Northwoods Seelsorger

Questioning the techniques and philosophy of "Church Growth" is tantamount to be "politically incorrect" in today's church. Especially if one were to call into question the success of the Church Growth flag ship, Willow Creek Community Church. At least until now. In a rather revealing article by Bob Burney entitled "A Shocking 'Confession' from Willow Creek Community Church," we discover that the gurus of the modern church may have taken a wrong road after all. After decades of telling us to throw out everything we ever knew about how to run a church, they are now telling us to possibly throw out their own original advice. Burney writes: " Willow Creek has released the results of a multi-year study on the effectiveness of their programs and philosophy of ministry. The study’s findings are in a new book titled Reveal: Where Are You? , co-authored by Cally Parkinson and Greg Hawkins, executive pastor of Willow Creek Community Church. H...

In a previous post I indicated that atheism is "in." So as the Evangelicals discovered the power of popular paperbacks and the appeal of the 'big screen' to further their views, we should not be surprised if agnostics and atheists utilize the same resources. In December of this year a new movie is scheduled to hit the theaters which is based on the first volume in a children's book trilogy by British author Philip Pullman , who has won prizes in the UK for his children's literature. By his own admission, Pullman is a non-believer and an atheist, although he seems to leave the door open for a slim possibillity. He states: "I don't know whether there's a God or not. Nobody does, no matter what they say. I think it's perfectly possible to explain how the universe came about without bringing God into it, but I don't know everything, and there may well be a God somewhere, hiding away. Actually, if he is keeping out of sight, it's...

Last night I attended a brief symposium in a neighboring town sponsored by a new Lutheran devotional society called Coram Deo (L: "face to face with God"). Their featured speaker was a classmate of mine, the Rev. Peter Bender, pastor of Peace Lutheran Church and Academy in Sussex, WI, and founder of the Concordia Catechetical Academy. Pastor Bender spoke on the theme of home and personal devotions. The evening's session was preceded by a candle light vespers service, a wonderful closure to the day's Reformation celebration. Personally I benefited greatly from Pastor Bender's insightful Bible study on the Syrophonecian women with the demon-possessed daughter (as a lesson on faith and prayer), as well as a review of Lutheran resources for personal prayer. Bender reviewed the devotional resources he uses in his parish and school, and they are impressive. They also sound a bit overwhelming. Many of our churches are light years away from the discipline h...

Ironically, I learned to "cross" myself as a Lutheran from a converted Jew. Prior to my time at seminary this practice was foreign to me, as it is undoubtedly still to many Lutherans. Now I "cross" myself regularly, and my people see it weekly as I begin my sermon invoking the name of the Trinity. However, to "cross" oneself is to many Lutherans a decidedly "Catholic" custom. And it is true that at weddings and funerals one can usually identify the visiting Catholics by observing the ones crossing themselves - and those who stop praying the Lord's Prayer before the final doxology :) But "crossing" oneself is a practice that was encouraged by Luther in his Small Catechism as part of the regular devotional life of the Christian. For Lutherans familiar with the Rite of Baptism, this action should have a ring of familiarity, as the first thing a pastor does is to trace the sign of the holy cross upon the head and heart of the chi...

In the October issue of the devotional newsletter for Corum Deo (see previous post), editor Steven Gjerde includes a nice article on the positive nature of the Reformation. Here is a snippet from that article: "If someone asked you why Martin Luther raised his voice in protest, sparking a church-wide reformation, what would you answer? Would you say, 'He was saying 'no' to indulgences, in which people paid money for salvation? Or, 'he did not think that we had to do certain things to be saved'? Or, 'He thought we should pray to God, and not to Mary or the saints?' All of those answer are common, and they certainly touch on issues relating to the Lutheran Reformation. Yet if you look back at them, you'll notice a decidedly negative character in all of the statements, leading some people to wonder: Is a protest against things all that Lutheranism has to offer? Is it just a big 'no'? This issue of Corum Deo rings with the convictio...

