" where they cover the entire gamut of learning and developmental disabilities.

However, working in the direct support field (as well as having a mentally challenged and mentally ill adopted brother) I do not believe the run of the mill MLC graduate has the resources to tackle the average "exceptional child"

In my field, I've met many wonderful teachers who have gone to school specifically for the purpose of teaching in a special needs class room. Having a degree based around the situation is a lot better than one class.

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rlschultz has left a new comment on your post "An Important Post on Autism":

JR,
First of all, the Jesus Cares Ministries does a great job in assisting parents, congregations, and schools with materials and resources. We have gone to two of their conferences that were in our area. We have also communicated extensively with many of their staff members. I have nothing but praise for JCM. The special worship services that they have formulated are still liturgical in structure.

Also, I agree with you that many schools are too small to take on a special needs child by themselves, especially full time. But that is where the parents and JCM can try to bridge the gap. This Board of Education had little contact with JCM and did the exact opposite of what JCM recommended. As parents, we did a lot of the homework for the Board. All that they would have had to do was follow our lead. We found out that in some of the schools, the Board of Education was barely involved with any of the details. In our situation, the teacher was not even solicited for her input. The Board exercised their authority, and that was it. It was not the outcome that was so distressing. It was more the way in which it was all handled. The comment about the teachers potentially shortening their careers is a fitting example of their attitude.

Nunes Dare Call It Treason

From the LCMS to Lutheran World Relief

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

July 2, 2009

Worship, Bible Study Leaders for ELCA Churchwide Assembly Named


+ Aug. 22: The Rev. John A. Nunes, president and chief executive officer,
Lutheran World Relief, Baltimore

The murder of an helpless woman and the subsequent cover-up.

Henstenberg was a member of Nunes' LCMS congregation. After the murder, Nunes left the congregation, joined ELCA, and became head of the Wheatridge Foundation (liberal Lutheran).


Interview with John Nunes

Nunes - Top Ten Books for the Globally Enlightened

***

GJ - These articles show what it takes to get ahead in the Lutheran Church. Nunes was the pastor of a church where the organist, Eric Henstenberg, murdered a defenseless woman and slandered her to justify himself. That same organist, recommended by Nunes, was involved in the worship planning for the upcoming LCMS convention. Instead of being sacked and left in limbo, Nunes was promoted to a posh foundation job and promoted again to head the Lutheran World Relief organization.

Was the LCMS upset about Nunes leaving for ELCA? Not at all. The flattering article about the top ten books was written by: "Travis Scholl, 35, is managing editor of theological publications at Concordia Seminary. A graduate of Yale Divinity School (MDiv), he is an ordained Lutheran minister. Despite some time away, he and his wife are native St. Louisans, as is the child they are now raising."

Beware the DP Two StepPretending To Oppose, Then Supporting False Doctrine

If the laity and clergy celebrate too soon after the WELS convention, they may find DPs using the doctrinal shuffle, Reformed two-step on them. A good example is historical, a matter of record.

Doctrinal Pussycat Robert Mueller Finally Exposes CG
"Several of our brothers have been warning us to be careful about the leaven of The Church Growth Movement and the insidious Reformed doctrine contained within. Not a few of us have heard their warning and have thought to counter the danger by saying we will weed out the erroneous material and use only that which is proper and beneficial to the Lord's work in our congregations. Fellow-shepherds, there is some evidence to show that that is exactly what the devils wants us to think. That seems to be used to lull us and our members into sleep, and without our intending it, the soul-harming false doctrines creep in undetected, under the guise of religious printed materials and programs." Michigan District President Robert Mueller, (WELS), "President's Report to the Conferences, Spring, 1991, p. 2.

A Few Months Later, Another CG Project Is Launched by the same DP
"Since several brothers have asked about the status of Rick Miller, I provide the following information. Rick has asked for a release from his call at Huron Valley Lutheran High School in order to serve a group of people as their pastor and to help organize them as an independent Christian congregation. The group is composed of some former members of St. Peter Lutheran Church in Plymouth, of some former members of St. Paul Lutheran Church in Livonia, and some people who have left LC-MS churches. The group has stated that it has a different philosophy and style of ministry, which includes drama, contemporary music and a thematic form of worship and liturgy, which allows for greater personal participation by its female members. The group has also stated that it would like to retain fellowship relations with our Wisconsin Synod." District President Robert Mueller, President's Report to the Conferences, Fall, 1991 Note: the congregation has women lectors p. 2f.

"As an independent group it does not plan to use the name 'Lutheran' in its title. It will be known as The Crossroads Christian Church...For the present, Rick Miller is still a pastoral member of the WELS...At that time [January 31, 1992, submission of a constitution] the fellowship question will be determined on the basis of the group's doctrinal statements and practices." District President Robert Mueller, President's Report to the Conferences, Fall, 1991 p. 3.

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GJ - Rick Miller was obviously warmed up to Enthusiasm, because he soon began recruiting members with the following siren song:

"Church music doesn't have to sound 'different.' It can sound just like the music people listen to every day. At Crossroads you won't find a pipe organ, but you will find great music appealing to a variety of tastes...Who says church has to be boring? In many of our services the Crossroads Drama Team makes us laugh or cry, and take a hard look at ourselves."
Crossroads Community Church,
Pastor Rick Miller (WELS).

"Would you be interested in a church that offers...Practical and Relevant Messages? Contemporary Music and Drama? Friendly People Who Are Interested in You? A Non-threatening Environment Where You Can Investigate a Relationship with God? Maybe Crossroads Is For You!...Targeted for September, '92, Sunday morning 'seeker' service designed to introduce Christianity in the most practical relevant way possible!"
Crossroads Community Church,
Pastor Rick Miller (WELS).

Do not gasp in amazement, because David Valleskey himself, the Sausage Factory president, promoted Sneaker Services in his epic tome, We Believe, Therefore We Sneak. Any resemblance to The CORE, Rock N Roll, Latte, and Victory of the Movie Screen...purely a coincidence.

