In recent weeks, the number of viewers on this blog has increased drastically. It appears that more and more people are becoming aware of change in their churches.
One topic, in particular, has received more comments than I can begin to publish on the site: that of changes in the Baptist General Conference–now known by its missional name, Converge World Wide.
I know there are many faithful local congregations in this denomination–and pastors who still honor a fundamental interpretation of Scriptures, while viewing all of Scripture as the Word of God. Those of you who have such a local fellowship and faithful pastor are blessed. I pray that your church will continue to preach and teach God’s Word, along with freely exposing and confronting error wherever it may be found. Your pastor needs your support!
My experience with the above named denomination has been tragic. My husband and I have seen a godly pastor dismissed by his congregation, with the aid and authority of the district leaders of the BGC. People in the congregation criticized the pastor for spending too much time on Scripture, and for standing firm on a lifestyle issue which has been clearly delineated by that denomination in the past.
He was also criticized for lacking charisma and sticking to his job of pastor/teacher rather than trying to make church “fun” for the community. This local fellowship has compromised sound fundamental doctrine. Instead, the members are going out into the community and asking, “What would you like our church to be?”
At the national level, the demise of a once Biblically sound group has been apparent to me through articles published in the denomination’s magazine. Please see my March 2nd, 2009 entry for details.
Concerned Christians have commented on the March 2, 2009 entry, legitimately wanting to know more about what is going on in their church. Many times, I’ve read the question, “How does one know when a church is going emergent?
A thorough answer may be found online at the following site: www.understandthetimes.org . Roger Oakland has published an article on the subject, titled: “How to Know When the Emerging Church Shows Signs of Emerging in Your Church” .
In his article, Roger Oakland succinctly lists warning signs. Among them are: 1) the encroachment of mysticism; 2) the error of experiences and subjective feelings as a way to know God in place of knowing Him through His objective Word; 3) a preponderence of psychology in place of sound theology; 4) the heresy that the Church has replaced Israel and Israel has no significance in prophecy; 5) the idea that the Church and Scriptures need to be “reinvented” in order to reach the post-modern generation; 6) a trend toward ecumenical unity, compromise of Christian distinctives, and syncretism of the world’s religions in order to promote missional activities. These are some of Oakland’s warning signs, and more are listed on his website.
The storm is brewing in many denominations and local churches today. All of this is prophesied again and again in the Bible. In the book of Jude we read: “For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.” Jude–verse 4
As Christians, we need to know what the leaders of our denomination are saying and writing. We need to read their statements, and stay informed as to their activities. What are these leaders preaching? What political and ecumenical movements do they endorse?
Most of all, we need to be like the worthy Bereans. We must search Scriptures daily, to ascertain whether or not whatever we hear is true!
Margaret L. Been–All Rights Reserved
You are certainly a woman after God’s heart!
The Emerging Church leaves it’s people starved of the word and naked against the harsh elements of unrepentant sin.
The passage “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God” describes this insidious deception that turns once God fearing congregations into community social clubs.
May our Abba Father keep us from this wickedness and raise up a standard based on scripture once again!
I posted here about a year ago about BGC (Converge). At that time, I had known the problems with the denomination, but the Pastor was and is preaching the Word and my husband and I hung in there.
The Pastor went on a 2 month Sabatical and other Pastor’s preached. Two weeks ago, a converge Pastor preached a “progressive” message quoting out of Brian McClaren’s book and ended the service reading from “The Message”.
I sent an e-mail to our Pastor, who was in the service that morning, stating my concerns. He wrote back defending the Pastor and made it sound like I had “small” differences of opinion” with him. He never dealt with the issue that I brought up. He admitted that McClaren is a bit radical and said he “shuddered” when the Pastor quoted from him, but I believe he is minimizing the problem and is trying to please all.
If a Pastor is preaching the Word, but does not warn his flock about the wolves who come in and preach another Gospel, he is as guilty.
This is heartbreaking. This Pastor has the heart of God, preaches the Word, but I know that he doesn’t see, or won’t see what is going on around him.
I am,
Worn out
Meg
Meg, I sure understand and identify with you! Your are right on, and yes—your statement “he doesn’t see or won’t see” sums it up!
Some don’t see because they are deceived, and some just don’t want to see—because they are afraid to swim upstream.
Typically, when people like us voice their concerns they are labeled as either trouble makers or a bit “off” pyschologically. It’s an awful scene, and it’s rampant today.
Nearly a year ago we moved to Southern Wisconsin from our little town up north where our dear pastor was blackballed and removed by the Baptist General Conference(Converge Worldwide) district governing body. (The people in the church didn’t want to do it congregationally, so they called in the big guns to do their dirty work. Kind of like hiring gunslingers in the wild west days).
Now we attend Lake Country Bible Church, which is 1/2 mile from our new home here. Most of our family members who live in the area go there too. So along with being edified and inspired in church, I get to hold great-grandbabies as well! 🙂
What a difference, and what a relief! The teaching here is thorough and Biblical. Our pastor, Sal Massa, has an excellent series out on THE NEW SPIRITUALITY, which exposes all the heresies and abominations—plus the silly fluff—which abound in emerging churches.
The series is powerful, because along with being informative it conveys our pastor’s heartbreak over the condition of many churches today!
You can listen to that series, and all other recent ones on http://www.lakecountrybible.org/ .
Every day I thank God for bringing us to a church where the pastor and fellowship are committed to God’s truth!
Now that nearly a year has past, it’s really hitting me as to what an energy drain it was—sitting Sunday after Sunday in a place where the atmosphere was un-Biblical. It truly did wear me out!!!
I pray you will find a refreshing place to worship!
Keep me posted!
Margaret
Thanks Margaret. I will keep you posted and thanks for the links
Meg