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The Fastest-Growing Churches Have Modern Worship, Teach Literal Interpretation of the Bible: Study
Christian Post ^ | 11/30/2016 | Brandon Showalter

Posted on 11/30/2016 2:41:47 PM PST by SeekAndFind

A Canadian study has found that Mainline Protestant churches that have both modern worship services and teach a literal interpretation of the Bible grow faster.

(Photo: Reuters/John Gress)A parishioner cries as he signs a song of worship in the 7,000-seat Willow Creek Community church during a Sunday service in South Barrington, Illinois, November 20, 2005. Institutions like Willow Creek and Houston's Lakewood Church, each drawing 20,000 or more on a weekend, offer not just a vast, shared attraction but a path that tries to link individuals on a faith-sustaining one-to-one level beyond the crowd, observers and worshipers say.

The Canadian researchers who authored the study, "Theology Matters: Comparing the Traits of Growing and Declining Mainline Protestant Church Attendees and Clergy," surveyed 2,225 churchgoers in Ontario, Canada, and interviewed 29 clergy and 195 congregants. The study will be published in next month's issue of the Review of Religious Research.

"This study was important because it quantified empirically something that evangelical renewalists have been saying for decades — theology matters," said the Rev. Tom Lambrecht, vice president and general manager of Good News Magazine, a United Methodist publication, in an interview with The Christian Post. 

Lambrecht, who served for 29 years as a United Methodist minister in Wisconsin, told CP that people who are interested in the things of God "want spiritual substance, not just a feel-good message or the opportunity to engage in community service." The Church, he said, has to to be distinct from and offer more than local civic associations and charities. 

A solidly Orthodox Gospel that motivates churches to adapt their worship life and ministries to engage the next generation more effectively will be one where the message remains the same, but the means of delivery look different.

The study also showed that services at growing "churches featured contemporary worship with drums and guitars, while declining churches favoured traditional styles of worship with organ and choir." 

"The use of contemporary Christian worship music is an example of that adaptation," Lambrecht said. "It has been around for over 40 years, yet some churches still resist making that adaptation." He added, however, that he's seen examples of churches that have more traditional styles of worship that are also yielding growth.

Pastor John Daffern who leads a Southern Baptist congregation in Columbus, Mississippi, calls himself "an apologist for the modern church." (Photo: Chris Ellis Photograhpy)Josh Daffern, pastor of MTV Church in Columbus, Mississippi.

"I pastor a church that fits that mold," said Daffern, who leads MTV Church, in a recent interview with CP after he read some of the study's findings.

"We are theologically conservative, according to that study, and yet we are unashamedly modern and we are in a sustained period of growth in our church, and that is in direct contrast to many of the Mainline churches and even some evangelical churches.

"And I think the wisdom of that study is the two parts. There does need to be a modern sense of an expression of the faith while at the same time a conservative, Orthodox view of Christianity," he added.

Daffern said he believes that what church growth comes down to is how man-made controls are applied and both liberals and conservatives do that in their own way.

"For those who would say that we want to liberalize the tenets of Christianity and pick and choose which parts we are comfortable with and which parts we aren't, that's man exerting control over the theology," Daffern said.

"In the same way, a conservative theology yet a traditional approach is still trying to exert man-made control over religion, but it's not over the theology but over the cultural expression," which amounts to an approach which he describes as leaders saying, "Hey, we're going to stick to the Bible but we're going to pretend that it is the 1950s or the 1960s."

Those man-made controls rob the supernatural aspect out of Christian faith, he asserted.

Lead researcher of the study, David Haskell, said in an interview with The Guardian earlier this month that Christians who rely on a fairly literal interpretation of the Bible, "are profoundly convinced of [the] life-saving, life-altering benefits that only their faith can provide, [and] they are motivated by emotions of compassion and concern to recruit family, friends and acquaintances into their faith and into their church."

The study also found that only half of the clergy interviewed who are presiding over declining churches agreed that it was "very important to encourage non-Christians to become Christians," whereas every member of the clergy in a growing church felt that way.