Crossroads became an Evangelical Covenant Church sharing the same doctrinal statements with CrossWalk in Phoenix. Is DP Mueller's mission morphing back into WELS - or is CrossWalk morphing into Evangelical Covenant Pietism?

Ski's DP is known for denouncing Church and Chicanery with one audience and purring over it with another group, depending on who is there.

Look for the Union Label

Marketing executives came up with the Edsel, a car no one wanted.
Synod executives fostered the Church Shrinkage Movement, draining the coffers to fund Fuller, Willow Creek, Trinity Deerfield,
and who knows how many other beehives.
In this Photoshop creation, Craig Groeschel is driving the car
that Huebner is trying to sell to everyone.

Ichabodians only need to look for the union label to find the church officials and professors who are indifferent to doctrine.

Spener's Pietism led to the creation of Halle University, the center of Pietism in one generation and a Unitarian school in the next.

Robert Schuller, who considers himself the founder of Church Growth, went from being liberal Reformed to being pan-religious. The only religion he rejects is orthodox Christianity. Schuller invented the entertainment style church with no denominational label in the 1950s, because denominational identification hurts recruitment. "Doctrine divides, but good works unite." WELS is currently aping the Schuller of the 1970s.

The unionist clergy are those who recommend Church Shrinkage materials for their members and underlings. Most of the WELS leadership came through Fuller, Willow Creek, Trinity Deerfield or all three. Since the executives all went for training, everyone else was excused for thinking it was unionism. Besides--and this is the fun part--it became their secret little club and a great way to fellowship with Missouri.

Now they can go to Mequon and get the same training. As I wrote before, the Sausage Factory graduates were loaded up with Reformed books required by their unionistic sem professors. That was true already in the 1980s.

"'Church growth.' I've seen people cringe when they hear those words. I think I know why. They react negatively because they feel 'church growth' implies an obsessive fixation with numbers and statistics."
Pastor James Huebner, Spiritual Renewal Consultant, Notebook, School of Outreach IV, Seventeen Ways to Keep Your Church from Growing, p. 178.

"We can't do a thing to make his Word more effective. But surely we can detract from its effectiveness by careless errors and poor judgment. It just makes good sense to utilize all of our God-given talents, to scour the field for appropriate ideas, concepts, and material (sic), to implement programs, methods, and techniques so that we do not detract from the effectiveness of the gospel we proclaim. Church growth articles, books, seminars, and conferences can offer such ideas and programs."
Pastor James Huebner, Spiritual Renewal Consultant, Notebook, School of Outreach IV, Seventeen Ways to Keep Your Church from Growing, p 178.

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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Look for the Union Label":

Yes, Jay Adams was all the rage in the WELS seminary, and he was and is only one of the Reformed writers that Mequon promote. Here's one of Adam's books I got rid of a while ago:

What to Do on Thursday: A Layman's Guide to the Practical Use of the Scriptures

Pietism Means Doctrinal Indifference and Unionism

Philipp Jakob Spener (1635 - 1705) was the first union theologian.
All the Shrinkers are unionists too.

Spener got his idea of cell groups from Labadie, a Reformed leader. The reason for inventing a method to develop piety is not mysterious. The Reformed do not trust the Means of Grace and often make fun of this basic Scriptural doctrine. They do not trust the Means of Grace because they follow Zwingli and Calvin in separating the Holy Spirit from the Word. That is the definition of Enthusiam, Luther's term. Enthusiasm is the foundation of all doctrinal error.

Schmid (History of Pietism, NPH) is excruciatingly fair with Spener, accepting the Pietist's denial of Reformed influence and giving details about Spener's Lutheran doctrine. However, there is also plenty of evidence that Spener was against or unconcerned about the Real Presence and baptismal regeneration.

WELS, the LCMS, the Little Sect on the Prairie, and ELCA have one thing in common--besides Thrivent--they all emerged out of Pietism and began sinking back into it.

Pietism always looks for results rather than Scriptural faithfulness. Note Bergendoff's motto, below, "Doctrine divides, but service unites." Arguing over doctrine is bad while uniting with anyone over good works is good.

Pietist Shrinkers cannot be convinced that unionism is wrong because their hearts are ablaze with the results they will get. Therefore God has denied them their dreams and delusions, leaving everyone else with the overdue bills.

Pietist/Shriners do not trust the Word, so they sell love as the cause of conversion and growth. This works well for them because any criticism of Pietism/CGM is unloving. They want to accept everyone, they say, but they denounce the orthodox as dead and unloving. After insinuating themselves into every nook and cranny of their synods, they cry out that the orthodox are divisive.

Doctrine divides - it divides the sheep from the goats.

Luther taught clearly, following the Scriptures - that the Word, not love, converts. Love is one of the fruits of the Gospel.

The fruitlessness of the Pietist/Shrinkers is shown in their hatefulness toward others, their relentless plagiarizing of the Reformed, and their burning desire to end Lutheran worship, doctrine, and practice.

Is it any wonder that the WELS Chicaneries--and LCMS Shrinkers--want to hear the wisdom of Babtists Ed Stetzer and C. Peter Wagner? Is anyone shocked that Shrinkers substitute gimmicks for the Word? Are Shrinkers not flattering, deceiving belly-servers, as Paul described in Romans 16?

Their movements--often renamed for marketing purposes--are foul and disgusting. The Church Growth Movement has ravaged Protestantism and withered the Lutheran Church. Warren made it Purpose Driven, even worse in doctrine. Someone came up with Contagious Churches (getting close to honesty, if we think of the Swine Flu). Now they are selling BMs (Becoming Missional) and the Emerging Church.

Spener's Reformed doctrine and his cell groups are at the center of it all.

Overspending Presby Seminary Piled Up Debt, Bailing Out on LSTC

Conrad Bergendoff's vision for ecumenism
included seminary mergers.
His motto: "Doctrine divides, but service unites."

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

July 2, 2009

ELCA Seminary Measuring Effect of Mccormick Decision to 'Disengage'


CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC)asked a special finance task force to assess the impact of a decision by the board of neighboring McCormick Theological Seminary. McCormick will initiate a process to "disengage" from a real estate arrangement with LSTC as early as June 2010.

