Posted on 05/16/2008 12:06:26 AM PDT by Gamecock
After modeling a seeker-sensitive approach to church growth for three decades, Willow Creek Community Church now plans to gear its weekend services toward mature believers seeking to grow in their faith.
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Since 1975, Willow Creek has avoided conventional church approaches, using its Sunday services to reach the unchurched through polished music, multimedia, and sermons referencing popular culture and other familiar themes.
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.....surveyed congregants at Willow Creek and six other churches, suggested that evangelistic impact was greater from those who self-reported as "close to Christ" or "Christ-centered" than from new church attendees. In addition, a quarter of the "close to Christ" and "Christcentered" crowd described themselves as spiritually "stalled" or "dissatisfied" with the role of the church in their spiritual growth. Even more alarming to Willow Creek: About a quarter of the "stalled" segment and 63 percent of the "dissatisfied" segment contemplated leaving the church.
(Excerpt) Read more at christianitytoday.com ...
Well, they have a message based on a theme, go into that for a while, then talk about the bible references.
But! They’ve gotten better - putting the bible references at the fore, then applying them to the topic.
The emphasis Christians place on the traditional Christian doctrines of hell and the second coming of Jesus inhibits believers from living effective lives of service in this world, according to speaker and author Brian McLaren.
McLaren explained his views April 9-10 at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Ill., as a featured speaker during the Willow Creek Association's annual Shift student ministries conference. During the conference's opening session, Bo Boshers, executive director of student ministries for the Willow Creek Association, said he does not agree with all McLaren's views but that all youth ministers should consider his thoughts.
In his most recent book, "Everything Must Change" (Thomas Nelson), McLaren commends Willow Creek pastor Bill Hybels as one of only a handful of evangelical leaders properly addressing global poverty and equity for the world's population.
"Some of us came from a religious tradition or a religious background where our main role was to recruit kids to go to heaven," said McLaren, a controversial leader within the emerging church movement. "And that's a good thing. Mortality rates are still pretty high, and we all have to face that decision. But I'm here to challenge you to think bigger and deeper and in more layers and dimensions about your role."
In a later conference breakout session, McLaren elaborated, "There are some ideas that are not truly ideas of the Gospel but are ideas of the modern understanding of the Gospel. The problem isn't the Bible. The problem is modern rings that we put around the Bible. And what we need to do -- some of us in our thinking -- is to find the courage to snip the ring so that our faith ... can really have a future."
Though he did not specify at Willow Creek which traditional doctrines need revision, McLaren wrote in his 2007 book "Everything Must Change" that the doctrine of hell needs radical rethinking. He argues that people who believe in hell may be inclined to dominate and take advantage of other people, rather than help them.
"Many of us have been increasingly critical in recent years of popular American eschatology in general, and conventional views of hell in particular," he wrote. "Simply put, if we believe that God will ultimately enforce his will by forceful domination, and will eternally torture all who resist that domination, then torture and domination become not only permissible but in some way godly."
The orthodox understanding that Jesus will return at a future date and forcefully conquer all His enemies also needs rethinking, according to McLaren.
"This eschatological understanding of a violent second coming leads us to believe (as we've said before) that in the end, even God finds it impossible to fix the world apart from violence and coercion; no one should be surprised when those shaped by this theology behave accordingly," McLaren wrote.
The book of Revelation does not actually teach that there will be a new heaven and a new earth, he wrote, but that a new way of living is possible within this universe if humans will follow Jesus' example.
By going to the cross, McLaren argued in his book, Jesus committed an act similar to the Chinese student at Tiananmen Square in the late 1980s -- he placed himself in harm's way to demonstrate the injustice of a society that would harm a peaceful and godly man.
McLaren's views break harshly from traditional Christian theology that Jesus died on the cross as substitute for sinful humanity, taking the punishment that men and women deserved for their sin. Traditional Christian theology also contends that those who do not trust Jesus for their salvation will be punished in hell eternally for their sins and that Jesus will return at a future date to conquer all evil.
This "huge shift" ain't good!
Many good Christian leaders have difficulty perceiving the spirit of compromise. I went back to Willow Creek earlier this year only to discover my plans to serve in the women's ministry as a Biblical "Titus 2 woman" serving the younger were, in actuality, going to be a "spiritual guide" for a New Age Movement. Mystic ways of praying (repeating and meditation) and relating to God were being taught along with frequent references to Quakers. Terms like "covenant", "covenant groups", and "lectio divina" where frequently used. They gave out free books in the mentor training class in January (Sacred Companions by David G. Benner, and Spiritual Mentoring by Keith Anderson & Randy Reese). One class included a clip from the movie The Matrix. The movie was recommended and had keen insight for us in some way. We were told to avail ourselves to the classics of Roman Catholic mystics, and do timelines on our lives.