This morning thousands of Lutheran churches will celebrate the Reformation. To some it may seem a very sectarian occasion in a more ecumenically enlightened world. Wasn't the Reformation responsible for splintering Christendom into countless scattered pieces and disrupting the unity of the church? Didn't the Reformation break with the history of the past and abandon the rich traditions carefully collected over millenia? Certainly there were excesses and abuses in the period of the Reformation. This, like all periods of history, was not a perfect time. However, as a Lutheran, I look back positively to this era and note that much good came of Martin Luther's efforts. Yet first of all we need to note that the church was already divided at his time, technically speaking. It had been so since 1054 when Rome and Constantinople parted ways. And as to a break with the past - Yes, some of the more radical reformers did abandon all that came before and began with a b...

With the approach of the familiar holiday of Halloween, the subject of "ghosts and goblins" again fill the air. Of course a lot of it is in jest, but a few take the subject quite seriously. In my local paper this morning a group known as the a "ghost hunt team" was featured. They are a small version of what many have seen on such cable shows as the "Ghost Hunters." Armed with techno gadgets for measuring sights and sounds beyond the awareness of normal human senses, they head out to old cemeteries and abandoned buildings in search of restless spirits. The theory behind such efforts is that once dead the spirit of the deceased lingers around in this world, unable or unwilling to leave. These spirits, they claim, are either friendly and benign, or mischievous and even spiteful - much like they probably were during their living years. As a Christian, however, such theories not only irritate me, the naivete also concerns me. There are disembodied s...

As Stan Guthrie points out, atheism is in, and as we have seen with some recent volumes from their ranks, they are clearly in a bad mood. In his article "Answering the Atheists" from the November issue of Christianity Today , Mr. Guthrie quotes from Christopher Hitchens's book God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything showing their new edgy approach: "Many of the teachings of Christianity are, as well as being incredible and mythical, immoral." Richard Dawkins, Guthrie notes, "suggests that believers 'just shut up.'" To which he the adds: "Apparently, they didn't get the tolerance memo." Guthrie makes a profound point in those last few words tinged with tongue-in-cheek humor. Atheists make much of the supposed intolerance of the church that chooses to believe in absolute truth as apposed to the relativism of popular culture. The mere fact that we might insist (at the direction of God's own word) that only...

In a recent ad placed by College Avenue Baptist Church of San Diego, this 2,000-plus member mega church is looking for a PASTOR OF WORSHIP AND CREATIVE EXPRESSION . They state that they "desire varied and creative worship expressions that are passionate, engaging, full of Scripture, prayer, and an awareness of God's presence." Have they considered the liturgy and the Lord's Supper? Nah. That's just not sufficiently creative, passionate or engaging.....

Many who endorse the Church Growth Movement see it merely as a theologically neutral tool for ministry. In a desire simply to increase the number of people hearing the Good News, what can be wrong with borrowing from the very practical realm of sociology, psychology, and business? We need to be practical and pragmatic in understanding trends and technology if the church hopes to remain effective in a modern world, so the gurus of success tell us. Aside from the incompatibility of the concepts of "effective" or even "successful" as applied to the ministry and mission of a church under the cross, other matters in this philosophy are equally troubling. In an article entitled "Who Asks the Trough Questions?" from the October 2007 issue of Religious Product , Lyle Schaller reveals the fundamental issue at stake with three simple words. As he discusses five current trends in American Protestantism, he makes this statement: "High on that list is ...

Dr. Mary Todd, author of the controversial book Authority Vested: A Story of Identity and Change in the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, wrapped up DayStar's journal on women's ordination with a brief article . Although departed from the LCMS scene and now teaching in a school outside of the synodical system, she still seems determined to take a few parting shots at her former home. Her final words take a last stab at the church she deems hopelessly lost in denial and forced silence: "And in declaring once again it knows the will of God, the church will continue to deny itself the gifts of women who, created in the image of God, seek only to carry the good news as women did that first Easter morning. Thank God those women broke the rule." Aside from the familiar rhetoric of denying the gifts of women, etc., Dr. Todd reveals one point I have long suspected is at the core of the argument for women's ordination. Reflecting on this past summer's convent...

