Posted on 02/21/2006 2:17:28 PM PST by Aussie Dasher
THE head of the World Council of Churches has expressed concern about the spread of megachurches around the world, such as Hillsong in Sydney, saying they could lead to a Christianity that is "two miles long and one inch deep".
The WCC General Secretary Samuel Kobia said megachurches - huge Protestant churches with charismatic pastors, lively music and other services - mostly ran on a business model to make worshippers feel good and were shallow in their theology.
Megachurches, which pack in thousands for rousing Sunday worship services, are popular in suburbs in the United States. Most are evangelical or Pentecostal, with few or no ties to mainline churches such as the Lutherans or Episcopalians.
Mr Kobia said the megachurch movement, which is not represented in the mostly mainline Protestant or Orthodox World Council of Churches, broke down borders among denominations with a populist message.
"It has no depth, in most cases, theologically speaking, and has no appeal for any commitment," the Kenyan Methodist said at the WCC world assembly in this Brazilian city.
The megachurches simply wanted individuals to feel good about themselves, he said.
"It's a church being organised on corporate logic. That can be quite dangerous if we are not very careful, because this may become a Christianity which I describe as 'two miles long and one inch deep'."
Reverend Geoff Tunnicliffe, international director of the 400 million member World Evangelical Alliance, said at the assembly that "historical and deeply-felt issues" separated them from other branches of Christianity.
The largest US megachurches attract some 20,000 worshippers every Sunday. Abroad, megachurches have also sprouted up in Australia, South Korea, Britain, Canada, and other countries.
According to a report by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, there were 1210 US churches drawing more than 2000 worshipers, the official minimum for a megachurch. That was double the number in 2000.
The WCC groups nearly 350 Protestant and Orthodox churches that mostly broke away from the Roman Catholic Church in the Great Schism of 1054 or in the 16th century Reformation.
Where does the WCC earn the right to comment on the "depth" of any church? They have, for the most part, abandoned orthodox Christianity - in many cases denying the most basic doctrines of historic Christianity!
You have already compromised the Reformation
LOL!
Checkout 1Cor.1:18.(NKJV)
Now what good Calvinist thinks he is being saved?
You do have a very nice looking church.
Unconditional election isn't. :>)
He is doing far more good there.
16 Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth? [ESV]
MY PREFERANCE,AND CUDOS ON YOUR TAG-LINE!
Well, what do you think about 1Cor.1:18?
AND CUDOS ON YOUR TAG-LINE!
Thanks.
"God our Savior; who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth."1 Timothy 2:3, 4.
WITHOUT TRUTH THERE IS NO KNOWLEDGE!
Bottom line,the Cross and the Cross alone must be preached!!
Salvation,sanctification and eternal life, all are based on truth.
John 17:17
"Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.
(NKJV)
Here is the bottom line,GOD is soveriegn!!!
God either predestined some from before the foundation of the world to everlasting salvation through no ability of their own but through His good pleasure alone, or He didn't.
"For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." -- Philippians 2:13
"I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. " -- John 17:9 (KJV)
But regarding the Bible versions, I side with ftd. 1 Corinthaisn 1:18 is a perfect example of the shading and sanding of God's intent and instructions found in all the newer versions, even the NKJV.
I might compare various versions to see nuance and allusions, but the KJV is the most accurate of all texts, and the only one based solely on the Majority Text. Even the NKJV uses corrupted text in the footnotes.
Amen.
And a sovereign God has given us the Bible He wants us to have in English,the AV1611.
You don't think God would give you an error filled Bible do you?
I leave it up to you to work hard to avoid pitfalls and sin. As for me, I'll rely on the strength of God and the blood of Christ as it's apparent that I'm incapable of living a sinless life....
It's got to be the fact that we actually believe in Christ and have small group bible study and support groups. The WCC supports queers, dikes, animal lovers, gaia worship, gay marriage, gay adoption and their churches are empty. Guess WHy Bis-hop!
Amen. It's unfortunate many miss the fact that we have been acquitted of our sins, even the ones we commit tomorrow, so that today we stand innocent before God by the perfect, determinant atonement of Jesus Christ.
Sinners to the end, we were forgiven from the beginning.
"I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. " -- John 17:9
According to you is it God who condemned some folks to sin and then turns around after they've sinned (which he pre-destined them to do) and tells them -- you sinned, even though I planned that you would sin and that you have no choice in the matter -- since I planned it -- anyway, so, you sinned and you're going to heck?
Our Megachurch has many pastors. I personally speak with four of them on a regualr basis.
"I'd like to know where y'all get your "information". Did you actually step foot inside one to find out? Do your pass on rumors that you hear others say? I'm just curious, because from what several here on this board who attend mega-churches say, y'all (and the WCC) are wrong.
Not that there aren't mega-churches that fit that bill, but they are probably not any more likely, statistically, than any other denomination is likely to do."
My thoughts exactly.
Actually, I have been to a lot of Megchurches and none of them resemble the churches spoken of on this board.
This is how the basic situation lays out people.
Megachurches are genreally conservative as a result of the liberal theology that has developed in the mainline protestant churches. The mainline churches are losing members to the megachurches. I won't go through the large numbers of former Presbyterians and ELCAs we have in our church, but the numbers are very high.
Currently, the purpose driven church iniative has grabbed lot of people's attention, but any liberaliation that has occurred because of it is no more than transitory. Conservative Christian values will be re-established.
We love Him because He first loved us.
Faith, like all gifts from God, is bestowed by His benevolent mercy, and is not a work of our own fallen hearts. Given a choice, men will always revert to their true nature and flee God. That's what Scripture tells us. To deny this is to deny what God has told us of ourselves. More importantly, it denies what God has told us of Himself. A big no-no.
I've given you verses from the Bible which clearly state that anything good in or from us is directly the result of God's will.
"For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." -- Philippians 2:13
I've given you verses which quote Jesus as saying He does not pray for the entire world; He prays for the sheep whom God has given Him because they are already His, according to His will, and that He will lose none whom the Father has given Him.
"I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. " -- John 17:9
But you ignore those verses and instead fall back on the easy gibberish of rehashed Pelagianism dressed up as some kind of murky unitarianism. Fine with me. All discernment is given by God.
I once believed a lot of the stuff you're pitching. Human beings really really want to believe they are in control and that God only shadows this world. In truth, God colors every thought and action and determines the course of every atom in the universe.
It is an exhilarating realization; I urge everyone to contemplate it. God is in complete and total control, all ways, every day, past, present, future. That's part of the job description for our God. Praise Him. Thank Him. Worship Him. Glorify Him in every thought and deed.
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life." -- Titus 3:4-7 ""But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,
We are sinners to the end, saved from before the beginning by His mercy alone.
"It is an exhilarating realization; I urge everyone to contemplate it. God is in complete and total control, all ways, every day, past, present, future. That's part of the job description for our God. Praise Him. Thank Him. Worship Him. Glorify Him in every thought and deed....
We are sinners to the end, saved from before the beginning by His mercy alone."
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