2 x 9.5 Theses on Leaving [the ELCA] and Thereafter.But Women's Ordination Is Non-Negotiable

2 x 9.5 Theses on Leaving [the ELCA] and Thereafter

2 x 9.5 Theses on Leaving [the ELCA] and Thereafter
« on: October 31, 2010, 07:19:44 PM »
These Theses were essentially affirmed this Reformation Day with my congregation's votes to affiliate with the Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ and to "encourage the formation of an Augustana Lutheran Diocese in the Anglican Church of North America".

THESES ON LEAVING AND THEREAFTER
2 x 9.5 *

1. Our first loyalty is to Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God; our second loyalty is to the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church which He founded; and our third loyalty is to a particular denominational structure within that Church.

2. The fundamental cause of the ELCA’s lapse into apostacy is disobedience to the Holy Scriptures.

3. That disobedience is first and foremost manifested in the reluctance to name God in the Name which He has revealed, “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”

4. That disobedience is further manifested by the actions of the 1995 Churchwide Assembly in rejecting the threefold office of Ministry (Bishop, Presbyter, Deacon) as recorded in 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and the Acts of the Apostles.

5. That disobedience is yet further manifested by the actions of the 1997 Churchwide Assembly--by the narrowest of margins--in rejecting the Concordat with the Episcopal Church which, had it been approved, would have affirmed the threefold office of Ministry.

6. That disobedience is still further manifested by the action of the 2007 Churchwide Assembly in affirming Evangelical Lutheran Worship (ELW) which removes the Divine Name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit from most liturgies and hymns.

7. That disobedience reached its ultimate manifestation by the action of the 2009 Churchwide Assembly in willfully, deliberately, and with knowledge aforehand departing from global and historic Christian teaching by affirming that the union of two homosexual persons may be equated with Marriage, again, by the slimmest of margins.

8. In seeking a final destination for this congregation, adherence to the Lutheran Confessions as a true and faithful witness to the Holy Scriptures is non-negotiable.

9. In seeking a final destination for this congregation, the threefold office of ministry is a non-negotiable.

10. In seeking a final destination for this congregation, the provision for women to serve as Deacons and Pastors is a non-negotiable.

11. The only entity maintaining these non-negotiable principles is the Diocese-in-formation to be called the Augustana Lutheran Diocese of the Anglican Church of North America.**

12. This entity has not yet been formed or constituted but serious planning and discussion is underway.***

13. Therefore it will be necessary to have an interim “lifeboat” upon departing the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

14. That interim destination must be a Lutheran church body so that all property remains with this congregation.

15. The North American Lutheran Church (NALC) permits dual rostering and easily allows transfers in, but, even in its provisional constitution, does not easily allow transfers out.

16. The Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (LCMC) permits dual rostering and easily allows both transfers in and transfers out.

17. The LCMC does not object to being used as a “lifeboat” or way-station en route to another Lutheran church body.

18. THEREFORE, it is our recommendation that the immediate but strictly interim destination of this congregation upon departing from the ELCA be the Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ until such time as the Augustana Lutheran Diocese be constituted, and

19. This congregation shall become a founding member of the Augustana Lutheran Diocese.

* The numerical reference in the title is to the “9.5 Theses” published
in 1995, which served as a catalyst for the founding of the Society of the Holy Trinity.

** The LCMC and the NALC do not uphold the threefold office.
The LC-MS does not uphold the threefold office and does not permit the Ordination of women.
Western Rite Orthodoxy, while upholding the threefold office, does not permit the Ordination of women, nor will it accommodate a Lutheran liturgy.
The Seven Marks Society, while upholding the threefold office and the Ordination of women has abandoned its initial vision of becoming a Lutheran body or free Synod.

*** An introductory and exploratory meeting of the Augustana Lutheran Diocese is scheduled for November 11 - 12 in Pittsburgh.

Logged
Baptized, Confirmed, and Ordained United Methodist.
Became a Lutheran Pastor by God's grace and the beneficence of Lower Susquehanna Synod, ELCA Bishop Guy S. Edmiston on Reformation Day, 1989.
Charter member of the first chapter of the Society of the Holy Trinity.
Now in transition to the LCMC.

