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."
Imagine preaching such a Christ in the NT church! The only Christ they ever preached was one that was physically incarnated, and even appeared as such after His resurrection, and not a Christ that was an inanimate object according to all definitions of such.
Proof positive that Catholics did not penn the NT. If they did then the priestly sacrificial celebration of the Eucharist would be abundantly described as such from Acts onward, instead of nowhere .
When dealing with souls whose argument for the meaning of a texts is that the text must mean what they say it does, regardless of how interpretive texts manifest its meaning, then even when other Catholics correct them they continue in their blindness, and stammering assertions. Best to ignore such children.
Go ahead .... you're SUPPOSED to !
No, you couldn't rely on a catholic priest to come up with a correct interpretation for hardly anything. I wouldn't trust one. If dude hasn't even heard of Eph 2:8-9, he can't be trusted. Praise the Lord we are ex Catholics now.
It sure sounds like he didn't recognize it.
In the original Greek?
You’d have to ask bb.
If he didn’t recognize it in English, I doubt he’d recognize it in its original Greek.
I’m sure all those who share your beliefs are perfect?
I don't care what popes and priests say. They have no impact on my life.
I am sure I would disagree with the so called unstained doctrine too. I am glad you said it was a myth that we need a priest to help interpret scripture. That means I can do exactly what you do, interpret scripture. I just disagree with your interpretations.
Now, all those FR born again Christians, may differ on some less important issues. I have told you about 5 times now. I don't care about other issues. I only care about one issue, YOUR plan of salvation, and whether YOU go to Heaven or Hell. I have asked several times, what is YOUR plan of salvation. How are YOU planning to make it to Heaven? You conveniently ignored it, as I expected you would.
I think most Catholics fear death more than life, because 99.9% are not sure if they will go to Heaven, so they try to ignore it, hoping it will all work out in the end. Guess what? It won't work out in the end. What a sad state of affairs, to sink into the tomb, without one ray of hope for Heaven. I don't know where you are G, but the fact that you appear not to want to talk about the realities of the awful torment of Hell, where the pain level goes to infinity, is a scary sign. You don't want to end up in INFINITE pain, but if you do, that's on you bro.
Now, us true born again Christians do not always agree on some less important issues, but we march lock step in formation, when it comes to Ephesians 2:8-9. It is one verse among many, that can be interpreted in ONLY one way, but only by spiritually alive people. The spiritually dead can not understand it, because it is a spiritual concept, but I am sure I probably disagree with your interpretation of what is faith and what is grace. Such is life.
OK bro, my friends and I have tried to talk some sense into you, with no results, so I will leave you to your own devices. There is no reason to discuss anything more with you. I hope to see you in Heaven, but if not, that's on you.
Of course the scriptures contradict catholic teaching. If we get away from them, due to the false doctrines, then we take our money with us. That's what they DON'T want.
More important however, I have heard that in the world, approximately 175,000 people die every day. The vast majority, experience Hellfire and brimstone. This is not a good thing. We need to keep evangelizing the lost.
Then the Catholic Church said to the Gentiles...
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.
"What elephant?"
It's either wine; or Jesus just announced that He will drink His OWN blood in the Kingdom!
Pick whichever suits your tastes here.
Ephesians 2:8-9 New International Version (NIV)
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
John 7:24 (KJV)
Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.
Then a child would probably ask:
"Why have them then?"
Of those about 3,300; in the USA; are from CHOICE.
...I have heard that in the world, approximately 175,000 people die every day
http://www.hebrew4christians.com/About_HFC/Death_Rate/death_rate.html
It’s pretty sobering.
And as the old mountain man told the pot growers trying to move in on his land, to grow their weed: “You leave now, one way or ‘nother. Hell ain’;t half full yet.”
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