DMcFadden
Puritanboard Commissioner
Today I posted a reply on a friend's FB with some ruminations about the problems of mainline, evangelical, and yes, confessional churches.
His original post referenced a Babylon Bee satirical piece about the mainline becoming a "safe" place for those offended by the Gospel. http://babylonbee.com/news/mainline-protestantism-declared-safe-space-offended-gospel/. It was hilarious. One respondent noted that problems exist outside the mainline. Here were my thoughts:
The mainline has lost its soul to the siren song of progressive ideology, trading in its theological birthright for some stale porridge containing little more than the most current version of liberalism de jour. The evangelical world has lost its soul to the siren song of combining revivalistic Arminianism with technique (what Finney used to call the application of "means") in order to "market" the church. In my days in evangelicalism I added a graduate degree in management to my Fuller credentials in order to become a more proficient practitioner of the dark arts of church growth. When my eldest son (a Big Box pastor) built his current church building, the coffee bar in the lobby was considered as essential as the pulpit. And, after visiting another one of our kids this last weekend, I am convinced that the "formula" is identical wherever "growing" evangelical congregations are to be found: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzqaITA3IO0.
But, confessional bodies must be VERY wary lest they follow in the same sad pathways. Confessional Reformed and Lutheran bodies tend to watch the "success" of the Big Box churches and adopt, ususally 10-20 years later, the failed techniques already discarded by the evangelicals as unworkable. We go ecclesiastical dumpster diving to retrieve their castoffs, give them a polish or two, and declare ourselves geniuses for "discovering" these "cutting edge" ideas promised to make us more effective. Jesus promised that the Gospel was the power of God to effect salvation. Let's get back to the self-authenticating energy of Word and Sacrament rather than jumping to the beat of the latest new idea.
His original post referenced a Babylon Bee satirical piece about the mainline becoming a "safe" place for those offended by the Gospel. http://babylonbee.com/news/mainline-protestantism-declared-safe-space-offended-gospel/. It was hilarious. One respondent noted that problems exist outside the mainline. Here were my thoughts:
The mainline has lost its soul to the siren song of progressive ideology, trading in its theological birthright for some stale porridge containing little more than the most current version of liberalism de jour. The evangelical world has lost its soul to the siren song of combining revivalistic Arminianism with technique (what Finney used to call the application of "means") in order to "market" the church. In my days in evangelicalism I added a graduate degree in management to my Fuller credentials in order to become a more proficient practitioner of the dark arts of church growth. When my eldest son (a Big Box pastor) built his current church building, the coffee bar in the lobby was considered as essential as the pulpit. And, after visiting another one of our kids this last weekend, I am convinced that the "formula" is identical wherever "growing" evangelical congregations are to be found: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzqaITA3IO0.
But, confessional bodies must be VERY wary lest they follow in the same sad pathways. Confessional Reformed and Lutheran bodies tend to watch the "success" of the Big Box churches and adopt, ususally 10-20 years later, the failed techniques already discarded by the evangelicals as unworkable. We go ecclesiastical dumpster diving to retrieve their castoffs, give them a polish or two, and declare ourselves geniuses for "discovering" these "cutting edge" ideas promised to make us more effective. Jesus promised that the Gospel was the power of God to effect salvation. Let's get back to the self-authenticating energy of Word and Sacrament rather than jumping to the beat of the latest new idea.
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