BrandonInfo.com - Brandon, SD

BrandonInfo.com - Brandon, SD

Some of Us Remember When...

1. The KJV remained the best selling Bible because everyone still used it instead of that new-fangled Virgin-Birth denying RSV.
2. Everyone knew the RSV was produced by the Communist National Council of Churches.
   
3. Lutheran seminary education was almost free, and the home congregation helped out.
   
4. Lutherans had a total of two hymnals, the SBH and TLH.
   
5. All services were liturgical.
   
6. The pastor did not look like he was just back from mowing the lawn when he led the service.
   
7. Lutherans put their denomination on the church sign and did not hide their synod.
   
8. Lutheran magazine articles were not written for people with attention deficit disorders.
   
9. Only the Pentecostal churches had women ministers.
   

Still Up for Sale? - CORE Values

bruce-church (https://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "The CORE - Listed Under Other":


The Core building is still listed for $1.1 million:

http://www.loopnet.com/Listing/14912806/303-N-Oneida-St-Appleton-WI/

Downtown Appleton Opportunity
$1,100,000
18,700 SF Bldg
Special Purpose (Other)

Another Fascicle - Justification by Faith Book

UOJ Enthusiasm and Emergent Church Enthusiasm are twins.

Efficacy of the Word

Luther always taught the efficacy of the Word, and this effectiveness is stated clearly and concisely in our Confessions:

For let me tell you this, even though you know it perfectly and be already master in all things, still you are daily in the dominion of the devil, who ceases neither day nor night to steal unawares upon you, to kindle in your heart unbelief and wicked thoughts against the foregoing and all the commandments. Therefore you must always have God's Word in your heart, upon your lips, and in your ears. But where the heart is idle, and the Word does not sound, he breaks in and has done the damage before we are aware. On the other hand, such is the efficacy of the Word, whenever it is seriously contemplated, heard, and used, that it is bound never to be without fruit, but always awakens new understanding, pleasure, and devoutness, and produces a pure heart and pure thoughts. For these words are not inoperative or dead, but creative, living words.[1]

Efficacy is the most neglected characteristic of God’s Word today, although it was central to Luther, the Concordists, the orthodox Lutherans of Europe, and the General Council in America.  The efficacy of the Word was defined by WELS theologian Adolph Hoenecke: “The Word never without the Spirit, the Spirit never without the Word – that is sound doctrine.” Encapsulating the Scriptures and Confessions, that plain and simple formula means God Word and Spirit cannot be divorced from each other. If God’s Word is taught in its purity, without the adulteration of man’s wisdom, that Word will have its effect, whether to save or damn, illuminate or darken, convert or harden. Moreover, the timing of God’s work and will is not ours to judge. The efficacy of the Word is the point of contention in discussing the topic of justification. Enthusiasm—separating the Holy Spirit from the Word—lies behind every error in teaching justification, whether that error is advanced by Roman Catholics, Evangelicals, Pentecostals, or synodical Lutherans. A synodical Lutheran honors and protects the visible church, the synod. A confessional Lutheran values the Scriptures and Confessions above all.

Guilt-free saints in Hell are a staple of the WELS/ELS perversion of the Gospel, but Luther taught otherwise, since it is only the efficacious Word that creates saints (believers).

For the Word of God is the sanctuary above all sanctuaries, yea, the only one which we Christians know and have. For though we had the bones of all the saints or all holy and consecrated garments upon a heap, still that would help us nothing; for all that is a dead thing which can sanctify nobody. But God's Word is the treasure which sanctifies everything, and by which even all the saints themselves were sanctified. At whatever hour, then, God's Word is taught, preached, heard, read or meditated upon, there the person, day, and work are sanctified thereby, not because of the external work, but because of the Word, which makes saints of us all. Therefore I constantly say that all our life and work must be ordered according to God's Word, if it is to be God-pleasing or holy. Where this is done, this commandment is in force and being fulfilled. [2]

Wherever the UOJ wolves prowl, they argue against the efficacy of the Word. Their attacks may not be directly against the Word, because that is too obvious. Instead, they praise and honor their own methods and personalities, realizing that supplanting the Word is preferred. One they have made the ministry man-centered, the outward confessions and doctrines mean nothing.