LSTC is one of eight seminaries of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). McCormick is one of 10 seminaries of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which became a full-communion partner of the ELCA in 1997.

"LSTC will always give thanks for the partnership of the two schools in the ministry of theological education," said the Rev. James Kenneth Echols, LSTC president. "The seminary also regrets the strained financial circumstances that have led McCormick to make its decision," to pursue an "orderly disengagement" from the real estate portion of its relationship with LSTC, he said.

LSTC's board appointed the special finance task force in 2008. The task force is considering plans that include potential building reconfigurations and new campus partners.

In 1975 McCormick moved its campus alongside LSTC in the Hyde Park area of Chicago, and the seminaries began sharing academic, library and housing facilities. In 2003 McCormick constructed its own administration building on the campus, but now that building will be put up for sale.

A report in Crain's Chicago Real Estate Daily said McCormick's capital program, which included construction of its administration building, left the seminary $30 million in debt with annual bond payments of $1 million.

"We are simply spending a disproportionate and, unfortunately, growing share of our resources on occupancy-related costs," said the Rev. Cynthia M. Campbell, McCormick president, on the seminary's Web site. In addition, McCormick funds 70 percent of its budget from the school's endowment, which recently lost about 30 percent of its value, she said.

David Crawford, McCormick vice president for administration and finance, told Crain's the seminary's decision to sell the administration building is part of a long-term plan to meet its financial challenges.


***

GJ - Conrad Bergendoff was the Boy Wonder of the Augustana Synod, earning a PhD at the U. of Chicago long ago. He favored merger of the Swedish Augustana Synod with the ULCA, so his wish came true in 1960. Here is more information about Bergendoff.

I remember when the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago was built, created from merging the Augustana Seminary in Rock Island, a small seminary in Midland, and Maywood in Chicago. They built in Hyde Park (Chicago), near the U. of Chicago campus built overnight with Rockefeller money.

In a few years the Jesuit school came to the new campus, which was way overbuilt, a white elephant. Next the Presbyterian McCormick seminary moved to the campus. All three libraries were merged and students could take classes in three schools at once: Lutheran, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian - a panoply of doctrines, much like WELS and Missouri today.

Presbyterian schools are well endowed, but McCormick apparently spent its money on a fancy admin building and soon took an endowment hit with equity meltdown. The Ivy League schools are reporting a 30% one-year loss in endowment, so everyone is scrambling to stay afloat.

Three Lutheran seminaries and three other schools merged in some fashion to form a union which is now dissolving in some way.

LSTC is a green zone. My bosom heaved with emotion when I read about them recycling ink cartridges and using recycled paper. Mother Earth must be pleased.

PS - Kent Hunter, LCMS, got his ThD at LSTC before getting a drive-by DMin from Fuller Seminary. Hunter and Waldo Werning were going to do a seminar for WELS together, years ago, but that got canceled, leading to all kinds of hissing and yowling from Church and Chicaneries.

Joe Krohn - The Bitter Fruit of Church and Chicanery

Rock and the Cradle Roll at Christ The Rock Lutheran Church

Joe Krohn has left another Enthusiastic comment on your post "Try To Keep Up with The Finkelsteinery":

TWANG!!!!!

You are are a legend in your own mind.

There's only one thing worse than a snooty theologian and that's a snooty music buff. Your put down of anything that you don't like means:

a. You compensate for your insecurities by dissing 'bad' music and hopefully make yourself feel better. How's that workin' for ya?

b. You are obviously a non-musician. Go and tell Joe Satriani that anybody can do what he does. Stick to what you know, bad theology. Go here for good theology:

http://ichabodthegloryisdeparted.blogspot.com/

c. You are a frustrated musician who realizes you just can't hack it. I have heard you sing. I don't think you could carry a tune in a bucket. :)

Joe Krohn, VP Patterson's buddy, former member of CrossWalk, Phoenix (fading, fading), currently a member of Rock N Roll in Round Rock (fading, fading), ex-blogger for Rock N Roll.

***

GJ - Where's the love, Joe? I am glad Chicaneries know so much about everyone, without meeting them, without asking questions, or without being polite. I enjoy featuring caustic and erroneous remarks from their hive. Joe is the only one who signs his name or initials. He may have posted anonymously besides. He did a lot of bragging on the C and C listserve, not realizing my stupendous sigint operation.

My did the Chicaneries howl about being quoted! I would be ashamed too, if I got caught being so Schwaermer.

I realize that Chicaneries are jealous because I can enjoy world outreach without fat grants. Meanwhile, they fail with fat grants and excessive CG training. Maybe they should trust the Word and have their ministers give original sermons.

At least I have Joe exposed to a good blog with excellent Lutheran quotations, fine Christian hymns, and original sermons. We even celebrate Lent, Advent, and Ascension Day with worship services.

Joe has listened to our services, too. He has correctly stated that my singing voice is terrible. That is because I almost lost my voice completely at one time. The Cleveland Clinic doctor was not sure I would even talk again. But being a bad singer does not keep me from a long history of studying music, playing classical music, and appreciating good music.

I have yet to see Joe's qualifications for judging Lutheran worship or theology. Perhaps the Holy Spirit enlightens him directly.

I suspected that Joe set up the fake Ichabod blog, but the format is so poor that I am wavering. Clearly someone with bruised toes about UOJ and CG has chosen to expose his dreadful training to the world - but anonymously. Ha.

