Church Growth Movement - Revival or Apostasy?

By Debbie O'Hara in NewsWithViews.com, click HERE or go to http://www.newswithviews.com/Ohara/debbie11.htm
Tens of thousands of pastors and church leaders in America have jumped onto the bandwagon of a Church Growth Movement that seems to be reaching the masses for Christ. Can this be the real thing?

What are the methods being used to grow the church? Are they really God's methods or have churches compromised with the world and used techniques common to the New Age rather than to the Bible? As Christian author and preacher John McArthur said, "Contemporary evangelism has been beguiled and sabotaged by a ruinous lack of confidence in God's word… They have accepted the notion that scripture does not contain all we need to minister in these complex times. So they turn to human expertise in the fields of psychology, business, government, politics, entertainment, or whatever they think might supply some recipe for success that's lacking in scripture."

They used human expertise to grow the church rather than relying on what God's Word. Iit is very important to know who some of these experts are who are big in the growth movement. Although there are numerous people, for the sake of space I am only going to go into three of the biggest and most well known - Dr. Robert Schuller of the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, CA., Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Community Church in Lake Forest, CA and Pastor Bill Hybels of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, (near Chicago) Illinois.

Pastor Schuller does not preach biblically, but preaches a man-centered religion of self-esteem and self-love. (Remember the humanist government schools doing the same thing?).

Pastor Bill Hybels, was greatly influenced by Dr. Schuller. Willow Creek is a "seeker sensitive" church where like Schuller, there is no preaching against sin. People are not called on to repent but are entertained by rock music, drama and other types of media. The New Age Christianity is actually a dressed up form of Humanism. The main focus is for people to enjoy coming to church and getting their "felt needs" met, not to be convicted of their sins.

Rick Warren based on the same philosophy as Schuller and Hybels. All 3 of these men got their churches growing by following the expertise and marketing techniques of Peter Drucker, a humanist who believes according to the Oct 1998 issue of Forbes Magazine that "The social universe has no "natural laws" as the physical sciences do. It is thus subject to continuous change" (page 154). The guy believes in no moral absolutes and yet these pastors are basing their church growth movement on Drucker's marketing techniques! Just like big business these three pastors surveyed the consumers they wanted (non-churched people in their communities) to figure out their "felt needs"so that the church could respond to them.

Instead of teachers who teach facts ( didactic teaching ), you have facilitators to keep the dialogue going. Little do people realize that a technique called the Hegelian Dialectic is being used on them to get rid of the old fashioned notion of truth.

To read the entire article. click HERE or go to http://www.newswithviews.com/Ohara/debbie11.htm
(Find out about the Hegelian Dialectic at www.newswithviews.com/BeritKjos/kjos.htm ) Francis Schaeffer, the foremost evangelical thinker of our time, spent the last years of his life warning about bringing this dialectical process that had already permeated all of our other institutions into the church. Once people have been run through this process, they can no longer discern truth. It is the brainwashing process used by those that follow the Marxist/Communist philosophy to control their people. This technique can only be used in a group and it needs to be used on people with different sets of beliefs. Isn't it interesting that churches are working more in small groups now? Since the church is being geared toward unbelievers, it is really the believers that are being changed by use of this technique. Divisiveness is not allowed. Consensus is the goal.

Humanists believe that they can bring peace on earth without God. The experts just need to control the human environment and take care of all human needs. (In other words, Communism) Sounds a lot like the new church growth movement doesn't it - focusing on the "felt needs" of people rather than relying on the sufficiency of God's word? What is communism/socialism but focusing on the people group? No divisiveness allowed and no room for the individual. Notice how our kids in schools are working more and more in groups and getting group grades. They have to perform community service in order to graduate and to get into the best colleges. Now community service, not serving God, is the largest part of being churched, too. Sounds a little like the days of Hitler and Stalin doesn't it? Everyone must serve the state.

What more clever way can there be to get the American people to accept Communism than to send them out into their communities to work for free and to have them think they are doing it for God? This movement is all about changing the beliefs and behavior of Christians to move them into that New World Communism that Mikhail Gorbachev was talking about.

While I do believe that there are many good Christians caught up in this movement, they are deceived and they need to repent and get out of it. Maybe it is time to start asking some tough questions of your church leaders to find out where they stand in regard to this humanist philosophy that has swept through our churches like a wild fire. Is it possible that this movement that many call revival is really the end times church of apostasy that we were warned about in Revelation?