Doctrine of Creation – Conversion – Efficacy

Before man existed, God fashioned the entire universe through the creating Word – the Son of God. When God spoke through the Logos (the Word), His will was immediately carried out, not in billions of years to allow for random events of infinite complexity. This issue is not antiquarian but essential to justification by faith.

The universe was created by the Word, and every believer is a new creation through the Word. But UOJ advocates would have us understand that God works without the Word in declaring the entire world absolved, free from sin, extending this Enthusiastic decree to the residents of Hell.

The Genesis commands, “and God said,” are the work of the Logos in John. The creating Word—He was in the beginning with God.

“The Holy Spirit never without the Word, the Word never without the Holy Spirit – that is sound doctrine.” – Adolph Hoenecke[3]

Christians can claim that the Word is always effective and that the Holy Spirit always works exclusively through the Word. The classic Isaiah passage alone is enough to refute any attacks against this doctrine, but there are many other passages expressing the same unified truth in different words.

Isaiah 55:8-11

KJV Isaiah 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. 10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: 11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

The Word of God is exactly like rain and snow. The three-fold results are revealed in perfect clarity:

1. It shall not return unto Me void,
2. But it shall accomplish that which I please,
3. And it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

This passage by itself makes rejection of the Word’s efficacy impossible. No exceptions can be found with a litotes, a double negative – “it shall not return to Me void.” The rain and snow metaphor enforces this teaching.

            God’s Word blesses us with many ways to view this efficacy, to deepen our trust in His Holy Spirit work, to remove our toxic doubts. How often we stop to measure our Christian ministry by the outward marks of success, instead of trusting fidelity to His Word! Satan plagues us by showing off the wealth and honors of his most compliant servants, taunting us with those examples, to take our attention away from God’s Promises.

Abundant Examples

            Nevertheless, the Scriptures provide an abundance witness to the effectiveness of His Word alone:

1. The Sower and the Seed parable (Matthew 13, Mark 4, Luke ) teaches us that the Word will prosper in spite of difficulties.
2. The living seed of the Word has life in itself and grows.
3. An individual is born again by the power of the incorruptible seed, which is the Word (1 Peter 1:21).
4. The engrafted Word (James 1:21) placed in the believer saves his soul.
5. The Gospel is a yeast which grows and permeates the life of the believer (Matthew 13).
6. Those who abide in Christ through the Means of Grace will bear fruit, while those who separate themselves will shrivel, die, and be cast away (John 15:1-10).

Pietism Is Enthusiasm

            The foundation of all false doctrine is Enthusiasm, condemned by the Book of Concord, based upon a correct interpretation of Scripture. The efficacy of the Word alone excludes Enthusiasm, just as Enthusiasm leaves no room for the exclusive work of the Holy Spirit through the Word.

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. [4]

            As Luther noted then, the Enthusiasts did not trust the Word of God to be efficacious and filled with the Holy Spirit, but they wrote as if their own offerings were directly from God and efficacious. The same evil spirit prevails today, from ignoring the clear message of the revealed Word while proving an evil doctrine from recent synodical essays and theses.

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?[5]

Roman Catholic Enthusiasm

The Roman Catholic Church is pure Enthusiasm, because of the way the pope manufactures new revelations that contradict the Scripture. Lutherans trained in synodical Enthusiasm find the change to Roman  or Eastern Orthodoxy Enthusiasm a blissful transition. No conversion is necessary.

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."[6]

            Pietistic cell groups have led people to believe that they receive grace without the Word, without the Means of Grace. Thus we hear that programs and methods are anointed by the Holy Spirit, and even very anointed, while making it clear that the Word alone cannot accomplish such great tasks as the Prayer Warriors, the Off Our Rockers elderly program, the Entertainment Evangelism seeker service, the Children’s Puppets, and liturgical dance. Such training makes it relatively easy to imagine that everyone in the world is forgiven, without faith or the Word. Also, such a perverse doctrine as UOJ guarantees that methods of Enthusiasm will rush in to replace the Means of Grace.

