Abused Congregation Pioneering Exodus From New Calvinism
A group of embattled, ravaged parishioners have ultimately lost the fight to save their church from a business as usual New Calvinist hostile takeover. Per the usual, their pleadings to other churches and ministries for help fell on deaf, indifferent ears. Authority = truth; game over. The teachings that these Christians endured for the better part of two years was hyper-antinomianism on steroids. The pastor’s sermons were so outrageous that a visiting adolescent was disturbed by the idea that she couldn’t do anything to please the Lord that she loves. Got millstone?
However, I must say, they put up one heck of a fight. But what they are seriously considering next is phenomenal, and will be the wave of the future—they are starting their own church. If the leaders that comprise their fellowship of churches will not stand with them when wolves attack, what else is left? As author John Immel aptly states it:
When the sheep figure out that the shepherd only defends against the wolf because he wants the same wool and mutton. When it dawns on his herd animal mind that he will be eaten either way, he finally stands up like a man and argues against the definition of “God’s Glory” equaling being served up for dinner. In that moment, the howl from the wolves and the shepherds is the same.
I received this news along with a request for some suggestions on what should be the primary focus of a new church, but first, there has been an ongoing request from the same folks for remarks on Transitioning: Leading Strong-arming Your Church Through Change by Dan Sutherland. So, I will kill two birds with one stone here.
The book was one of the worst books I have ever read in my life. Not because of its wicked protocol for taking over churches, but rather its lifeless outline form with worn-out clichés and churchy truisms making up the points and sub points. The whole book can be summed up the same way:
1. Vision.
A. Sell a group of leaders on your vision.
B. Find a way to eliminate any mere sippers of the Koolaid from the leadership team.
2. Divide the congregation into small groups.
A. Put the groups under the authority of the Kool-aid guzzling leadership team.
3. Mark those who dare think for themselves.
A. Begin process of neutralizing thinkers.
4. Totally depraved zombie sheep resist change only because its change and would
wonder aimlessly about without the strong guidance of the enlightened ones.
5. Totally depraved zombie sheep cannot handle change because:
A. They think they only need grass and a pond.
B. They don’t like new stuff.
C. They think more sheep equals less grass for them.
D. They are afraid the Shepherd won’t have time to find them if they get lost.
E. If too much is going on, they will forget where the pond is.
Now, for suggestions on starting a new church. First, broadcast the idea that you are Bible centered, and make the Bible your sole authority for everything. I see God’s people becoming very hungry for this. Second, focus on Christ’s mandate to make disciples. Third, the leaders should equip, and the congregation should minister. Fourth, unity is measured by agreement on truth, and nothing else. Fifth, elder led, and elder/congregational rule. In our day, do I really have to sell that? Sixth, Jay Adams has done most of the heavy lifting on sanctification stuff. Invest heavily in his material. When word gets out that real help can be found there from the word of God, trust me, people will come. The gospel is problem-centered. Seventh, don’t let cowards into leadership. Eighth, don’t let anti-separatist into leadership. Ninth, never forget what you have learned from your wounds. Tenth, don’t over-react to your wounds in planning for the future.
And lastly, you have no idea how much freedom and joy in the Lord you are going to experience if you do this.
God’s speed my dear friend,
paul
Paul's Passing Thoughts 
Have noticed this for a great many years, and my wife and I always wondered….. “What text book on abusing the sheep are all these guys reading from”, because they all acted the same. Perhaps the one you mention is it. I’d like to ask the question though….. Are you a Calvinsist? I am, and feel that such maneuvers are but Satan’s way of trying to anihilate such churches and silence what would otherwise be a massive threat to evil.
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Charles,
John Immel answers that question in his book, “Blight In The Vineyard.” It’s a philosophy that yields natural results, so it’s like they all read from the same playbook. The basic philosophy sees freedom of ideas as a danger to civilization and the church. Initially, many buy into it for fear of chaos, but the results are always bad according to history. Ideas are very powerful, and almost always tempt the individual to act upon them. Freedom to interpret reality is a kissing cousin to freedom of ideas. The ideas that rule the day also rule the world. Hence, the Reformation was really a spat between Rome and the Reformers about who was going to control the ideas. Both Rome and the Reformers believed that one’s freedom to interpret reality was nothing that should be tried at home by the common people. When man is seen as utterly incompetent to contribute to his own destiny, love as determinism is the only solution. Visit any of the spiritual abuse expose blogs–the trouble started when people questioned doctrine, or even spoke in way that would enable others to think for themselves. Immel uses happenings at SGM to illustrate how this philosophy plays out naturally in real life.
No, I am not a Calvinist. I now call myself a “Free Berean.” I made that phrase up myself. So, I’m not an Arminian, or a Calvinist. I’m a Free Berean.
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Paul, I’m thrilled that someone so successfully understood the central theme of Blight in the Vineyard. That is a great summation and the heart of most all theological tyranny.
Charles… I think the answer to the question is … yes, they are reading from the same book. Pastors the world over are pulling from the same intellectual traditions. They don’t pastor in a vacuum. They pastor with the whole history of Christianity hanging in their heads like a fog.
Very few people want to reinvent the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Or maybe better said very few people have the ability t challenge Peanut butter and jelly orthodoxy, so they tend to review what has always been said, and emulate those foggy ideas.
While very, very few people consider themselves Calvinists… (or even know what he really preached, or practiced) with striking consistency they accept many of the Calvinist assumptions, which is to say they accept Augustinian presumptions about life, and spirituality and what God intended the “gospel” to mean.
I have said this in many places… for all of Protestantism’s presumption that they are the authentic real version of Christianity that Catholicism screwed up…. at the end of the day, post Reformation Christian doctrine is metaphysically catholic, which is to say we are foundationally committed to Augustine’s presumptions.
The ‘abuse’ is merely the logical outcomes of those foundations. The reason we are circling back around the tyranny of the ages, is because for the first time in American history, our doctrinal thinkers (en mass) without any hesitation, with full ‘moral’ clarity, are advocating the historic ideas that justified the tyranny.
So yes… they are all reading from the same book…
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