.jpg)
I recall WELS references to using Trinity Divinity to enhance its Church Growth muscle, suggesting both were muscle-headed. Trinity Divinity is derived from the Evangelical Free Church which separated itself from Lutherdom and portrayed itself as very Pietistic, known commonly as "E Free" to save time and space.
E Free congregations were considered Church Growth hot stuff to WELS, and that denomination enjoyed a lot of quality time with WELS staff members. Some might have learned that E Free used dishonest tactics to increase its membership. A good friend told me how a young lady kept inviting him to dinner at a restaurant, only to have her disappear and be replaced with two men urging the poor victim to become a member. Similarly, my wife and I were invited to an insurance agent's home only to discover it was that same gimmick which switched into JOIN MY CHURCH.
When I was studying the Church Growth cancer at various libraries, the E Free name appeared as being in the forefront of CGMism. The apostasy of WELS and the LCMS is clearly linked to all the snake oil movements from the bowels of Fuller Seminary, Schuller's Hour of Power, Purpose Driven, Willow Creek and more. I was at WELS events where they funded pastoral trips to Willow Creek - to catch the magic of Bill Hybels, exposed later as an adulterer.
 |
| Team Jackson visited Willow Creek Community Church because WELS was slobbering over how wonderful it was. This is Hybels and his wife when they first met. |
Raise your hands if you think the collapse of Trinity Divinity School and WELS/LCMS are exactly the same in foolishness and the urging of their Father Below.
The Irresistible Trinity Evangelical Divinity School Hustles Out of Chicago
Alumni of the Illinois-based Trinity Evangelical Divinity School say they are saddened but not necessarily surprised by the announcement earlier this month that the seminary will leave the Chicago area and move over 2,000 miles away to Western Canada amid years of declining enrollment and financial concerns.
With historic roots in the northern Chicago suburbs, TEDS entered into a commitment to become the seminary of Trinity Western University in British Columbia, one of the largest Christian universities in Canada, also aligned with the Evangelical Free Church of America.
Leaving the campus of Trinity International University in Deerfield, Illinois, the divinity school plans to hold its first classes in Canada in the fall of 2026. American students still enrolled at that point can complete their degrees online.
Likewise, the WELS sect now has only 20 students graduating from the Sausage Factory (the ELS nickname for Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, Mequon).
 |
| Imagine the thrill of WELS Pastor Ski getting a photo-op with Andy Stanley! |