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.[7]

The Formula Repudiates UOJ

Repudiation of Enthusiasm is rejection of UOJ, as the Formula of Concord states so clearly, since God’s grace comes to man only through His appointed Instruments of Grace.

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.[8]

The Missouri Synod recognized this fact, long before UOJ became dominant.

Hence, too, the lack of emphasis, even in the best of Reformed preaching, upon the divine Word as the vehicle of regenerating grace and on the Sacraments.  The office of the Word, then, is merely to point to the way of life, without communicating that of which it conveys the idea.  The Word and Sacraments are declared to be necessary; their office in the Church is a divine institution; but they are only symbols of what the Spirit does within; and the Spirit works immediately and irresistibly.[9]

Muhlenberg Tradition         

The Muhlenberg tradition—General Synod, General Council, ULCA, LCA, and a large segment of ELCA—began in Pietism and wandered into revivalism (General Synod). However, the confessional struggle helped many of its leaders realize the value of the liturgy, creeds, and Means of Grace.

To the Lutheran the sermon, as the preached Word, is a means of grace. Through it the Holy Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth.  It is a constant offer of pardon; a giving of life, as well as a nourishing and strengthening of life.  In the Reformed churches the sermon is apt to be more hortatory and ethical.  It partakes more of the sacrificial than of the sacramental character.  The individuality of the preacher, the subjective choice of a text, the using of it merely for a motto, the discussion of secular subjects, the unrestrained platform style, lack of reverence, lack of dignity, and many other faults are common, and are not regarded as unbecoming the messenger of God in His temple.  Where there is a properly trained Lutheran consciousness such things repel, shock, and are not tolerated.[10]

Gerberding was describing the Church and Change leaders of WELS/ELS today, the Jesus First and charismatics of the LCMS. What shocked and repelled the Muhlenberg tradition is now richly rewarded in the old Synodical Conference.

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[1] The Large Catechism, #100, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 609. Tappert, p. 378f. Heiser, p. 175f.   

[2] The Large Catechism, Preface, #91-2, The Third Commandment, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, 004 p. 607. Exodus 20:8-11.

[3] Dogmatik, IV, p. 17.

[4] Smalcald Articles, VIII. Confession, 9-10 Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 497. Tappert, p. 313. 2 Peter 1:21.

[5] Smalcald Articles, VIII., Confession, 3-5, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 495. Tappert, p. 312f.

[6] Smalcald Articles, VIII., Confession, 3-5, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 495. Tappert, p. 312.

[7] Smalcald Articles, VIII., Confession, 3-5, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 495. Tappert, p. 312.

[8] Formula of Concord, Epitome, Article II, Free Will, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 789. Tappert, p. 471.

[9] "Grace, Means of," The Concordia Cyclopedia, L. Fuerbringer, Th. Engelder, P. E. Kretzmann, St. Louis:  Concordia Publishing House, 1927, p. 298.

[10] G. H. Gerberding, The Lutheran Pastor, Minneapolis:  Augsburg Publishing House, 1915, p. 278.

LCMS Seminary Costs

bruce-church (https://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "The Boomers Got Their Cheap Seminary Education, On...":

In the comments above I spoke of the psychological poking and prodding LCMS seminarians rec'd, especially the M. Div students who are in a 4-year program versus the short term DELTO and SMP students. Not only did all this psychologizing make seminary needlessly more expensive involved, but I'm sure students with big student loan debts got exasperated or were washed out thanks to the psychologizing and the praxis training and all the extra driving that's involved, most of which prior seminarians never had to go through. Not only does
this drive up the student bill, but it makes holding down a part time job at seminary next to impossible--a double financial hit. Anyway, some of this ministry formation program may be coming to an end due to the financial crunch and maybe lack of M Div students.

