Rank: Administration
Joined: 2/17/2008
Posts: 97
Location: Washington, OK
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Today we have two major things happening in Christiantity. The "seeker friendly" and "emerging" church ideas, that attempt to make church more appealing and comfortable for the world, in order to bring them in to hear about Jesus. The emerging church is more about presenting Bible narrative and ideas in a "life application" type manner using all forms of presentation types (multimedia, artistic, etc) rather than utilizing expository preaching. Opponents say we are watering down the Bible and Christianity to accommodate nominal Christianity. Supporters say that the old fashioned ways of preaching and Church are irrelevant in today's postmodern world. Most churches adopt some form of this thinking, it just is a matter of varying degrees. What is your opinion? Good or bad? Biblical or not? Does it bring more people to Christ? Are the converts real? Is it a lasting genuine faith?
Brent Riggs - Author, teacher, mentor, online business expert riggsreport.com | brentriggsBLOG.com | brentriggs.com | seriousfaith.com | brentriggsPHOTO.com | brentriggsSTUFF.com
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Rank: New Member
Joined: 2/21/2008
Posts: 4
Location: Connecticut
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As you often point out to your website questioners, there are actually several questions embedded in your question at hand. But I am going to try to make this brief. As it happens, we heard a message from one of our pastors on the emerging church (albeit not precisely defined) this past Sunday.The message drew a parallel between the emerging church in Antioch (Acts 9) composed of gentiles, previously considered unworthy of God's attention, and the emerging church of today. He went on to emphasize the need for us (the church) to be adaptable to a changing world and welcome our "gentiles", without diluting the gospel. In one respect, the answer to your question is obvious - of course the church should attract and be open to seekers, newcomers, undesirables, etc. Our model is Jesus, and he brought the Good News in many different ways, that were appropriate to the spiritual condition of the hearer. The righteous didn't need a physician, so he came for the sinners, i.e. all of us. But repentance was expected. And in various ways, he told people to count the cost of following Him. The key issue for me is not how we attract people to the gospel. Attractive ministries are fine. Hopefully our lives will shine so brightly that they will be 'compelled' to find out what's going on. The main concern is the risk of watering down the gospel to the point where it loses its power - not only to save, but to transform believers and the society around us. The recently publicized stories of "America's Favorite Pastor" deliberately avoiding the topics of sin and repentance are disturbing, though not unexpected, as Brent has pointed out with various scriptures that prophesy the very same. Nevertheless, when church history is viewed in toto, we see a pattern of continual emergence, marked notably from the Reformation forward, through the formation of America, the awakenings, Pentacostalism, Evangelicalism around the world to this present day. Oh, and let's not forget the miraculous reconstitution of Israel 60 years ago! Christ's true church is being restored even in the face of many terrible setbacks. God's plan will not be thwarted! The emergence of a few heavy punk/metal/goth congregations or prosperity ministries does not concern me nearly as much as the weakening of mainstream evangelical churches that have been greatly co-opted by materialism, secular thinking and compromise with the world. If "emerging" and "seeker friendly" initiatives cause further deterioration of an orthodox Christian mission, then they are a big problem. We do need to be seeker friendly, but more importantly we need to reaffirm the power of the gospel for current believers and new ones.
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Rank: New Member
Joined: 2/21/2008
Posts: 4
Location: Connecticut
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Correction: The emerging church in Antioch is described in Acts 11: 19-30, not Acts 9 as I 'd stated in posting earlier today.
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Rank: Regular Member
Joined: 2/26/2008
Posts: 7
Location: Florida
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I have been in several so called "seeker" churches. While it is not for me, I can say that Christ is preached. The Bible makes a point of saying that "by all means" and also whether of faith or controversy that "Christ is preached." Therefore, I would be of the opinion that God is allowing people of different mental states to be addressed by the means they can listen to. While I was on the bandwagon to censor these churches before, they seem to fulfill a purpose that strong independent churches do not reach. While I can agree that in outward appearance the people from these churches look less "godly," they have come from some hard backgrounds and that will take time to change. It is not ours to judge. What we see is not necessarily what God sees. Having said that, there is no substitute for repentance and life change that honors and glorifies Christ. Holiness is what God wants for He said, "Be ye holy as I am Holy." Jealousy is not a godly attribute.
