Trouble Amid the Evangelicals?
Terry Eastland is rightly skeptical.
I think the phenomenon described in the article is the same old reaction to filling pews by watering down the faith. Rick Warren's contributed mightily to it as his model is the one being followed.
Evangelicals ultimately will not find these new "seeker churches" fulfilling---but after all, they are not for them.
I attended Warren's Saddleback Church for several months, but left because it was very irreverent and the doctrine was so watered-down as to be invisible. I had no idea Warren's a Southern Baptist--you wouldn't know it from the service. While that may draw in those who are not churchgoers, it can hardly retain those who are. Filling in a bunch of bogus "ministries" as my United Methodist Church was wont to do won't do it either ("aerobics ministry"? Puh-leeeze). People want to take up their cross and follow Christ--that's what Christianity is all about.
If you want a social club, they're easy enough to find. If you want God, well, you have to seek Him out.
I think the phenomenon described in the article is the same old reaction to filling pews by watering down the faith. Rick Warren's contributed mightily to it as his model is the one being followed.
Evangelicals ultimately will not find these new "seeker churches" fulfilling---but after all, they are not for them.
I attended Warren's Saddleback Church for several months, but left because it was very irreverent and the doctrine was so watered-down as to be invisible. I had no idea Warren's a Southern Baptist--you wouldn't know it from the service. While that may draw in those who are not churchgoers, it can hardly retain those who are. Filling in a bunch of bogus "ministries" as my United Methodist Church was wont to do won't do it either ("aerobics ministry"? Puh-leeeze). People want to take up their cross and follow Christ--that's what Christianity is all about.
If you want a social club, they're easy enough to find. If you want God, well, you have to seek Him out.
Labels: Religion
posted by Teflon at 5:36 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Amen, I go to a church which preaches God's Word and a pastor with the courage to tell me what I don't want to hear.
Warren and Osteen and their ilk may be good writers of self-help books, but they lack the courage to preach the unvarnished Gospel, a Gospel which offends many.
Amen to that, TBS---"Take up your cross and follow me" sounds a lot less attractive than what we find at the intersection of Religion and Self-Help.
The lot of the Apostles was not an easy one---we must be wary of anyone who claims that those of modern-day Christians is to be easy.
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