- To the Administrators of this site: Yes, you make a good point. But I don't understand why you do not point to specific examples. There are plenty of WELS churches who play mistress to the Church Growth Method. Why not expose them. Public sins need public rebuke, don't they? Pastors have been Called by God to the public ministry and are held to higher standard than the average layman, according to the pastoral Epistles. Paul made short work of condemning false teachers and if we think false teaching is happening in the WELS then I think we need to follow Paul's example. I don't want to see impeachments fly around for their own sake, but rather firstly for the laymen that are being led astray and secondly for those Called and Ordained men who are disowning the Efficacy of the Word. I would like to see this blog act as a positive force for warning laymen about Specific Pastors who offer the hollow and deceptive philosophies of Church Growth. I encourage the blog administrators to deal in specifics. Issue warning to laymen who might not understand or see what form such hollow and deceptive philosophy takes. I whole-heartedly believe that the folks running this blog have the Christian maturity to call the specific errant WELS Pastors to task. If there were no False Teachers in the WELS, why does this blog exist? Andy Groenwald
- October 26, 2010 8:46 PM
- Pastor Jeff Samelson said...
- Pastor Spencer: The fourth example from a church website that you quoted was: " . . . relevant sermons with real-life applications . . . " Shall I assume there was more on that site that caused you concern? Because what you quoted there sounds unobjectionable, on its face at least. Don't you preach relevant sermons and don't you make real-life applications? Law and gospel are always relevant, and specific law and specific gospel always have real-life application. So wouldn't we consider any good law and gospel sermon to be "relevant" and have "real-life application"? So I guess what I'm saying is that I don't get what you find objectionable or contrary to confessional Lutheranism in that website quote. What am I missing?
- October 26, 2010 9:24 PM
- LutherRocks said...
- I echo Andy's words. It all goes back to doctrine and if the doctrine is messed up it will affect how you approach ministry. There is a difference in approaching the sinful world from the perspective of the unbelievers are condemned and headed for hell, dead in their sin without hearing the Law and Gospel versus they are already forgiven, justified and righteous...they just don't know it yet. Joe Krohn
- October 27, 2010 4:53 AM
- Anonymous said...
- I too echo Andy's words. It's time to gather the evidence and bring to light all those who mix the teaching of God's pure Word with the dreck of human ideas. (Church Growth comes to mind). It is time to call to repentance those teaching false doctrine, discipline and remove from the WELS those who do not repent. If this means the end of the WELS as we know it, so be it. The remaining confessional Lutherans will be much better off. It is time to take a stand. That's another reason why I became an Intrepid Lutheran. Scott E. Jungen
- October 27, 2010 8:21 AM
- Anonymous said...
- If the WELS gets broken up and those Confessional Lutherans that are left there will be a church body of about 30 members. Bill Barley