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Rank: Regular Member
Joined: 2/18/2008
Posts: 14
Location: Winnipeg Canada
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seeker friendly"...i personaly think, the very name "seeker friendly" does already have some compromise (50% to 100%) fixed in it, should it not be more like "sinner friendly" ? but that would not fill those large buildings now would it? ( how many people today are ready to admit "i'm a sinner!" ? though being a "seeker" seems to be more and more popular every day!!!) Jesus had mercy over sinners, not seekers, it is up to The God Father to "pull" on the sinners heart- Joh 6:37, Joh 6:44: and not up to preachers and churches to "recruit" or "trick" people to "attend" or "seek common ground" if they had to compromise to get a couple of people to join their church, and those people happen to be unreppentant sinners (because otherwise they would be drawn or repulsed by The Word itself and not the preacher' "seeker friendly" attitude) it means The Lord had not decided for them to "hear" the gospel (at this time, or ever....) than they will leave the first time they will start feeling uncomfortable, or they'll find some reason to stay...let's say...uhhh....how about physical attraction to some other members of that church! ( i mean... let's be realistic...) and start eroding that church from within...and that is assuming that church was preaching sound doctrine to begin with. What i mean is that The Word is the first and last, final judge of who stayes and who goes, it has that perfect ability to "select" it's own, and trying to impprove or soften it, will never bring a good fruit...only bad fruit...Now as far as "friendly" goes, the only friendly thing that would be in harmony with the gospel, is a friendly attitude towards ANY person interested in hearing what the scripture has to say, and if the pure, balanced, and full message of scripture (NOT the preacher' attitude! )offends that person, that means it was not Lord' will for them to "hear it" in the first place, and that is the way it was intended, and it happens all the time! nothing that we (being sinners ourselves) can or should try to do to change that! Jesus spoke to countless people countless times, and every time MOST of those people came and went... (seekers ?) , but not once did The Lord call after them: "come back" or "no really... hear me out" or chose words carefully "not to offend" or tried to "be friendly" instead of reminding them at every opportunity he had, that they are going to die in their sins and go to hell, unless they repent and come to Him! It is the sinner who has to come to the Lord and on Lord's terms! not the other way around, if a person is coming from a "hard background" than especially than The Word should be delivered to that person in full strenght Heb 4:12; 1Pe 1:17: and if it offends him/her, it is better for the rest of the flock if that person moves on, or else they will be the proverbial rotten fruit which spoiles all the rest... The Lord is in control 100% He allowed that (and any other) person to be in "the hard background" in the first place, so only His "Mighty Sword" can deliver that person from the horrible claws of sin, and not the world's "cool and seeker friendly version of it"!!! So no, I don't think "seeker friendly" church is a good thing, in today's world, in order to get to someone's concience and help him/her to repent, you have to cut through so many layers of "demonically engineered" armour, intertwined with man-made "truth hating" slime, that the ONLY thing that will slice through all this is the one and only 'Mighty Sword" of The Word Of God in it's pure form! It is all about repentance and trust in Jesus Christ as a our saviour... but it starts with repentance, not with "feeling of love" or any other "feel good" slogan.
-Walter Broda-
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Rank: New Member
Joined: 2/20/2008
Posts: 3
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This is a delicate subject....But I will make it sweet and simple, I believe the church should be seeker friendly to draw people in, yet the Bible better be affirmed and reaffirmed with the message of repentance and salvation and then give guidance and direction how to live as Christians in this ungodly world.
Some folks might prefer 'fire and brimstone' preaching and singing hymns from a hymnal out of the 1800's (you all know what I'm talking about) in order to be in the 'right' church. I personally like to worship with music from a more contemporary sound (from this day and age in the 21st century) and like to hear preaching from the Bible, that you can apply to your day to day life.
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