This Fuller-trained Church Shrinker Could Be the Next First Veep of WELS

Second VP of the Synod, James Huebner is surrounded by a cloud of witnesses - all the Church Growth gurus followed by Church and Change. As a long-term CG Enthusiast, would Huebner be a faithful Lutheran leader?
ID of false teachers who are outside the framework of fellowship and therefore good to pay for books, videos, sermons, conferences, and joint worship - Top row from left: The mask is Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill, Seattle; then Okie Craig Groeschel of Life Church; the cheerful Babtist is Ed Stetzer, now much slimmer; the white-haired guy with the goatee is Pentecostal Babtist C. Peter Wagner; the black and white goatee photo is Donald McGavran, Disciples of Christ, Planned Parenthood advocate; to his right is another goatee - Leonard Newman, New Age Methodist and C/C keynoter; Snuggling Huebner's face is Bill Hybels, Willow Creek, where many WELS pastors have been trained with mission funds; Below McGavran and Hybels is Andy Stanley, Babtist leader of Drive 09, 10, etc - trainer of champeens like Ski, Glende, Katie, and many more WELS workers. Obscured by Huebner is Catholic Archbishop R. Weakland, featured speaker at Wisconsin Lutheran College, home of Church and Chicanery.

Ichabodians may recall that James Huebner, Paul Calvin Kelm, and Larry (Our Staph Infection) Olson have served a Church Growth consultants throughout WELS. Huebner even brags about it on his websty.

Jackson: "Where were you trained to be a consultant?"

Huebner, gulping: "Fuller Seminary."

I remember a pastor advising me that Larry Olson was a harmless heretic and Huebner was in a position without power. Unfortunately, clever apostates drift into place over the years. Some may think they can beat up the Shrinkers and let Huebner have a position as a sop to apostates' wounded feelings. The Shrinkers do howl so fearsomely.

But that would be a mistake, telling the fed-up laity that doctrine does not matter after all. Huebner's anti-Lutheran statements have been overshadowed by the ridiculous errors of Kelm, Olson, Valleskey, and Radloff, but Huebner is just as toxic.

Here is a sample:

"'Church growth.' I've seen people cringe when they hear those words. I think I know why. They react negatively because they feel 'church growth' implies an obsessive fixation with numbers and statistics."
Pastor James Huebner, Spiritual Renewal Consultant, Notebook, School of Outreach IV, Seventeen Ways to Keep Your Church from Growing, p. 178.

"We can't do a thing to make his Word more effective. But surely we can detract from its effectiveness by careless errors and poor judgment. It just makes good sense to utilize all of our God-given talents, to scour the field for appropriate ideas, concepts, and material (sic), to implement programs, methods, and techniques so that we do not detract from the effectiveness of the gospel we proclaim. Church growth articles, books, seminars, and conferences can offer such ideas and programs."
Pastor James Huebner, Spiritual Renewal Consultant, Notebook, School of Outreach IV, Seventeen Ways to Keep Your Church from Growing, p 178.

Are words necessary?

Try To Keep Up with The Finkelsteinery

Wanted - real church musicians.

The Finkelsteinery is very active in providing worship and music insights.

I do not know who he is. I judge contributors by their writing. I was impressed with his work on Bailing Water and quoted him often. I am happy about his blogging.

We should not be shocked that the Chicaneries who promote bad theology would also feature bad music.

I was teaching a humanities course and growing weary of the promotion of rock music by some members of the class. I told them rock was a field where little talent was required. I did my imitation of a rock musician, with a loud "Twang!" and a scream. They asked for repeats and laughed.

They had to agree that most members of a symphony orchestra could play rock if they wanted. They also admitted that very few rock musicians could join a symphony orchestra.

The next week I brought my Bose radio-CD player to class. We were on the second floor, accessible only by elevator. I put Pachebel's Canon on, very loud. A Bose unit can easily push sound through walls without distorting the music. The rock fans walked into class in shock. They heard the music inside the elevator. "What is that?" Many members of the class wrote down the name so they could obtain a copy. They loved it.

Click here for a serious version of the Canon.

Click here for a funny rant about the Canon.

I like popular music, from country to bubble gum, but the greatest music is classical, 95% of my diet. Lutherans are letting go of a great hymn tradition - orthodox hymns of praise wedded to music Bach chose to feature in many of his works.

Freddy Finkelsteinis posting hymns on his blog. Norman Teigen got me posting the embed code. Thanks to You Tube, we can watch the most dreadful music videos - or the best.

Anonymice Plan Next Morale Boosting Conference - Pietism Reignited

Those who "get it" will meet at the
Drive 10 Babtist Worship Conference.
Eight WELS pastors and Katie attended the last one.
Who paid the bill?

Pieper on Pietism

J-756

"In so far as Pietism did not point poor sinners directly to the means of grace, but led them to reflect on their own inward state to determine whether their contrition was profound enough and their faith of the right caliber, it actually denied the complete reconciliation by Christ (the satisfactio vicaria), robbed justifying faith of its true object, and thus injured personal Christianity in its foundation and Christian piety in its very essence."
Francis Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, 3 vols., trans., Walter W. F. Albrecht, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1953, III, p. 175.

Hoenecke on Pietism

J-757

"Wohl scheint auf den ersten Blick die ganze Differenz recht unbedeutend; aber in Wahrheit gibt sich hier die gefaehrliche Richtung der Pietisten zu erkennen, das Leben ueber die Lehre, die Heiligung ueber die Rechtfertigung und die Froemmigkeit nicht als Folge, sondern als Bedingung der Erleuchtung zu setzen also eine Art Synergismus und Pelagianismus einzufuehren. (At first glance, the total difference seems absolutely paltry, but in truth the dangerous direction of Pietism is made apparent: life over doctrine, sanctification over justification, and piety not as a consequence but declared as a stipulation of enlightenment, leading to a kind of synergism and Pelagianism.)"
Adolf Hoenecke, Evangelische-Lutherische Dogmatik, 4 vols., ed., Walter and Otto Hoenecke, Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1912, III, p. 253.

Walther on Pietism

J-758

"What may be the reason why the Pietists, who were really well-intentioned people, hit upon the doctrine that no one could be a Christian unless he had ascertained the exact day and hour of his conversion? The reason is that they imagined a person must suddenly experience a heavenly joy and hear an inner voice telling him that he had been received into grace and had become a child of God. Having conceived this notion of the mode and manner of conversion, they were forced to declare that a person must be able to name the day and hour when he was converted, became a new creature, received forgiveness of sins, and was robed in the righteousness of Christ. However, we have already come to understand in part what a great, dangerous, and fatal error this is."
C. F. W. Walther, The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel, trans., W. H. T. Dau, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1928, p. 194f. Thesis IX.