Several of the GOP contenders addressed the Values Voters Summit in D.C. this past Saturday, hoping to win over a large and powerful voting block. Former N.Y. major Rudy Guiliani, a professed Catholic, had the biggest liability as an avowed abortion rights supporter. Mit Romney is conservative and prolife, but his liability for Evangelicals is his Mormon faith. Mike Huckabee, a former Baptist preacher and Arkansas governor seemed to muster the greatest positive reaction, as he repeatedly appealed to the crowd with biblical images and passages and a passionate support of conservative values. John McCain, who has conflicted with the right over immigration among other issues, tried to tout his honesty and consistent pro-life voting record. Still, unlike previous elections, the Religious Right has yet to galvanize around a single candidate, and there are rumors of support for a Third Party candidate, if one should arise. Yet, despite the liberal tendencies of the U.S. and Democrat...

Below please read the note I received from Wisconsin Family Action regarding the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which is scheduled for consideration in the House very soon: As Wisconsin Family Action reported earlier this month the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) H.R. 2015 will likely be receiving a vote in the House of Representatives very soon--as early as next week, according to our national sources. ENDA, if passed into law, will prevent employers in Christian schools, Christian businesses, the Boy Scouts, and other organizations from discriminating against an individual who behaves homosexually. Although the bill contains "religious exemption" clauses, these clauses only exclude churches and religious positions in schools; the exemptions do not exclude other positions that can have equal or greater influence within the organizations or business. The author of the bill, Rep. Barney Frank (CD 4-Mass.), is one of two openly homosexual members of the House. ...

In a recent article for JesusFirst , entitled "Where are You Going, Missouri?" , Pastor Charles S. Mueller, Sr. states the following: " Hand-in-hand with a pastor shortage is the fact that we have too many parishes that are on a subsistence level, barely able to maintain facilities, to minimally support a pastor and to share a little with others. In many areas our churches are spaced as if we were still in the 19 th century serving a flock that buggies to worship or is culturally concentrated enough to walk to church. The LCMS has too many churches that of necessity spend the majority of their time dealing with roof replacement, furnace repair and patching parking lots. Untrue? Review the minutes of a dozen or so randomly selected church councils ...

There is a real confusion out there about the source of spiritual growth. This week I attended a conference where one of the speakers talked at length about the mission of the church, the changing of the human life, vision, goals and such, and never seemed to grasp the central place of Word and Sacrament. He did mention these 'means.' He gave them lip service. Yet they seemed too often merely incidental to his overall view. One statement on a handout demonstrates this confusion: "We need to begin to change the culture from 'come to church so we can grow you up spiritually' to 'here's how to grow up spiritually, now go do it and be church in the world.'" The next statement seems to clarify and correct this a bit: "How can our congregation help? As the church gathers weekly we provide the balm of God's grace for healing, ignition, teaching, aiming and releasing for another week of following Jesus into the world." So what i...

We live in a culture that greatly devalues marriage. No surprise there. Still, I am depressed as a pastor seeing the inroads this low view has made into the church and among Christians in general. Many a young lady makes it clear that the 'normal' order of events in life is sex, baby, and if it is convenient, marriage. But the last part is certainly optional. As it appears to be for the very popular Halle Berry. After 30+ negative tests she is now celebrating her new pregnancy with French-Canadian model Gabriel Aubry. Yet is marriage just as important? No. She has been married twice prior, with her unions lasting no more 5 years in either case. Thus, she sees no desire to marry again. "I feel more married, in a way, than I ever have in two marriages before," she said to Oprah. "He really understands the spiritual connection is so much more important than the paper and the pomp and circumstance and the ceremony." While I agree that marriage is no...