A whopping 93 percent of clergy and 83 percent of worshipers from growing churches believed in the literal bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, compared to 67 percent of worshipers and 56 percent of clergy from declining churches. One hundred percent of clergy and 90 percent of worshipers from growing churches believe God does miracles in response to prayer, whereas only 44 percent of clergy and 80 percent of worshipers from declining churches say so.

"One of the reasons that people are drawn to modern churches is because people don't want to be part of a monument." Daffern asserted. "They want to be part of a movement. One of the greatest beauties of Christianity is that it is living and active."

"In my world, as a Southern Baptist pastor, I tend to deal with churches that have a conservative view of the Bible yet a very traditional mindset, often times it is monument to a bygone era of what they imagine to be the golden age' of Christianity in America."

Such churches are perfectly poised to come back were the 1950s ever to return, he mused.
However, the problem with some more modern churches, he added, is that people sometimes make the modern expression itself an idol of sorts.

"But the key is to be modern enough while not being a mere imitation of everything else around in culture." 


TOPICS: Evangelical Christian; Ministry/Outreach; Religion & Culture; Worship
KEYWORDS: bible; churches; churchgrowth; dumbeddown; evangelicalchurch; fundamentalchurch; megachurch
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To: G Larry
Great theological depth.

Great theological avoidance.

461 posted on 12/07/2016 4:05:38 AM PST by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: G Larry
I avail myself of God’s graces as often as possible.

You REALLY need much more of Mary's help.

You ARE obeying her; right?

462 posted on 12/07/2016 4:06:47 AM PST by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Mark17
Maybe those priests didn't get the memo.

Ya think?


As regards the oft-quoted Mt. 16:18

Augustine, sermon:

"Christ, you see, built his Church not on a man but on Peter's confession. What is Peter's confession? 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.' There's the rock for you, there's the foundation, there's where the Church has been built, which the gates of the underworld cannot conquer.John Rotelle, O.S.A., Ed., The Works of Saint Augustine , © 1993 New City Press, Sermons, Vol III/6, Sermon 229P.1, p. 327

Upon this rock, said the Lord, I will build my Church. Upon this confession, upon this that you said, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,' I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not conquer her (Mt. 16:18). John Rotelle, Ed., The Works of Saint Augustine (New Rochelle: New City, 1993) Sermons, Volume III/7, Sermon 236A.3, p. 48.

Augustine, sermon:

For petra (rock) is not derived from Peter, but Peter from petra; just as Christ is not called so from the Christian, but the Christian from Christ. For on this very account the Lord said, 'On this rock will I build my Church,' because Peter had said, 'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.' On this rock, therefore, He said, which thou hast confessed, I will build my Church. For the Rock (Petra) was Christ; and on this foundation was Peter himself built. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Christ Jesus. The Church, therefore, which is founded in Christ received from Him the keys of the kingdom of heaven in the person of Peter, that is to say, the power of binding and loosing sins. For what the Church is essentially in Christ, such representatively is Peter in the rock (petra); and in this representation Christ is to be understood as the Rock, Peter as the Church. — Augustine Tractate CXXIV; Philip Schaff, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: First Series, Volume VII Tractate CXXIV (http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.cxxv.html)

Augustine, sermon:

And Peter, one speaking for the rest of them, one for all, said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God (Mt 16:15-16)...And I tell you: you are Peter; because I am the rock, you are Rocky, Peter-I mean, rock doesn't come from Rocky, but Rocky from rock, just as Christ doesn't come from Christian, but Christian from Christ; and upon this rock I will build my Church (Mt 16:17-18); not upon Peter, or Rocky, which is what you are, but upon the rock which you have confessed. I will build my Church though; I will build you, because in this answer of yours you represent the Church. — John Rotelle, O.S.A. Ed., The Works of Saint Augustine (New Rochelle: New City Press, 1993), Sermons, Volume III/7, Sermon 270.2, p. 289

Augustine, sermon:

Peter had already said to him, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.' He had already heard, 'Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona, because flesh and blood did not reveal it to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of the underworld shall not conquer her' (Mt 16:16-18)...Christ himself was the rock, while Peter, Rocky, was only named from the rock. That's why the rock rose again, to make Peter solid and strong; because Peter would have perished, if the rock hadn't lived. — John Rotelle, Ed., The Works of Saint Augustine (New Rochelle: New City, 1993) Sermons, Volume III/7, Sermon 244.1, p. 95