"'Pay more attention to pure life, and you will raise a growth of genuine Christianity.' That is exactly like saying to a farmer: 'Do not worry forever about good seed; worry about good fruits.' Is not a farmer properly concerned about good fruit when he is solicitous about getting good seed? Just so a concern about pure doctrine is the proper concern about genuine Christianity and a sincere Christian life. False doctrine is noxious seed, sown by the enemy to produce a progeny of wickedness. The pure doctrine is wheat-seed; from it spring the children of the Kingdom, who even in the present life belong in the kingdom of Jesus Christ and in the life to come will be received into the Kingdom of Glory."
C. F. W. Walther, The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel, trans., W. H. T. Dau, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1928, p. 21.

J-759

"Meanwhile, back in Europe the corrosive effects of Pietism in blurring doctrinal distinctions had left much of Lutheranism defenseless against the devastating onslaught of Rationalism which engulfed the continent at the beginning of the 19th century. With human reason set up as the supreme authority for determining truth, it became an easy matter to disregard doctrinal differences and strive for a 'reasonable' union of Lutherans and Reformed."
Martin W. Lutz, "God the Holy Spirit Acts Through the Lord's Supper," God The Holy Spirit Acts, ed., Eugene P. Kaulfield, Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1972, p. 176.

GJ - If the reader has a good grasp of the Reformed rejection of the Means of Grace, then this section will explain how Pietism served as the midwife to deliver Reformed doctrines into the Lutheran Church. This is a key area, because the Church Growth serpents use Pietism as their litmus test. If a Lutheran has a favorable view of Pietism, he can be depended upon to be a supporter of cell groups, subjectivism, heart religion (with no connection to the brain), revivals, lay or staff ministers, Seeker Services, unionism, and judging success by outward appearances. All positive references to a heart religion are a signal that the speaker has a heart and is loving, in contrast with the cold, heartless orthodox who make sound doctrine the priority. If a Lutheran criticizes Pietism, then he can be safely described as an enemy of the Church Growth Movement.

Characteristics of Lutheran Pietism:

The characteristics of Lutheran Pietism are:

1. Doctrinal indifference. Pietists are annoyed and infuriated by doctrinal discernment.

2. Unionism. We find an unseemly zeal in Pietists to have all manner of denominations in religious projects together. Some examples are James Tiefel’s pan-denominational worship conference, Bethany College having a Roman Catholic bishop as a featured speaker, and Wisconsin Lutheran College aping Bethany by promoting Roman Catholic Archbishop Weakland as a special speaker, along with other Roman Catholic priests![34] The Missouri Synod has featured ELCA women pastors preaching in their pulpits, always with a feeble and toothless response.

3. Lay led cell groups. According to Pietists, this is the real church. They feverishly promote cell groups under a variety of names: home Bible study, prayer, koinonia, care or share groups. Lutheran Pietists need congregations to support their work, but they regard those who attend cell group meetings as the only genuine members. Waldo Werning and Kent Hunter, both listed in Who’s Who in Church Growth, heavily promoted cell groups in the Missouri Synod and WELS. Cell groups manufacture disciples, they claim.

4. The ordination of women. Cell groups have by-passed normal synodical restrictions on women teaching men and usurping authority. St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Columbus, Ohio, introduced Serendipity cell groups in the 1980s with a husband and wife leading the sessions. Soon the husband disappeared. Then, when a man questioned how the group was being managed, the woman snarled at him, “I’m in charge here.”

5. Promotion of Reformed publications. Look up the Northwestern Publishing House website and look at the evangelism books. Examine the reading list for the Missouri Synod’s evangelism committees and synodical commission. Read the Church of the Lutheran Confession’s While There Is Day. Study footnotes in evangelism books. You will find the muddy footprints of the Reformed. You will not find these characters promoting orthodox Lutheran authors.[35]

6. Spiritual gifts inventory. Lutheran leaders borrowed this from the Pentecostals, dreaming that it would beef up their congregation’s size.[36]

7. Denigration of the ministry, worship, and the Sacraments. Everyone is a minister, so the divinely called pastor becomes a hireling to manage cell groups. Worship must generate fuzzy feelings, so the Law/Gospel sermon, the liturgy, creeds, pipe organ, and vestments must go. Baptism can remain for now, but Holy Communion is pushed into the background as an obstacle.

Reading Habits:

Recently, someone took an informal survey about the reading habits of Lutheran clergy. The pastors who hated the Church Growth Movement read the Triglotta, the King James Version, Luther, Walther, and other confessional writers. The pastors who loved the Church Growth Movement read the NIV and books by Reformed authors. The genius of Pietism is that it can inject itself into a Lutheran body slowly while allowing the membership to think they are still Lutherans. When one WELS pastor was newly ordained in WELS, he looked at my library in astonishment. He said, “You really have a Lutheran library. Most of us have lots of Reformed books.” I asked why. “Because they were required reading at Mequon.” For that reason I have tried to get pastors to read kosher, to expend energy on Luther, Chemnitz, Gerhard, and Chytraeus, and to sing kosher, using hymns by Luther, Selnecker, Jacobs, Loy, Gerhardt, and Nicolai.

I would like to take credit for inventing one new doctrinal term in the Lutheran Church: the non-reciprocity of false teachers. The Reformed do not promote Lutheran books and Lutheran doctrine at their seminaries, headquarters, and congregations, so Lutherans should not promote Reformed doctrine and books at any time. If Lutherans enforced this one rule, God would bless their work once again. I am outraged when so-called Lutheran presses publish and promote Reformed works.[37] Lutherans must also write in such a way that no one doubts their trust in the Means of Grace, even when they happen to publish with non-Lutheran presses. I understand the temptation to submerge Lutheran doctrine, because I could publish books in Grand Rapids and make a lot of money if I only suppressed infant baptism, baptismal regeneration, the Real Presence, and the efficacy of the Word. I could write around these subjects if I wanted to follow the example of Lutheran leaders today. However, I cannot write anything religious and surgically remove those doctrines that give eternal life to me and my family.

