Dear Pastor Jackson,
If you follow the link you'll see a picture of Harrison with the NID DP Gilbert sitting at a table with 2 other pastors. DP Gilbert is second from the right in a suit.
The article was written by Jackie Bussert and includes the words "Emerging Church". I don't much about church law, so I'm not too sure what resolution 3.04A means.
I have read enough of Shrinker propaganda that I know when they are overconfident and full of themselves, so much so that they like to telegraph their plans sometimes with disinformation and sometime not.
This meeting was in August, 2010, Diefenthaler is the main person on CTCR until 2013 and it was in his district, the SED, where there is this ASHRAM going and Frank Gillespie was given the left foot and told that "contemplative is here to stay".
I read this Bussert clip from the NID website as a veiled message to Shrinker troops that the Emergent Platform is safe and going forward or they are trying to make an idiot out of Harrison.
Also, the brouhaha over at Steadfast on the hierarchical language to seize church property.
No one has any idea who is on the BOD, very muchsecrecy going on, and the suit with the 4 from California is still going forward, they all have their knickers in a knot, looks to be setting a precedent to grab real estate, not that I give a rip about the material side of things anyway.
So, pastor, perhaps I'm reading too much into this "Emergent" clip, but if you have some discretionary time, please let me know how you read it-- I could be over reacting.
Sincerely,
RL
This is the text of the clip but take a peek at the picture, too:
Emerging Churches Affirmed: President-elect Rev. Matthew Harrison, left, and his new director of church relations, Dr. Albert Collver (next to Harrison), met the week following convention in St. Louis with NID President Dan Gilbert and Rev. Torkild Masvie (right), leader of the new Lutheran Church in Norway that has been working with the NID.
It was the first official LCMS discussion with an "emerging church” after convention delegates authorized a new process (Res. 3-04A) whereby the Synod president can recognize these groups ahead of the lengthy and formal process denominations undergo in preparation for fellowship declared by an LCMS convention.
Recognition by an "official church” is sometimes helpful for emerging church bodies to gain a foothold within their own countries or access to certain benefits.
