The WELS' social media is so bad and I would hate for the CLC leadership to come to a fellowship with them without recognizing how terrible the leadership at MLC is with discipline. I very much think you would be the best Dean of Students there to get things in order so they quit leading children astray.
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GJ - The author asked about Church Growth, making disciples, Matthew 18, and the inevitable WELS-CLC merger.
First of all, both groups are in such rapid decline that they will need to work out some kind of arrangement. The Tiefel cousins, James and Paul, would love that, because both men teach the same false doctrine.
But a WELS-CLC (sic) merger would be as effective as the KMart-Sears combo, two dying turkeys linked together in a swan dive.
Matthew 18:6 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
This passage not only refers to the young but also to those who are still new in the Christian Faith. The obnoxious abuse of students at the prep, college, and seminary level is an abomination. WELS uses it to drive out anyone who might object to anything in Holy Mother Sect. The system of abuse also hardens and blinds those who go along by participating or by saying nothing.
Parents have their part in this -
- Our little prince or princess can do no wrong.
- Our child is essential for the school team, so discipline would hurt the school.
- We were worse in college.
- I'm a WELS "name" so my kid gets high grades, no matter what.
These parental attitudes are found in all schools, because so many parents want to be pals, not mother and father. Teachers also let students bulldoze them, knowing that to do otherwise would have parents and the administration on their necks. We have become a nation of spineless, whimpering followers who will do more than produce another generation.
I had some remarkable college students locally, products of homeschooling. One had never been in a formal classroom before. Another came in with 40 college credits. Those students are self-disciplined, respectful, and mature. Most college students just out of public high school are still working at a junior high level in emotional maturity and academics. In synodical schools the deficits are covered up but show so well in the lackluster leadership years later.
In WELS, the culture of alcoholism has a profound corrupting effect on everything, from rampant immorality in the church workers to DUI cover-ups of the same. A DUI ticket means a transfer and a new job. Drunks do not discipline drunks.
Manufacturing Disciples - The Great Divide
Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
WELS-CLC-ELS leaders favor the Babtist reading of this passage, because they study with Babtists at Fuller and Pietists at Trinity Divinity. The non-Lutheran (or really - the Anti-Lutheran) Protestants are death on the Sacraments. This is a Sacramental passage, not a Church Growth passage. The Fullerites cannot conceive anything happening without the plans, goals, and Management by Objective methods of their deluded followers.
The Fuller drones see this as Law rather than a Gospel admonition, as Little Ichabod once observed with remarkable sagacity. The Church must make disciples who make disciples who make disciples, as Kent Hunter (LCMS) and Joel Gerlach (WELS) said fatuously. Kent even added this bit of wisdom - Sheep have sheep - shepherds don't.
How far Lutherdom has fallen from the Means of Grace. The Word begets new creations, and people have the privilege and honor of teaching that effective Word.
Church Growth and manufacturing disciples are velcroed together. Those who deny "making disciples" - as I did in both sects - are driven out as scoundrels, bounders, and black sheep who have black sheep who have black sheep. Clearly, the abusive (not conservative) sects see the Means of Grace as dangerous to their hedonistic goals.
Two other pastors who served in the Ohio Conference of the Michigan District, WELS, were driven out by the "conservative" John Seifert for criticizing "making disciples." He also sent out Death Squads to get rid of all signers of the Intrepid Lutherans, but somehow missed any discipline towards the Jeske-Patterson Crime Family and its vipers' nest of groups, associations, youth rallies, and joint meetings with ELCA.
The text itself
Their magic formula is the basic Greek word for disciple used as a verb, so that must mean "make disciples." Now that everyone is thoroughly New NIVed, the truth does not matter. Grammar cannot be taught in a sect where the clergy cannot even spell or form coherent sentences. The Gurgle clan seems to be 100% illiterate, the Bidens of bureaucracy, so that helped their upward journey and the downward spiral of WELS.
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| This is Ski's photo of Andy Stanley worship. In fact, Ski said he and the eight WELS church workers all worshiped there at the conference. Does this rock nightclub ambiance remind anyone of the ideal WELS venue? |
The text calls for "all nations" being the direct object of the verb. If one wants to use the word disciple as a verb, that is easy
Go therefore, and disciple all nations, teaching and baptizing...
May I point out how Sacramental this is? OK, I will. The verb disciple involves a teacher-student relationship. Teaching and baptizing implies that the Word will convert those who listen attentively and sincerely. Holy Baptism is very important to entire families, adults and children alike. Nota bene - children are not excluded from the Great Commission, another problem to be fixed by a future edition of the New NIV. For the adults, baptism is the seal and promise of their relationship with the Good Shepherd. For children, baptism is the definite, visible beginning of their relationship with their Savior. That is why Babtists today dedicate their children, using the Gospel Promises of Holy Baptism. They know this makes a difference in the lives of children.
Fuller, following their sociologist McGavran, says - "make disciples of your own ethnic group, because people do not like to cross racial lines in church." So where is that in the Bible? Galatians is just the opposite, so ignore that. Here is where greed displays its fangs and claws. The goal is not to bring Jesus to the world, without regard to money or race, but to bring cash and luxurious living to the wolf-preacher.
Infant Baptism and Dedication
As the father of two little girls who were baptized as babies yet never talked, I can tell people, "They believed. They heard the Gospel and when people spoke of Jesus, they responded as all believing children do. One nurse even said that Erin astonished her with knowing facial expressions." When parents lose children young without infant baptism, they worry and try to preach the child into heaven. "They were young. They were innocent. They are angels now." Such terrible doubts and strange assurances replace the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. Bethany had tantrums to get her way and laughed when I identified her scheme. Erin was jealous of other children in the hospital, so we had to assure her.
Naturally, when we diminish the work of God we have to glorify the work of man. That is the true agenda of "making disciples." I asked a prominent Evangelical about lackluster congregations. His solution was to form cell groups to "make disciples." He forgot to mention he was teaching about marriage and cheating on his wife while he was making disciples. How many little ones in the faith fell away when their celebrity minister was sacked for adultery?
The guardians of the English language will not allow the Bible to use "teach" twice in two verses. But they love to say "making disciples who make disciples who make disciples." Too bad they never read the second verse thoroughly - teaching them to observe all I have commanded. They are quite selective in picking and choosing what they want to use - a little half-verse here, a little Management by Objective there, a little Gospel, a lot of Law, grace without the Means of Grace, salvation without the Word or faith.
Lacking in the Tents in the New Church Growth Circus Clowns
Wherever the Jeske-Patterson clones get a fat grant from Holy Mother Sect, they set up entertainment, not worship, passive not interactive, and they omit four things if at all possible:
- The pulpit, because it suggests a Gospel sermon about the Word instead of a coaching session based on blowhard motivational speakers.
- The pipe organ, because that is the best musical instrument for supporting liturgical worship and classical hymns with Christian content.
- The baptismal font, because Jesus emphasized an infant and adult baptizing Church, convicting the world of its unbelief in Him (John 16).
- The altar, because Holy Communion is the norm for Sunday services and all special Holy Days.
The Church Growth wolves will make sure they have:
- A sound system that will induce tremors in everyone's sternum.
- Soft drinks to take into church.
- Bags of treats to munch during the entertainment seeker service.
- A sleazy, half-baked, talentless rock band to attract the balding boomers and provide potential income when the group goes on the road. Don't judge. Jeske's Koine group demands $3,000 up front to appear.