Weaknesses of Pietism:

J-760

"Pietism greatly weakened the confessional consciousness which was characteristic of orthodox Lutheranism."
Helge Nyman, "Preaching (Lutheran): History," The Encyclopedia of the Lutheran Church, 3 vols., ed. Julius Bodensieck, Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1965, III, p. 1945.

Jacob Spener published his Pia Desideria (Pious Wishes) in 1675 when he was 40 years old. The famous book was simply an essay, published as a preface to one of J. Arndt’s sermon books. Spener had the advantage of a free promotional ride in a very popular and respected book. Much later, Arndt was still regarded as highly as Luther, so Spener had the benefit of this association. The Muhlenberg tradition regarded Pietism favorably, but the Missouri Synod did not. Nevertheless, for all the sound criticism aimed at Pietists by name in Law and Gospel, Walther did not name Spener in his classic work. Although I am guessing, I believe that Walther spared Spener because of the man’s iconic stature in the Lutheran Church. Spener’s proposals in Pia Desideria are summarized by Heick below.

J-761

“It contains six proposals for a reformation of the Church:

(1) a more diligent study of the Bible;

(2) a more serious application of Luther’s doctrine of the general priesthood of all believers;

(3) confession of Christ by deed rather than a fruitless search after theological knowledge;

(4) prayer for unbelievers and erring Christians rather than useless dogmatic disputations;

(5) reform of the theological curriculum with emphasis on personal piety;

(6) devotional arrangement of sermons instead of formal arrangement after the manner of rhetoric.”

Otto W. Heick, A History of Christian Thought, two volumes, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1966, II, p. 21f.



Pastor Mark Jeske offered almost the same program of Pietistic reform in the Wisconsin Synod, when he addressed a conference:

J-762

Here are the top ten areas of our ministries in which I would like to see changed.

1. Myself. I trust God too little....

2. We don't prize our synod and our ministry relationships enough....Our called workers at 2929 will tell you that they take a lot more abuse than encouragement.

3. We need to loosen up....Our public worship/praise/prayer style seems stiff, overly formal, unemotional, smotheringly doctrinal. I personally do not think that our synod in general has a good balance of head & heart in our worship life. There. I said it.

4. Our schools are not being fully utilized to draw unchurched people into the fellowship.

5. We need to love cities more.

6. We need to welcome diversity, prize new racial groups and the cultural and ministry treasures that they bring. New people groups coming in to the WELS will not pollute our "pure" (quotation marks in the original) Lutheran practices. but enrich them.

7. We need a little more sanity and calm in our discussions of church fellowship. Things I can't stand:

· Assigning a seminary professor a paper and then letting all applications and conclusions become canon law instead of each of us getting into Word [sic] personally.

· passing off crude oversimplification as WELS canon law, such as, "You can't pray with anybody who is not WELS," or "if anyone rejects a clear word of God, he is in rebellion against the most High God and you can't be sure that he/she is really saved.

· We have a very highly developed sense of what we can't do with other Christians, to the point that it is safer to have nothing to do with other Christians. We lack the positive side of dealing with other Christians in practical ways.

8. I think we need a little more sanity in dealing with men/women role issues in the church....sometimes the WELS position is described as asserting male headship in all relationships: in family, church and society. Scripture speaks only of the first two areas, and so should we.

9. We need to declare a moratorium on negative comments about public schools. It is possible to be proud of our WELS system without running down Milwaukee Public Schools. There are many wonderful educational programs and innovations happening in MPS that we would do well to study and learn from.

10. There is a price that we have paid for our unity of practice in the WELS, and that is we have only each other as ministry models. We have many weak areas of ministry, such as in cities, and need to get around more to learn from other successful ministries even if they're not WELS. It is not helpful if our attempts to learn from other Christians is ridiculed as "sitting at the feet of the Reformed" or "capitulating to the papacy.”

Remarks delivered at a conference on March 3, 2000 by Rev. Mark Jeske, vice-president of WELS' Southeastern Wisconsin District.

Heick called Spener the “first union theologian.”[38] Spener rejected Calvin’s double predestination but accepted his view of the Lord’s Supper. The Pietists also rejected baptismal regeneration so the effect of the movement was to keep Lutherans as nominal Lutherans while they embraced Enthusiasm and worked actively with the Reformed.[39] Some people will argue with this claim, but I am willing to say that American Christianity is inherently the religion of Pietism and that includes Roman Catholicism as well. True, one can find all kinds of distinctions that fill the pages of dissertations and journal articles. However, look at the history of American Christianity in the last two centuries and see if it is not within the pattern of Pietism, a fact which will become more obvious when this section is studied. As Patsy Leppien observed when writing What’s Going on Among the Lutherans?, it is difficult to describe Pietism and what is wrong with the movement. When Lutherans try to start a mission in the South, they are forced into this kind of argument, “The Southern Baptists are for prayer and against whiskey. We are for whiskey and against prayer.” That explains why Lutherans would rather join the Pietists than fight them. This is our history, America:

A. The German Lutherans and German Reformed tried to create a merger based on nationality rather than doctrine. Many congregations, including the Wisconsin Synod, began in this fashion.

B. The German merger failed to take place on a national scale, but the Evangelical Alliance sought to bring all Protestants together in the 19th century.

C. Revivalism has marked the American scene from the days of Whitefield.[40] The 20th century saw the hollow successes of Billy Sunday and Billy Graham.

D. American Pietism in the 19th century led to the union efforts of the more liberal denominations through the Federal Council of Churches, reorganized as the National Council of Churches when the FCC became too overtly Marxist.

E. Lutheran groups have often been as Pietistic as the Methodists, banning card playing, dancing, alcohol consumption, tobacco, theatre, movies, and insurance.