....The classics the women's ministry were instructing us to "avail to" were mystical writings from around the forth to fifteenth century. The mystics taught how to unclutter the mind and remove any rational thought so the mind is totally passive. This opened them up for the "Presence of God" which is actually a form of Zen meditation. Quaker quietists believe in a similar manner that "God is within" and they believe a "Quiet Revolution" is coming and declare there will be a coming incomparable "harvest." They are predicting the greatest harvesting of souls in the history of the world. An important difference to understand is that the Holy Spirit indwells us when we accept Jesus Christ and the occult meaning behind the concept of "the god within," "the light within," or "the Christ within" has a different meaning.
It's a strategy for ecumenism without regard for doctrine. Renovare is the organization behind this movement out of the traditions of Quakerism and it is directed by Rich Foster and William L. Vasivig.
At the Wednesday night service at WCCC we were introduced to a "spiritual formation leader", Mindy Caliguire. This was a special night of prayer for those who had concerns about our situation in Iraq and it was a last minute idea to fill-in because Randy Travis cancelled his concerts. It had received TV coverage due to the Iraq situation. This guide was not on TV but she led us in ways best described as of the "New Age." We were instructed to relax our arms and put our palms up and be silent and meditate. She was praised by Bill Hybels for how "deeply" she had just been praying and was introduced as someone who is very actively working behind the scenes in the spiritual direction of the elders and the church.
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But, all one has to do is look at who these promoter's of the "shift" are referencing (Thomas Merton, Henri Nouwen, Richard Foster, Manning, Eckhart Tolle and other mystics) to know that they are not making the distinction that you are talking about.
Additionally, why are protestant evangelicals even promoting the teachings and practices of Catholic mystics? Did the Reformation not happen? (no offense intended).
Also, in Lectio Divinia, at least how many/some practice, it is not just God's written Word that speaks to the practitioner through the process, it is actually new revelation that is given to the individual during the practice.
Amen. We need good old fashioned preaching and altar calls.
Where we live, it’s spiritually dry. I know God is working, at least in the spirit filled churches across the state, so I feel we are in for a revival. SOON LORD! We sure need one here. It’s been hard to witness, especially in college areas. But many Christian kids in our local college have started coming to our church and we have kids of all ethnic groups. There’s HOPE.
I used to be.
It ain't just marshmallows...It is toxic marshmallows!
At the root of it, these seeker sensitive folks have the wrong view of God, the Bible and of man.
They don't have a biblical view of God's sovereignty in salvation and they don't believe in the power of the Gospel to save.
They also, falsely, believe that the Church's primary reason for existing is evangelism. It is not. It exists for God's glory and for the edification of the saints.
The Apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 14:24-25) said that on the chance that the unsaved are among us during our worship, we are to teach in a way that reveals their sin, convicts them of their sin, and leads them to repentance. In doing this, the unsaved will truly know that God is among us.
Seeker sensitive worship is the antithesis of Paul's direction and therfore unbiblical (not glorifying to God).
And...it is a seeker sensitive command not to be offensive (no teaching/preaching on sin, hell, doctrine, etc.). These things might turn away the crowd.
We all need to be praying for these folks and other ‘emergent church’ types.
"I see no contradiction between Buddhism and Christianity ... I intend to become as good a Buddhist as I can."
(David Steindl-Rast, "Recollection of Thomas Merton's Last Days in the West" (Monastic Studies, 7:10, 1969)
At the core of the current contemplative mystical prayer and spirituality IS the New Age and Eastern religious practices of emptying the mind, centering down and finding god within.
Read Leonard Sweet's, popluar emergent and an alleged evangelical futurist, on line book Quantum Spirituality in which he talks about the cosmic christ and cosmic oneness. The New Agey and Eastern religious context is more than obvious.
You are right, Marysecretary.
But...we need to do that and more!
We need to contend for the faith (Jude), as commanded by Scripture, and do it in a way that reveals these folks as flase teacher and mark them so that they can be avoided (also commanded by Scripture).
For the sake of the flock and for God's glory.
YIKES!
Thanks for correcting me.
St. Paul said pray without ceasing. There are many forms of prayer. Discursive is one, but not the only one.
Some are called to other practice of prayer. It is always to be under proper guidance by a competent spiritual director.
Most or all Protestant churches shut down or rejected monastic and other orders and so lost this competency. Since then, in most cases, what replaced it was incompetent practitioners as you mention, or rejection of any other form of prayer than discursive.
Both are a loss.
By the way, it was largely due to Merton that I converted from buddhism to Christianity. IMHO, there are many who misunderstand his gift to our faith.
I'm not certain that the inference of this is correct.
My understanding is that: Merton died in Bangkok while on a trip approved by his abbot. His body was returned to Gethsemani where he is buried. He remained Catholic, though he did express a desire at one time to 'convert' to the Carthusian Order. :)
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