Augustine, sermon:

...because on this rock, he said, I will build my Church, and the gates of the underworld shall not overcome it (Mt. 16:18). Now the rock was Christ (1 Cor. 10:4). Was it Paul that was crucified for you? Hold on to these texts, love these texts, repeat them in a fraternal and peaceful manner. — John Rotelle, Ed., The Works of Saint Augustine (New Rochelle: New City Press, 1995), Sermons, Volume III/10, Sermon 358.5, p. 193

Augustine, Psalm LXI:

Let us call to mind the Gospel: 'Upon this Rock I will build My Church.' Therefore She crieth from the ends of the earth, whom He hath willed to build upon a Rock. But in order that the Church might be builded upon the Rock, who was made the Rock? Hear Paul saying: 'But the Rock was Christ.' On Him therefore builded we have been. — Philip Schaff, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1956), Volume VIII, Saint Augustin, Exposition on the Book of Psalms, Psalm LXI.3, p. 249. (http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf108.ii.LXI.html)

• Augustine, in “Retractions,”

In a passage in this book, I said about the Apostle Peter: 'On him as on a rock the Church was built.'...But I know that very frequently at a later time, I so explained what the Lord said: 'Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church,' that it be understood as built upon Him whom Peter confessed saying: 'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,' and so Peter, called after this rock, represented the person of the Church which is built upon this rock, and has received 'the keys of the kingdom of heaven.' For, 'Thou art Peter' and not 'Thou art the rock' was said to him. But 'the rock was Christ,' in confessing whom, as also the whole Church confesses, Simon was called Peter. But let the reader decide which of these two opinions is the more probable. — The Fathers of the Church (Washington D.C., Catholic University, 1968), Saint Augustine, The Retractations Chapter 20.1:.

 

463 posted on 12/07/2016 4:10:28 AM PST by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: metmom; G Larry
That command is reiterated by the church fathers, the church leaders and the HOLY SPIRIT at the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15. That's AFTER the Last Supper and outside the Law.


Rome and G larry IGNORES Acts 15!

464 posted on 12/07/2016 4:12:24 AM PST by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: metmom; G Larry

Acts 15

The Council at Jerusalem
 1 Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers: "Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved." 2 This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question. 3 The church sent them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news made all the believers very glad. 4 When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them.

 5 Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, "The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses."

 6 The apostles and elders met to consider this question. 7 After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: "Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. 8 God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. 9 He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. 10 Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? 11 No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are."

 12 The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. 13 When they finished, James spoke up. "Brothers," he said, "listen to me. 14 Simon has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles. 15 The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:

 16 "'After this I will return
   and rebuild David's fallen tent.
Its ruins I will rebuild,
   and I will restore it,
17 that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord,
   even all the Gentiles who bear my name,
says the Lord, who does these things'
 18 things known from long ago.

 19 "It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. 20 Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. 21 For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath."

The Council's Letter to Gentile Believers
 22 Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, men who were leaders among the believers. 23 With them they sent the following letter:

   The apostles and elders, your brothers,

   To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia:

   Greetings.

 24 We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. 25 So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul— 26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. 28 It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: 29 You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.

   Farewell.

 30 So the men were sent off and went down to Antioch, where they gathered the church together and delivered the letter. 31 The people read it and were glad for its encouraging message. 


 

Just WHO are these guys?  PROTESTANTS???

 

 


465 posted on 12/07/2016 4:19:17 AM PST by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: metmom

You ain’t NEVER gonna get your logic to undermine someone else’s emotions.


466 posted on 12/07/2016 4:20:28 AM PST by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: HiTech RedNeck
The Roman Catholic view seems to be that the church and its teachings are continuing to evolve with them.

It is very difficult to make a case of legitimacy, other than that granted in the Catechism, for a re-formed Christian religion that was created fifteen or more centuries after the Messiah said this to the Apostle Peter.