F. The most Pietistic groups in one generation become the most Unitarian in the next. ELCA’s Muhlenberg roots and Midwestern Scandinavian Pietism have collapsed into mindless activism.

G. All the mergers and pan-Christian efforts have been based upon teary-eyed emotional appeals. The American Lutheran Church Bishop David Preus, who established Holy Communion with the Reformed, admonished his audience not to “major in the minors.” He used the example of Lincoln telling his quarreling generals, “Gentleman, the enemy is over THERE.” One Lutheran leader used this story, full of enough holes to make a city slicker wonder: A little boy was lost in the fields. The entire town was called out and they could not find him in the tall rows of corn. Finally they joined hands and went down the rows together. They found him, too late. He was dead. The town leader cried out, “Why didn’t we join hands earlier?” The necessary, moist, heart-pounding conclusion was that Lutherans had to merge before someone died.[41] It is ironic that David Preus joined a host of former synod officials in howling about how the new ELCA leaders ruined their synod.

J-763

“Spener maintained that the doctrinal difference between the two churches of the Reformation, the Lutheran and the Reformed, was such that it should no longer exclude a mutual recognition in the faith. In this manner Spener and the Pietists in general did the spade work for the church unions of the nineteenth century.”
Otto W. Heick, A History of Christian Thought, two volumes, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1966, II, p. 21f.

Got Grants?

Enthusiasm:

J-701

“And in those things which concern the spoken, outward Word, we must firmly hold that God grants His Spirit or grace to no one, except through or with the preceding outward Word, in order that we may [thus] be protected against the enthusiasts, i. e., spirits who boast that they have the Spirit without and before the Word, and accordingly judge Scripture or the spoken Word, and explain and stretch it at their pleasure, as Muenzer did, and many still do at the present day, who wish to be acute judges between the Spirit and the letter, and yet know not what they say or declare. For [indeed] the Papacy also is nothing but sheer enthusiasm, by which the Pope boasts that all rights exist in the shrine of his heart, and whatever he decides and commands with [in] his church is spirit and right, even though it is above and contrary to Scripture and the spoken Word."
Smalcald Articles, VIII., Confession, #3-4, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 495. Tappert, p. 312. Heiser, p. 147.

J-702

"All this is the old devil and old serpent, who also converted Adam and Eve into enthusiasts, and led them from the outward Word of God to spiritualizing and self-conceit, and nevertheless he accomplished this through other outward words. Just as also our enthusiasts [at the present day] condemn the outward Word, and nevertheless they themselves are not silent, but they fill the world with their pratings and writings, as though, indeed, the Spirit could not come through the writings and spoken word of the apostles, but [first] through their writings and words he must come. Why [then] do not they also omit their own sermons and writings, until the Spirit Himself come to men, without their writings and before them, as they boast that He has come into them without the preaching of the Scriptures?"
Smalcald Articles, VIII., Confession, #5-6. Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 495. Tappert, p. 312f. Heiser, p. 147.

J-703

"In a word, enthusiasm inheres in Adam and his children from the beginning [from the first fall] to the end of the world, [its poison] having been implanted and infused into them by the old dragon, and is the origin, power [life], and strength of all heresy, especially of that of the Papacy and Mahomet. Therefore we ought and must constantly maintain this point, that God does not wish to deal with us otherwise than through the spoken Word and the Sacraments. It is the devil himself whatsoever is extolled as Spirit without the Word and Sacraments. For God wished to appear even to Moses through the burning bush and spoken Word; and no prophet, neither Elijah nor Elisha, received the Spirit without the Ten Commandments [or spoken Word]. Neither was John the Baptist conceived without the preceding word of Gabriel, nor did he leap in his mother's womb without the voice of Mary."
Smalcald Articles, VIII. Confession, #9-10 Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 497. Tappert, p. 313. Heiser, p. 147.

J-704

"Also, we reject and condemn the error of the Enthusiasts, who imagine that God without means, without the hearing of God's Word, also without the use of the holy Sacraments, draws men to Himself, and enlightens, justifies, and saves them."
Formula of Concord, Epitome, Article II, Free Will, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 789. Tappert, p. 471. Heiser, p. 219.

J-706

"He wants to teach you, not how the Spirit is to come to you but how you are to come to the Spirit, so that you learn how to float on the clouds and ride on the wind."
What Luther Says, An Anthology, 3 vols., ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959, II, p. 916.

J-707

"Moreover, the declaration, John 6:44, that 'no one can come to Christ except the Father draw him,' is right and true. However, the Father will not do this without means, but has ordained for this purpose His Word and Sacraments as ordinary means and instruments; and it is the will neither of the Father nor of the Son that a man should not hear or should despise the preaching of His Word, and wait for the drawing of the Father without the Word and Sacraments."
Solid Declaration, Article XI, Election, #76, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 1087. Tappert, p. 628f. Heiser, p. 292f.

John Calvin:

J-723

“Wherefore, with regard to the increase and confirmation of faith, I would remind the reader (though I think I have already expressed it in unambiguous terms), that in assigning this office to the sacraments, it is not as if I thought that there is a kind of secret efficacy perpetually inherent in them, by which they can of themselves promote or strengthen faith, but because our Lord has instituted them for the express purpose of helping to establish and increase our faith. The sacraments duly perform their office only when accompanied by the Spirit, the internal Master, whose energy alone penetrates the heart, stirs up the affections, and procures access for the sacraments into our souls. If He is wanting, the sacraments can avail us no more than the sun shining on the eyeballs of the blind, or sounds uttered in the ears of the deaf. Wherefore, in distributing between the Spirit and the sacraments, I ascribe the whole energy to Him, and leave only a ministry to them; this ministry, without the agency of the Spirit, is empty and frivolous, but when He acts within, and exerts His power, it is replete with energy. ..then, it follows, both that the sacraments do not avail one iota without the energy of the Holy Spirit; and that yet in hearts previously taught by that preceptor, there is nothing to prevent the sacraments from strengthening and increasing faith.”
John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 2 volumes, Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1970, I, p. 497. Also cited in Benjamin Charles Milner, Jr., Calvin's Doctrine of the Church, Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1970, p. 119. Institutes. IV.xiv.9.

