Acts 29 Movement

[Stephen L Smith]

Some Reformed Baptist churches in NZ are being influenced by the Acts 29 Movement and I was wondering what people on the Puritan Board thought of this movement:

1. Is the movement consistently Reformed?
2. Has it split from the Gospel Coalition? Why?
3. Does anyone know of helpful resources discussing or critiquing the movement?

Thanks

 

[Free Christian]

Hi Stephen. Just the name of it rings my alarm bells and sets a red light flashing. Acts has only 28 chapters.



(sorry Stephen, have to say this. Americas cup, the winning yacht, skippered by an Aussie mate )

 

[Stephen L Smith]

sorry Stephen, have to say this. Americas cup, the winning yacht, skippered by an Aussie mate

Australia praising America? What is the world coming to

 

[Tirian]

What is the movement about?

 

[Jack K]

The movement is not consistently Reformed in all respects, but it does have several commendable features: It is generally Calvinistic, affirms the authority of Scripture, points people to Christ as the Savior for sinners, calls people to repentance and emphasizes continued repentance throughout the Christian life.

Driscoll says his move last year to step down from his leadership position with the Gospel Coalition was not due to doctrinal disagreements, though some of his teaching does seem to put him out of line with the majority of those guys on a few issues.

 

[Unoriginalname]

I can just hear my mother repeating in my head "If have nothing nice to say, don't say it at all"

That said, Acts 29 is a network that ultimately (unless they changed that) puts authority on a higher council made up of people in Mars Hill. As such it has sort of a mock episcopal church structure. They believe in the continuation of the Apostolic Gifts and would oppose the RPW. It is Calvinist in the broadest sense of the term.

 

[Damon Rambo]

oppose the RPW

This is not a fair assessment. There are churches in the Acts 29 network, who are strong adherents to the Regulative Principle. Of course, it depends on how you define it...I have seen some that say using monitors to display hymn lyrics is a violation of the RPW...

 

[JML]

oppose the RPW

This is not a fair assessment. There are churches in the Acts 29 network, who are strong adherents to the Regulative Principle. Of course, it depends on how you define it...I have seen some that say using monitors to display hymn lyrics is a violation of the RPW...

The monitor wouldn't be but the hymn would.

 

[Damon Rambo]

oppose the RPW

This is not a fair assessment. There are churches in the Acts 29 network, who are strong adherents to the Regulative Principle. Of course, it depends on how you define it...I have seen some that say using monitors to display hymn lyrics is a violation of the RPW...

The monitor wouldn't be but the hymn would.

LOL. So there you go. If you are Psalms only NO ONE adheres to the regulative principle!

God bless you brother!

 

[Logan]

...I have seen some that say using monitors to display hymn lyrics is a violation of the RPW...

At first glance that's a very strange application. Do these churches allow pews?

 

[JML]

LOL. So there you go. If you are Psalms only NO ONE adheres to the regulative principle!

God bless you brother!

You as well. I hope all is going well with your ministry over there.

I must say that it is very difficult to be EP and Reformed Baptist. I am in the .001%. To the OP though, I think Eric has a very good point about the church government structure.

 

[Jake]

The movement is very broad from my understanding, but it does include churches who are confessional. For example, I know that there are PCA churches in the group. In theory, the churches which also subscribe to the Westminster Standards should follow the regulative principle.

 

[ooguyx]

Acts 29 defines itself as a "church planting network". They basically funnel money to church start ups and then require at some point that you contribute back. They support a wide variety of churches and denominations. In the early days to build numbers they allowed churches to be members of Acts 29 that otherwise didn't line up with broadly reformed beliefs at all.

So, not consistently reformed (Acts 29 doesn't hold to any of the reformed confessions, and definitely doesn't require member churches to either).

 

[Free Christian]

Are they from what I read here ecumenical?

 

[Damon Rambo]

Ecumenical in some sense. Do you know what the Together for the Gospel conference is? The limits of their "ecumenism" would be roughly similar to that. Correct (Calvinistic) understanding of the gospel, high view of God's sovereignty, etc. Beyond that, the churches in their network vary substantially.