And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Matthew, Catholic chapter sixteen, Protestant verses sixteen to nineteen ,
as authorized, but not authored, by King James



"The keys of the kingdom"

551 From the beginning of his public life Jesus chose certain men, twelve in number, to be with him and to participate in his mission.280 He gives the Twelve a share in his authority and 'sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal."281 They remain associated for ever with Christ's kingdom, for through them he directs the Church:

As my Father appointed a kingdom for me, so do I appoint for you that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.282 552 Simon Peter holds the first place in the college of the Twelve;283 Jesus entrusted a unique mission to him. Through a revelation from the Father, Peter had confessed: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Our Lord then declared to him: "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it."284 Christ, the "living Stone",285 thus assures his Church, built on Peter, of victory over the powers of death. Because of the faith he confessed Peter will remain the unshakable rock of the Church. His mission will be to keep this faith from every lapse and to strengthen his brothers in it.286

553 Jesus entrusted a specific authority to Peter: "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."287 The "power of the keys" designates authority to govern the house of God, which is the Church. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, confirmed this mandate after his Resurrection: "Feed my sheep."288 The power to "bind and loose" connotes the authority to absolve sins, to pronounce doctrinal judgements, and to make disciplinary decisions in the Church. Jesus entrusted this authority to the Church through the ministry of the apostles289 and in particular through the ministry of Peter, the only one to whom he specifically entrusted the keys of the kingdom.



Wounds to unity

817 In fact, "in this one and only Church of God from its very beginnings there arose certain rifts, which the Apostle strongly censures as damnable. But in subsequent centuries much more serious dissensions appeared and large communities became separated from full communion with the Catholic Church - for which, often enough, men of both sides were to blame."269 The ruptures that wound the unity of Christ's Body - here we must distinguish heresy, apostasy, and schism270 - do not occur without human sin:

Where there are sins, there are also divisions, schisms, heresies, and disputes. Where there is virtue, however, there also are harmony and unity, from which arise the one heart and one soul of all believers.271 818 "However, one cannot charge with the sin of the separation those who at present are born into these communities [that resulted from such separation] and in them are brought up in the faith of Christ, and the Catholic Church accepts them with respect and affection as brothers . . . . All who have been justified by faith in Baptism are incorporated into Christ; they therefore have a right to be called Christians, and with good reason are accepted as brothers in the Lord by the children of the Catholic Church."272

"Furthermore, many elements of sanctification and of truth"273 are found outside the visible confines of the Catholic Church: "the written Word of God; the life of grace; faith, hope, and charity, with the other interior gifts of the Holy Spirit, as well as visible elements."274 Christ's Spirit uses these Churches and ecclesial communities as means of salvation, whose power derives from the fullness of grace and truth that Christ has entrusted to the Catholic Church. All these blessings come from Christ and lead to him,275 and are in themselves calls to "Catholic unity."276

467 posted on 12/07/2016 5:25:42 AM PST by af_vet_1981 (The bus came by and I got on, That's when it all began.)
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To: af_vet_1981

I have theories about this too, as I have about many things (some pan out, some don’t).

But I don’t claim it was “re-formed” by any human hand — it was just an offshoot that left a lot of errors behind, while still not absolutely perfect itself.

Jesus preached the ideal. Jesus well knew that the ideal would never transpire among mortal Christians, any more than it transpired among the Hebrews.

The message of the apostles was left to us in the bible. “1500 years” would be like 1.5 days to the Lord. Anybody would be foolish to complain that things like John’s evangelical gospel, which does not even refer to methods of worship but explicitly refers to its purpose, are rendered invalid or stale by “1500 years.”


468 posted on 12/07/2016 5:30:50 AM PST by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
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To: af_vet_1981

By the way, a lot of this commentary sounds like the Roman Catholic congregation licking its wounds of pride. Oh, okay, we’ll allow for Christians to exist physically outside of Rome, because the evidence is so obvious now, but by George and all the saints we hail, they’re really ROMAN CATHOLICS anyhow.


469 posted on 12/07/2016 5:32:33 AM PST by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
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To: SeekAndFind

“...churches that have a conservative view of the Bible yet a very traditional mindset, often times it is monument to a bygone era of what they imagine to be the golden age of Christianity in America. Such churches are perfectly poised to come back were the 1950s ever to return’

It took a while but we actually found one of those ‘50s-like traditional Baptist churches in our area. Thank God! (and I mean that prayerfully).


