We've emerged!

[BigSuze]

We just got a new pastor at our church and I think we are now officially on the track of Emerging Church. All the buzz words have been mentioned: missional, incarnational, transformational. We have sacred places that we must expand, just as Adam and Eve expanded their sacred place of Eden, and the church is to be divided into small cells based on geography. We are Christ-followers, not Christians. Unbelievers are "not-yet-Christians." This is just blowing me away. I could go on and on, but I think you all know what is afoot. I don't think I will recognize my "church" in another year. What is one to do? Even our Sunday School teacher is avoiding us, I guess because he knows that we have huge questions and he is a member of the board. I feel like I am watching a demolition derby.

[broken]

I'm so sorry. I feel your pain.

That is the same thing our own [former] pastor/leadership (also in oregon) started preaching a few years ago. Unbelievers were called "pre-Christians", and tolerance was the most important aspect of God's love. Being a "Christian" was too fundamentalist-like, and was to be avoided. "Christ-followers" was more "spiritual". Very sad.

The geography was very important, especially praying over geographical areas. "Taking dominion", in other words.

God has blessed you with insight, BigSuze, and the ability to recognize what is truth, and what is not.

[Wired4Jesus]

Just before he announced that he was leaving our church and moving to Little Rock to attend medical school, our youth pastor (who has surrendered to the China Mission field) started playing a video series by Rob Bell, pastor of Mars Hill Church, called NOOMA (<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/8wSAEezBc3s&hl=en"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/8wSAEezBc3s&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>) for all the adults.

The video series seems harmless enough at first blush. Here is a 30 yr old guy telling a story and relating it to a scriptural story. Young, fresh, contemporary, kind of like a soft music video. But when you think about the underling teaching, you soon learn that there is a hidden agenda. The doctrine of subjection. That spiritual truth is based upon our personal mindsets or experience coming from the perceptive conditions of the text.

Let me reiterate, there is no new earth shattering dogma. Just a kinder, gentler, persuasive idealism that scriptural concepts are fluid and unfixed. :shocked

Anyway, the damage if any is done and soon to be gone. We almost 'emerged". The out going youth pastor has moved on. The video sires has one or two episodes left. I, on the other hand teach an adult bible study (Sunday School?) and have the opportunity to fix what may be broken with the adults. The effects upon the youth is uncertain. There is but a few left active. Please pray for our new youth pastor.

[Sing4Him]

Suze.. I am sorry.. so many of us have seen this happen in our churches and happening in our churches.

Basically, you can attempt to present the truth. If it is not taken then it is time for you to separate yourself from false teaching.

New church time. I pray the Lord would direct you as He already has gone before you.:hug:pray


Wired-- Take a look at this: http://www.rr-bb.com/showthread.php?t=48627

I JUST decided to move it where it will be a constant reference.

[fishersofmen]

If he is truly on the emerging band wagon, you may very well not recognize your church in a year.
He'll get rid of youth pastors, choir pastors, whomever is in leadership that does not show alliegience to the Em theology that the pastor will slowly (or maybe not so slowy) begin to force onto the church.
(Our pastor got the youth pastor fired at our church, and got his son the job who wasn't even a theological student). His son was deep into the guru of Rob Bell and anyone else that was hip.
People who opposed anything these two were doing, were quickly made to feel unwelcome, told to leave, plots and plans to do anything for their small little gustapo like running of the church would not be interuppted.
Over the 6 years for ME too figure this all out, I was watching the lovely older very fine religious, Jesus loving Christians leave, what I would call a remnent of true believers, the pillars of our church moved on. They were the people who headed the choir, played the piano for years, where teachers in the kids and adults classrooms.
People who had been going to that church since it was built, and people who payed for that church to be built in its beginning.
It was sad.
At Christmas, the once very large gym, that would be BRIMMING with people for potluck, you couldn't get enough tables and chairs for the people and people had to leave to let others set down, was now down to about 10 tables.
Everyone just left.

Later, when stories started coming together, this pastor had done some terrible things to people, setting people against each other, setting wife and husband against each other, hatred rows of yelling at people who didn't agree with his theology.
But he never did it in public, he was very sly as to appear the poor victim. He would repeat stories to people that were 1/2 truths or right out lies to play on their sympathy to gain control.

The board became a bunch of bobble heads.
Anyone that dared come against anything the youthpastor or Pastor did or said was HAMMERED down either in person, or if they were on the board, they were voted out.

A couple of people were just deceived, they couldn't see anything evil or wrong with emerging theology. And they refused to see the 'fruit' of it in the church.

Finally, after a year of prayer, complaining to the pastor's boss and their boss, he has been removed with his son, but the pastor was put into another church in a different state. So now, some other church will receive the poison this man spews, if he has not repented and changed.

The church will be getting a new pastor, many of the 'family' of the church may return, they love that building and want to build. I pray for them, but I have found a wonderful church with an old time preacher and an old time choir that my husband and I adore.

We still go to bible studies, and are forever on the 'lookout' for emerging, because it is out their and creeping in, where diligence is on a vacation.

