How about Groeschel (Methodist-Covenant) sermons dishonestly peddled as original?
Did Glende and Ski show any brotherly concern for fellow pastors in this endeavor?
http://livinthehylife.blogspot.com/2010/09/core-mission-church.html
The CORE a Mission Church?
A new comment was added to one of my previous postings today. I think it is useful to address the assertion of the commentator, as it is something that I have been considering myself regarding the CORE:
Personally, I think that Pastor Ski had good intentions when he went into the CORE, much like the above commentator suggests. In fact, I am hard pressed to believe that any of the WELS Pastors who buy into the Church and Change (WELS version of Church Growth Ministry) mentality do so with evil intent. It probably starts with a comment from some naive teenager like myself (along the lines of "I hate going to church and hearing the same old thing every week"). Or maybe the pastor witnesses the "growth" of an evangelical church, and starts to believe there is something to it. Perhaps his son or daughter has started to read or listen to contemporary "theologians" and their way of doing things. It's really not that hard to imagine.
So what does the pastor do? He starts to become less rigid in his application of the liturgy. Maybe he decides to rearrange a portion here and add a segment there. Then he decides that, instead of an Old Testament and Epistle reading, it would be better to just have one longer, relevant reading in addition to the sermon text. Or maybe he decides that it's not necessary to read the gospel every single week. Maybe he begins to insert a "popular" contemporary worship band's musical stylings before or after the sermon, as it is pertinent to his message.
But it doesn't end there. As the title of this blog suggests, yeast has a way of spreading. Soon "small group ministries" are being promoted as "essential" to the church. Then an "Alternative Worship Experience" pops up, an event which is lay-led, praised for it's lack of pastor, organ, liturgy (and, though un-noted, the Sacraments). But this "service" is okay, because it's meant to reach out to the lost and draw them into regular corporate worship, not serve as a means to strengthen those who are already saved. However, eventually this contemporary worship service starts to replace regular Sunday worship. What's more, the "liturgical" Sunday worship services - particularly the sermons - start to become more and more law focused, with an emphasis on personal piety.
Each one of these "changes" probably seemed relevant and God-pleasing at the time, but in reality they are inching closer and closer to the age-old ideology of pietism. Pietism is nothing new in the Lutheran church - in today's world, it's just coming with a different flavor. Intrepid Lutherans recently posted a very pertinent essay regarding this very subject:
Anonymous Said . . .
St. Peter church never declared St. Paul's dead or dying. St. Paul has a wonderful Hmong ministry mission along with a traditional ministry, area churches including St. Peter supports their ministry by sending volunteers to help with Hmong Saturday school. The CORE and St. Paul service times are completely different as well so they are not competing.
The mission of The CORE was/is to reach out to young adults, the age group that was falling away from church or would be less likely to come into a traditional church setting (a St. Peter or a St. Paul) and on a Sunday evening when young adults would be more likely to come. What better way to reach out to them than be part of their neighborhood. Perhaps you didn't drive east two more blocks...The CORE is walking distance from the largest college in town. The fact they were able to lease a beautiful building and a location downtown near the largest group of young adults in the city is truly a blessing from God.
Personally, I think that Pastor Ski had good intentions when he went into the CORE, much like the above commentator suggests. In fact, I am hard pressed to believe that any of the WELS Pastors who buy into the Church and Change (WELS version of Church Growth Ministry) mentality do so with evil intent. It probably starts with a comment from some naive teenager like myself (along the lines of "I hate going to church and hearing the same old thing every week"). Or maybe the pastor witnesses the "growth" of an evangelical church, and starts to believe there is something to it. Perhaps his son or daughter has started to read or listen to contemporary "theologians" and their way of doing things. It's really not that hard to imagine.
So what does the pastor do? He starts to become less rigid in his application of the liturgy. Maybe he decides to rearrange a portion here and add a segment there. Then he decides that, instead of an Old Testament and Epistle reading, it would be better to just have one longer, relevant reading in addition to the sermon text. Or maybe he decides that it's not necessary to read the gospel every single week. Maybe he begins to insert a "popular" contemporary worship band's musical stylings before or after the sermon, as it is pertinent to his message.
But it doesn't end there. As the title of this blog suggests, yeast has a way of spreading. Soon "small group ministries" are being promoted as "essential" to the church. Then an "Alternative Worship Experience" pops up, an event which is lay-led, praised for it's lack of pastor, organ, liturgy (and, though un-noted, the Sacraments). But this "service" is okay, because it's meant to reach out to the lost and draw them into regular corporate worship, not serve as a means to strengthen those who are already saved. However, eventually this contemporary worship service starts to replace regular Sunday worship. What's more, the "liturgical" Sunday worship services - particularly the sermons - start to become more and more law focused, with an emphasis on personal piety.
Each one of these "changes" probably seemed relevant and God-pleasing at the time, but in reality they are inching closer and closer to the age-old ideology of pietism. Pietism is nothing new in the Lutheran church - in today's world, it's just coming with a different flavor. Intrepid Lutherans recently posted a very pertinent essay regarding this very subject:
"The New White-Wine Pietists," by Craig Parton
The fact of the matter is, whether or not the "hip" and relevant Pastors who implement CG methodology have good intent, the results tend to be much the same in every circumstance: Me-centered worship lacking any real emphasis on the Means of Grace. I truly believe that Pastor "Ski" and the leaders at St. Peter's Freedom started the CORE with similar good intentions. They wanted to reach the lost of Appleton by providing the city with a Mission of sorts. Unfortunately, the CORE has turned out to be little more than a "cool" alternative for teens to Christ-centered worship at their home congregations. As the cliche saying goes: "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." Once error has been exposed, there is no excuse for those who persist in it, even if the error is "understandable." Let us hope that the relevant individuals have their hearts softened by the Holy Spirit in these matters.
Mousing over will make the text above appear, like magic.
GJ - The false teachers--who include the DP, Glende, Ski, Parlow, and more--do not have good intentions. They abuse the patience of others by seeing how much they can get away with. The pastors who have tried to deal with them (as required by WELS Rules #3411-4306) have found them rude, indifferent, and just plain nasty.
Does anyone think teens will be deceived into the Kingdom with Groeschel retread sermons wrapped in Stanley corporate business-think?
These middle-aged teens, posing with floozies, are the worst possible examples to the youth of Appleton:
1. Spend a fortune (but from whom?) on false doctrine conferences.
2. Rent a movie theater because that is the new fad.
3. Sheep steal.
4. Plagiarize.
Which one of those SORE values will help youth in the 21st century?
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Daniel Baker has left a new comment on your post "Too Much Politeness - Too Many Concessions":
The point is that, good intentions or not (I am still hard pressed to believe that they set out to deceive the Elect, but it's not something worth arguing over), Ski, Glende, et al. are beyond the point of being given "the benefit of the doubt" and are now in persistent error. Thus, we need not "give it a chance," as it has proven by its fruit to be steeped in falsehood.
