DMcFadden
Puritanboard Commissioner
OK, maybe it isn’t exactly the PB’s “fault,” but my time spent here has impacted my thinking on so many levels.
Today Jeanette and I attended a farewell celebration for our judicatory executive. It was hosted by one of the larger congregations in our fellowship, pastored by a fellow alum from my seminary . Here is what we saw:
• The “lobby” was probably 2/3 the size of the worship center. It was attractively appointed in an upscale hotel-hospitality décor.
• It featured LOTS of flat screen video screens advertising church ministries and outreach. Today it was promoting a church production of “Beauty and the Beast,” a “ballroom dancing class,” an aerobics group, a summer youth sports camp, and a all-city soccer league hosted by the church (involving thousands of kids).
• The “spiritual” promotion was for “The Me I Want to Be” classes each Tuesday.
• In the lobby was an attractive set of signs (2’ x 6’) announcing that they only brew “Peet’s Coffee,” a particular brand of artisan roaster coffee which is “out of this world” and “unlike anything you have ever tasted” in their “Holy Grounds” coffee shop.
• The coffee bar, tray line, and general layout of the food court area was more impressively designed and laid out than any hotel or restaurant I have ever seen.
These are very fine people, hold theologically conservative views, seek to "win the world" for Christ, and do not partake of many of the defective views of much evangelicalism.
Marveling at the amazing industry and beehive of activities (drama, dozens of sports groups running year long, oodles of interest groups, an arts academy, etc.), I went home profoundly disturbed and more than a little depressed. Having been raised in broad evangelicalism, this was in many ways the quintessential example of what “making good” would look like in an evangelical culture. But, a few years on the PB makes me realize that “this world is not my home” . . . any longer.
Wow! Very interesting. Warning, the PB could be dangerous to your ecclesiastical standards and value system.
Today Jeanette and I attended a farewell celebration for our judicatory executive. It was hosted by one of the larger congregations in our fellowship, pastored by a fellow alum from my seminary . Here is what we saw:
• The “lobby” was probably 2/3 the size of the worship center. It was attractively appointed in an upscale hotel-hospitality décor.
• It featured LOTS of flat screen video screens advertising church ministries and outreach. Today it was promoting a church production of “Beauty and the Beast,” a “ballroom dancing class,” an aerobics group, a summer youth sports camp, and a all-city soccer league hosted by the church (involving thousands of kids).
• The “spiritual” promotion was for “The Me I Want to Be” classes each Tuesday.
• In the lobby was an attractive set of signs (2’ x 6’) announcing that they only brew “Peet’s Coffee,” a particular brand of artisan roaster coffee which is “out of this world” and “unlike anything you have ever tasted” in their “Holy Grounds” coffee shop.
• The coffee bar, tray line, and general layout of the food court area was more impressively designed and laid out than any hotel or restaurant I have ever seen.
These are very fine people, hold theologically conservative views, seek to "win the world" for Christ, and do not partake of many of the defective views of much evangelicalism.
Marveling at the amazing industry and beehive of activities (drama, dozens of sports groups running year long, oodles of interest groups, an arts academy, etc.), I went home profoundly disturbed and more than a little depressed. Having been raised in broad evangelicalism, this was in many ways the quintessential example of what “making good” would look like in an evangelical culture. But, a few years on the PB makes me realize that “this world is not my home” . . . any longer.
Wow! Very interesting. Warning, the PB could be dangerous to your ecclesiastical standards and value system.
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