J-724

“We must not suppose that there is some latent virtue inherent in the sacraments by which they, in themselves, confer the gifts of the Holy Spirit upon us, in the same way in which wine is drunk out of a cup, since the only office divinely assigned them is to attest and ratify the benevolence of the Lord towards us; and they avail no farther than accompanied by the Holy Spirit to open our minds and hearts, and make us capable of receiving this testimony, in which various distinguished graces are clearly manifested…They [the sacraments] do not of themselves bestow any grace, but they announce and manifest it, and, like earnests and badges, give a ratification of the gifts which the divine liberality has bestowed upon us.”
John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 2 volumes, Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1970, I, p. 503. Institutes, IV, XIV, 17.

Crypto-Calvinists:

J-738

"To all practical purposes the University of Wittenberg was already Calvinized. Calvinistic books appeared and were popular. Even the work of a Jesuit against the book of Jacob Andreae on the Majesty of the Person of Christ was published at Wittenberg. The same was done with a treatise of Beza, although, in order to deceive the public, the title-page gave Geneva as the place of publication. Hans Lufft, the Wittenberg printer, later declared that during this time he did not know how to dispose of the books of Luther which he still had in stock, but that, if he had printed twenty or thirty times as many Calvinistic books, he would have sold all of them very rapidly."
F. Bente, Concordia Triglotta, Historical Introductions to the Symbolical Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 189.

J-739

"By mistake the letter was delivered to the wife of the court-preacher Lysthenius....After opening the letter and finding it to be written in Latin, she gave it to her husband, who, in turn, delivered it to the Elector. In it Peucer requested Schuetze dexterously to slip into the hands of Anna, the wife of the Elector, a Calvinistic prayer-book which he had sent with the letter. Peucer added: 'If first we have Mother Anna on our side, there will be no difficulty in winning His Lordship [her husband] too.' Additional implicating material was discovered when Augustus now confiscated the correspondence of Peucer, Schuetze, Stoessel, and Cracow. The letters found revealed the consummate perfidy, dishonesty, cunning, and treachery of the men who had been the trusted advisers of the Elector, who had enjoyed his implicit confidence, and who by their falsehoods had caused him to persecuted hundreds of innocent and faithful Lutheran ministers. The fact was clearly established that these Philippists had been systematically plotting to Calvinize Saxony. The very arguments with which Luther's doctrine of the Lord's Supper and the Person of Christ might best be refuted were enumerated in these letters. However, when asked by the Elector whether they were Calvinists, these self-convicted deceivers are said to have answered that 'they would not see the face of God in eternity if in any point they were addicted to the doctrines of the Sacramentarians or deviated in the least from Dr. Luther's teaching.' (Walther, 56.)"
F. Bente, Concordia Triglotta, Historical Introductions to the Symbolical Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 190

GJ - The sly letter enclosed with the book from Melanchthon's son-in-law, suggested that Elector August be converted through his wife Anna. August ordered an investigation, which revealed even more intrigue. The Crypto-Calvinists were thrown into prison. August took on a leadership role in restoring genuine Lutheran doctrine. Martin Chemnitz, Jacob Andreae, and Nicholas Selnecker were made trusted advisors to August.[26]

Crypto-Calvinists Overturned:

J-740

"What really gave Andreae a break and promoted his unity endeavors was the exposure of the Crypto-Calvinists in Wittenberg in 1574. Thus all three groups of true Lutherans were for the first time in many years to sit down at the table and devote their efforts to their internal problems. Just about this time Andreae providentially published his Six Christian Sermons. At this point and on these sermons Chemnitz was willing to talk."
J. A. O. Preus, The Second Martin, The Life and Theology of Martin Chemnitz, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1994, p. 183.

J-741

"The Exegesis perspicua [1573] marked the end of the hidden and underhanded efforts of those within Saxony who had espoused Calvinism. Everything was out in the open. These men repudiated the sacramental union, the oral eating of the body of Christ, and the eating of the body by the wicked. They held that Christ's body is enclosed in heaven and Christ is present in the Supper only in His power. There is no union of the body of Christ with the bread. The ubiquity doctrine of Brenz is repudiated as Eutychianism, and ancient heresy that asserted that after the union of the divine and human natures in Christ only one nature remained. Believers who participated in the Supper, the Wittenbergers asserted, become members of Christ who is present and efficacious through the symbols of bread and wine. They lavished praise on the Reformed and urged immediate union with them in opposition to the papacy."
J. A. O. Preus, The Second Martin, The Life and Theology of Martin Chemnitz, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1994, p. 175f.

J-750

"This downplaying of the importance of the means of grace on the part of many in the Church Growth Movement would seem to stem from several factors."[28]
David J. Valleskey, "The Church Growth Movement: An Evaluation," Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly, Spring, 1991 88, p. 105. Holidaysburg, 10-15-90.[29] [emphasis added]

[28] Theses very close to Valleskey's Quarterly article (Spring, 1991, p. 117). Questionnaire mentions CG "underemphasizing the Means of Grace as the power of the Holy Spirit." David J. Valleskey, P.T. 418, The Church Growth Movement—An Evaluation, Summer Quarter, Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, June 23-July 11, 1986.

GJ - At Hollidaysburg, Valleskey pretended to be studying Church Growth for the first time! His maidenly modesty about CG was clearly revealed as a sham when he quoted Fuller fave Larry Crab about "spoiling the Egyptians" in copying the vast treasures of the Church Shrinkage Movement. When I asked him, Valleskey denied studying at Fuller Seminary. However, he admitted going to Fuller when CLC pastor David Koenig asked the same question.

In the paper and article, Valleskey mentioned me by name and seemd to endorse my caution about false doctrine. Behind my back, he called me a legalist. Does that mean he endorsed legalism or that he was using flattery to deceive?

WELS loved Valleskey's spoilage and made him The Sausage Factory president soon after.