See:

LCMS Ministerial Growth and Support Department Eliminated – “Good Riddance,” by Pr. Rossow
http://steadfastlutherans.org/?p=13394

excerpts: The December issue of the Reporter includes an insert in which the LCMS Department of Ministerial Growth and Support announces that due to the structural changes approved at the July synod convention, their department has been eliminated. To that, I say “bravo” and “good riddance.” I pray this is only the first in a number of psychologically and sociologically ginned up programs based on felt needs to get the axe in the LCMS. It is too bad that it took a financial crisis to bring this about.

Speaking of training at the seminary, this department was also responsible for on-going ministerial training. There is a great irony here. The mindset that brought us this department is the same mindset that replaced the old fashioned, real ministerial growth endorsed by Luther and Walther, doctrinal studies at conventions and conferences, with new-fangled psychological presentations and sociological programs for church growth.

Ironically, there are now two more reverends who are without work because of the demise of this department. The same spirit of psychologizing, sociologizing and relational-vitalizing that brought this department into existence also brought us such questionable programs as SMP (specific ministry pastors), DELTO (long distance education and training of pastors), “lay ministers” (the classic relational oxymoron) and the like, and now because of a glut of partially trained pastors from these programs, these two men will have a difficult time finding a call.

related:

http://ichabodthegloryhasdeparted.blogspot.com/2010/10/boomers-got-their-cheap-seminary.html

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Norman Teigen has left a new comment on your post "LCMS Seminary Costs":

I didn't follow these comments very well. Is there a vocabulary that I do not understand?

Is it timely to raise questions about seminaries? Here is my thought.

Close Mequon, Mankato, and Fort Wayne but retain St. Louis as a hub. Pool the financial resources of these former Synodical Conference groups. Allow for cultural and historical differences that do not impact the essence of the faith. (Some Conservatives, for example, don't allow women to vote in congregational meetings. Other Conservatives may assert other individual emphases which deserve attention.)

What think ye? Isn't it time to pool our dwindling resources and better proclaim the message of god's grace?

***

GJ - I think it is going to happen, Norman, because of fixed costs. There will be a lot more consolidation. Americans do not want to have children, so the population is upside-down. I know two only-children who married and had no children. Many career women have one, trophy child.

Besides that, the seminaries have made education extremely costly without being valuable. They delight in forcing men out of seminary (after they have the tuition money) or out of the ministry.

Congregations are merging, which is another way of saying they are closing.

I suspect the Canadian "Missouri" seminary gets a direct subsidy. As I recall, Waterloo Lutheran University received a half-subsidy until it was sold to the province. As Wilfred Laurier University, WLU received a full subsidy and the seminary got a cash bonus. The seminary is still under-water because of pension obligations, the last I heard. They discovered their lost lamb when they needed money from me. Ha! I enjoyed that letter.

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Narrow-minded Lutheran has left a new comment on your post "LCMS Seminary Costs":

Enter Missouri's SMP program, to replace one (or both) sems. Having attended the Lutheran Concerns Assoc. conference a year ago, the skuttlebutt was that Missouri was kicking around the idea of sem students receiving initial pastoral education at the Concordia U's (ain't that grand, since CU's are such bastions of orthodox Lutheranism?). They would then finish it distance ed style.

I assume the Biblical languages are still taught at the CU's, but they are not required for the SMP. Okay, I've ranted enough recently about DELTO/SMP, so I'll shut up, other than to suggest that they just send them to Fuller and get it over with. Rodney Zwonitzer's "Testing the Claims of Church Growth" is a good read and refers to Fuller as the LCMS's "third seminary." CPH mysteriously stopped printing the book, so it's only available used, unless you have $200+ to spend on one of the few new ones left.

***

GJ - Larry Olson, Drive-by DMin, Fuller Seminary, bragged about his alma mater graduating so many LCMS students too. For Missouri, WELS, and the Little Sect, Fuller Seminary is the path to promotion.

