James has left a new comment on your post "Spiritual Growth: Discipleship tool & strategy for...":
The first 1:09 minutes of the video describe the spiritual exhaustion and disillusionment that a person experiences by belonging to a congregation that embraces the Theology of Glory. Attendance and participation rates may be low at LCMS churches, but not because of the theology. Lutherans need to learn how to "do" fellowship in order to foster a sense of community and belonging. Therefore, the problem as defined by Monvee does not apply to the Lutheran church.
The LCMS needs to take the wording from the first 1:09 minutes of the "You have what it takes" video and place it on a prominent place of the synod website. The solution: Jump off the Charles Stanley-style Law! Law! Law! treadmill and embrace the Theology of the Cross. Lutherans need to market this aspect of the Church to disaffected Evangelicals. The LCMS needs to encourage fellowship and offer the Lutheran church as a place of rest from Law! Law! Law!
The LCMS leadership is too bureaucratic, corrupt, and lazy to do the right thing. Sad. Will the leadership ever wake up?
***
GJ - Few realize how much Missouri and WELS are hollowed out. Finances are just a minor symptom. Most of the leaders are content to roll into retirement with fat pensions and no turmoil. Because the Olde Synodical Conference dedicated itself to Fuller dogma decades ago, and will not even admit to the crime, the franchises will follow Rick Warren and the other clowns into social activism and all the other isms of mainline apostasy. They all accepted the multi-cultural agenda of ELCA (financed by Thrivent) decades ago, so the open ordination of practicing homosexuals is only a blink away. Covert tolerance has continued for a long time, along with demi-semi-women's ordination.
---
rlschultz has left a new comment on your post "James the Second - On the Law Salesmen":
James has given a perfect example of Law pounding as taught by Charles Stanley. A daily radio program that I listen to is partly sponsored by Stanley, the divorced Babtist preacher. It is all obey, obey, obey and you will get blessed. Yet, Theology of Glory adherents seem to be the biggest Antinomians out there. The Theology of the Cross is such a refreshing departure from having your conscience unduly bound with guilt trips about using your talents.
***
GJ - Stanley promised to resign if he actually got divorced - he was separated for a long time. He did not resign and seemed determined to keep hold of his congregation. His son Andy Stanley, who has trained so many WELS clergy, always looks sad, ready to cry, in his photos.
Andy trained Glende, Ski, Bishop Katy, John Parlow, and many others, as they boasted. "The dog returns to his vomit." Parlow has hired Mark Freier to help visit even more destruction on Appleton, thanks to a juicy Thrivent grant. They are all going to transform people with the Law, but Glende and Ski could not transform Katy Perry when they had their chance.
 |
| WELS Mecca |