[Janh7]

We just got a new pastor at our church and I think we are now officially on the track of Emerging Church. All the buzz words have been mentioned: missional, incarnational, transformational. We have sacred places that we must expand, just as Adam and Eve expanded their sacred place of Eden, and the church is to be divided into small cells based on geography. We are Christ-followers, not Christians. Unbelievers are "not-yet-Christians." This is just blowing me away. I could go on and on, but I think you all know what is afoot. I don't think I will recognize my "church" in another year. What is one to do? Even our Sunday School teacher is avoiding us, I guess because he knows that we have huge questions and he is a member of the board. I feel like I am watching a demolition derby.

This happened to us, too. I thought we would stay a while; because we're a little older and thought maybe we were needed to keep this from happening. Ha! Not! It happened quickly and was well received by most. The themes were missional, spiritual formation, transformational, redemtive (us redeeming the earth), reconciliation, modern evangelical theology deconstruction, progressives. It made us really sad...but we left, shook the dust from our feet.

[broken]

If he is truly on the emerging band wagon, you may very well not recognize your church in a year.
He'll get rid of youth pastors, choir pastors, whomever is in leadership that does not show alliegience to the Em theology that the pastor will slowly (or maybe not so slowy) begin to force onto the church.
(Our pastor got the youth pastor fired at our church, and got his son the job who wasn't even a theological student). His son was deep into the guru of Rob Bell and anyone else that was hip.
People who opposed anything these two were doing, were quickly made to feel unwelcome, told to leave, plots and plans to do anything for their small little gustapo like running of the church would not be interuppted.
Over the 6 years for ME too figure this all out, I was watching the lovely older very fine religious, Jesus loving Christians leave, what I would call a remnent of true believers, the pillars of our church moved on. They were the people who headed the choir, played the piano for years, where teachers in the kids and adults classrooms.
People who had been going to that church since it was built, and people who payed for that church to be built in its beginning.
It was sad.
At Christmas, the once very large gym, that would be BRIMMING with people for potluck, you couldn't get enough tables and chairs for the people and people had to leave to let others set down, was now down to about 10 tables.
Everyone just left.

Later, when stories started coming together, this pastor had done some terrible things to people, setting people against each other, setting wife and husband against each other, hatred rows of yelling at people who didn't agree with his theology.
But he never did it in public, he was very sly as to appear the poor victim. He would repeat stories to people that were 1/2 truths or right out lies to play on their sympathy to gain control.

The board became a bunch of bobble heads.
Anyone that dared come against anything the youthpastor or Pastor did or said was HAMMERED down either in person, or if they were on the board, they were voted out.

A couple of people were just deceived, they couldn't see anything evil or wrong with emerging theology. And they refused to see the 'fruit' of it in the church.

Finally, after a year of prayer, complaining to the pastor's boss and their boss, he has been removed with his son, but the pastor was put into another church in a different state. So now, some other church will receive the poison this man spews, if he has not repented and changed.

The church will be getting a new pastor, many of the 'family' of the church may return, they love that building and want to build. I pray for them, but I have found a wonderful church with an old time preacher and an old time choir that my husband and I adore.

We still go to bible studies, and are forever on the 'lookout' for emerging, because it is out their and creeping in, where diligence is on a vacation.

Wow. This EXACTLY describes our old church and pastor. Right down to the "gestapo" - like actions, the bobble-headed board of elders, and the sly pastor portraying himself as the poor victim.

It is so painful to watch people that you always thought were humble and Christ-like fall apart so fast.

[Berean Girl]

If I were you, and I have been there to some degree, I would leave unless you are up for a battle which, unless you remain strong, can diminish you or destroy you in the process spiritually and emotionally.

:candle

[BigSuze]

It is so complicated to explain. The change has been in the works for a few years, but a few of us have been watching, praying, and studying, putting together packets of information and giving it to the elders and other influential people. Given the pastor they chose, it is apparent that they either did not read the material, or if they did, disregarded it because they WANTED to go emergent. Maybe some church members are merely deceived because the vocabulary of EC sounds good--who doesn't want to be "missions"-minded and "transformed"? They fail to comprehend that the words have been re-defined to meet the needs of this post-modern mindset.

Our new pastor mentioned Soma in Tacoma favorably, which looks like an emergent community to me, just by reading their website. I have no issue with reaching the lost for Christ, don't get me wrong, it is just that there is something deceitful behind whatever this is in our church...I could, and perhaps should, write a book on what has happened and continues to transpire. It is pretty hard to stay and "fight", since the deed is done, and I am sure we will be summarily expelled from the church should we say another word. After all, we have been warned once....(Our interim pastor publicly accused me of grievous sin for having asked a question about whether we were pursuing EC ideologies.) Our Sunday School teacher (also an elder) will barely speak to my husband and me, even though he and his wife were our close friends before this all came about.

I am positive that my church will be a totally different church within a year if not sooner. Given that the pastor has dropped the emergent "bomb" on us his first two Sundays in the pulpit, it can't take long for the "transformation" to become evident. The thing is, EVERYONE seems to love it!!!

[Berean Girl]

I think its time to say "sayonara" or "hasta la vista"....