"Incidentally, during my mission counselor days in California during the 80's, I did take a course at Fuller from Carl George and Peter Wagner. I am grateful for the opportunity to have done so because it helped me to see through the lousy theology espoused by David Luecke in "Evangelical Style and Lutheran Substance" a book, by the way, which has been roundly criticized in WELS circles as your own columns have noted." Rev. Joel C. Gerlach (WELS) to Pastor Herman Otten, no date. [Gerlach taught at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary]

"Please stop exaggerating the amount of study that I have done at Fuller. After four years of study at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, which involved sixty-two different courses and a year of vicarage, I graduated in 1983. From 1987 to 1989 I took four courses where I was in a classroom with a Fuller instructor. That is the extent of my Fuller coursework...In addition, I have taken two courses at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and one at the University of Wisconsin--Madison. Because of Fuller's liberal (would you expect anything else?) policy on transfer of credit, and because of two independent studies I undertook, I could complete the degree by simply writing a dissertation." Lawrence Otto Olson, D. Min., Fuller Seminary, "A Response to Gregory L. Jackson, Ph.D.," Christian News, 3-28-94, p. 23

"To the best of my knowledge, only three WELS pastors have ever taken classes at Fuller Seminary: Reuel Schulz in the 1970s, and Robert Koester and I in the 1980s." Lawrence Otto Olson, D. Min., Fuller Seminary, "A Response to Gregory L. Jackson, Ph.D.," Christian News, 3-28-94, p. 23.

"You may reply that by 'Fuller-trained' you mean anyone who has attended a workshop presented by the Charles E. Fuller Institute of Evangelism and Church Growth, an agency which is independent of the Seminary. If that is the case, your attribution of 'Fuller-trained' is still simply not true. It would surprise me if even half of the two dozen people on your 'WELS/ELS Who's Who' list have attended a Fuller workshop; I personally know of only five who have." Lawrence Otto Olson, D. Min., Fuller Seminary, "A Response to Gregory L. Jackson, Ph.D.," Christian News, 3-28-94, p. 23.


"...and in the process we got a look at the inside of his study. [WELS pastor David Reichel, Mandan, ND] He's got all the standard reference works you'd expect to find in a confessional Lutheran pastor's office. But the handiest shelf, right at chest level, was reserved for a long row of binders from annual seminars at Fuller." Source: Pastor Paul Naumann, CLC. April 1, 1996, e-mail.

"The church growth movement has made inroads into nearly every denomination in America. Once considered only the turf of conservative evangelicals, you will now find church growth practitioners in the United Methodist Church, in the Presbyterian Church in the USA, and among the Episcopalians. The LCMS has more pastors enrolled in the Doctor of Ministry program at Fuller Theological Seminary, the seedbed of the movement, than are enrolled in the graduate programs at their Fort Wayne and St. Louis seminaries combined, and most of them include church growth as part of their studies." Lawrence Otto Olson, D. Min., Fuller Seminary, "See How It Grows: Perspectives on Growth and the Church," EVANGELISM, February, 1991, Parish Consultant for the WELS Board of Parish Services and his district's Coordinator of Evangelism. p. 1.

"In late 1976, 80 district mission and evangelism executives and board members attended special Fuller Seminary sessions and by the late 1970s, courses on Church Growth principles were taught at both LCMS seminaries." [Toward a Theological Basis, Understanding and Use of Church Growth Principles in the LCMS. 1991. p. 1] Rev. Curtis Peterson, former WELS World Mission Board, "A Second and Third Look at Church Growth Principles," Metro South Pastors Conference Mishicot, Wisconsin, February 3, 1993 p. 10.

"Then there is the church growth movement, which has made more devastating headway in LCMS than in ELCA (although it is evident enough in the latter). Today, it is said, Missouri has three seminaries-- St. Louis, Ft Wayne, and Fuller Seminary in California, the hothouse of church growth enthusiasms. The synodical and district mission offices are frequently controlled by church growth technocrats...But the idea that Word and Sacrament ministry is somehow validated by calculable results is utterly alien to the Lutheran Reformation...The triumph of style over substance, however, is all too evident in LCMS congregations that look like Baptists with vestments. As we have noted before, second-rate Lutherans make fourth-rate Baptists." Rev. Richard Neuhaus, (ELCA at the time), Forum Letter, 338 E 19th Street New York, NY 10003 November 26, 1989 p. 2.