470 posted on 12/07/2016 6:00:07 AM PST by MayflowerMadam
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To: MayflowerMadam

Placemarker


471 posted on 12/07/2016 6:18:50 AM PST by aMorePerfectUnion
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To: aMorePerfectUnion
Welcome back to the thread bro. 😀😃
472 posted on 12/07/2016 7:10:31 AM PST by Mark17 (20 Years USAF ATCer, Retired. 25 years CDCR CO, Retired)
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To: Mark17
Thanks FRamigo!!
473 posted on 12/07/2016 8:36:03 AM PST by aMorePerfectUnion
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To: Mark17

“Most, if not all of us, were told either don’t read the scriptures, or get a priest to interpret it for us. “

Nuts!
I’m 63 and never heard such nonsense.

Nothing in Catholic Biblical School (4yr program) ever suggested your claim and Priests aren’t the one’s teaching.

Just what guarantees do you have on your interpretation of Scripture?

If you suggest it is the Holy Spirit, how do you rationalize the He has lead others to different conclusions?


474 posted on 12/07/2016 11:23:32 AM PST by G Larry (America has the opportunity to return to God.)
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To: boatbums

Since you clearly don’t understand the Catholic Church, please refrain from telling us what it “seems”.


475 posted on 12/07/2016 11:42:16 AM PST by G Larry (America has the opportunity to return to God.)
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To: MHGinTN

“He took bread as the symbol of His body”

Scripture doesn’t use the term “symbol”!
Christ used the term “IS”.

Your verbose deception tour is a waste.


476 posted on 12/07/2016 11:45:24 AM PST by G Larry (America has the opportunity to return to God.)
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To: knarf

Ah...so you have no faith and only the material world is relevant to you?


477 posted on 12/07/2016 11:47:08 AM PST by G Larry (America has the opportunity to return to God.)
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To: MHGinTN

Here’s how this works:

Christ instructs what is to be done;

Mathew 26:26-28

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, ad gave t to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.”
And he took a chalice, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them saying, “Drink of it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

And THEN He tells us to repeat this in remembrance of Him.


478 posted on 12/07/2016 11:50:27 AM PST by G Larry (America has the opportunity to return to God.)
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To: G Larry; metmom; boatbums; daniel1212; aMorePerfectUnion; MHGinTN
Nuts! I’m 63 and never heard such nonsense.

You didn't go to the same catholic grade school and high school I went to. I don't care if you believe it or not. That's not my problem.

I rely on the Holy Spirit to guide me. While He may lead people to some different conclusions about communion, baptism, spiritual gifts, and other issues, I have already told you several times, that I am not that interested in such things, as much as I am interested in knowing what your plan of salvation is. It is so simple, that even you could understand it, although my opinion is, that you don't. Most Catholics I know tend to shy away from the plan of salvation issue, and dying, because it scares them. I know when I was a Catholic, and I would venture to guess, that my ex Catholic friends here on FR would agree, that I was always scared of dying, because I was afraid I would go to Hell. That was unacceptable to me.
Since the priests and nuns told us not to read the Bible, without a priest's interpretation, I was always a rebellious person, and usually did the opposite of what I was told. I started reading the Bible on my own, just to torque their jaws. That is why I am an ex catholic. So, step by step, how are you going to go to Heaven? I would say there is a better than even chance, that I will disagree with your plan of salvation. It would be a shame to be religious but lost. I don't know where you fit in, but wherever it is, that's on you bro.

479 posted on 12/07/2016 12:51:34 PM PST by Mark17 (20 Years USAF ATCer, Retired. 25 years CDCR CO, Retired)
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To: G Larry; Mark17; Alex Murphy; bkaycee; boatbums; CynicalBear; daniel1212; dragonblustar; ...
Nuts! I’m 63 and never heard such nonsense.

Maybe you think it's nonsense so it's nonsense to you, but it was a fact of life for a great many of us while we were being raised Catholic.

480 posted on 12/07/2016 1:06:39 PM PST by metmom (...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith...)
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