Adrift in Missouri
While we're letting the ELCA "have it" on this April Fool's Day, it seems only reasonable to target the Missouri Synod as well. Regrettably, though- as satirical as the commentary is- the subject matter of the post below from the Yahoo Group Ablaze Calculator Update is- in contrast to the ELCA "hymn-" all too real.
Missouri President Gerald Kieschnick's pet project is a guilt-driven endeavor to share the Gospel with one hundred million souls by- ironically- a certain anniversary of the Reformation (I forget which.) It isn't clear whether we can stop when we reach our goal. Apparently, though, the crucial element in evangelism is not the power of the Word, the ministry of the Holy Spirit working through the Means of Grace, or God's purpose, but our earnest effort not to frustrate the will and purpose of an apparently feeble God by not doing our part.
The notion that evangelism can be motivated by Law and guilt-inducement is another un-Lutheran and unbiblical feature of this brainstorm of Dr. Kieschnick's. How foolish of Lutherans through the centuries to believe that it was a grateful exercise in the joyful and spontaneous sharing of Good News! No, as the excuse on the LCMS website explains, accountability is essential. Apparently, the Lutheran Reformation was wrong about the Gospel being the motivation for evangelism, rather than the Law.
Moreover, apparently the LCMS has bought into the Pentecostal error of believing that the power of the Word is augmented by prayer- and they're even setting a goal for prayer! They want one million hours of Methobapticostal-style prayer in support of this Cryptomethobapticostal project.
It's our salesmanship- our identifying and following up of leads, in the hope that we can make a sale- on which the Gospel depends, you see. God's calling and election, and the inherent power of the Word, are secondary. And His promises concerning that Word apparently don't count.
The theology in back of this initiative is, of course, strictly Arminian. But then, Dr. Kieschnick is in the habit of criticizing the LCMS tendency to be too concerned about pure doctrine, anyway.
I still can't get over the notion that a man could say that and still be re-elected- twice- to the presidency of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
Anyway, the LCMS actually has a display on its website which supposedly keeps track of the progress of this initiative, which is known as Ablaze! (c).
The Yahoo group sent out the following post today:
Missouri President Gerald Kieschnick's pet project is a guilt-driven endeavor to share the Gospel with one hundred million souls by- ironically- a certain anniversary of the Reformation (I forget which.) It isn't clear whether we can stop when we reach our goal. Apparently, though, the crucial element in evangelism is not the power of the Word, the ministry of the Holy Spirit working through the Means of Grace, or God's purpose, but our earnest effort not to frustrate the will and purpose of an apparently feeble God by not doing our part.
The notion that evangelism can be motivated by Law and guilt-inducement is another un-Lutheran and unbiblical feature of this brainstorm of Dr. Kieschnick's. How foolish of Lutherans through the centuries to believe that it was a grateful exercise in the joyful and spontaneous sharing of Good News! No, as the excuse on the LCMS website explains, accountability is essential. Apparently, the Lutheran Reformation was wrong about the Gospel being the motivation for evangelism, rather than the Law.
Moreover, apparently the LCMS has bought into the Pentecostal error of believing that the power of the Word is augmented by prayer- and they're even setting a goal for prayer! They want one million hours of Methobapticostal-style prayer in support of this Cryptomethobapticostal project.
It's our salesmanship- our identifying and following up of leads, in the hope that we can make a sale- on which the Gospel depends, you see. God's calling and election, and the inherent power of the Word, are secondary. And His promises concerning that Word apparently don't count.
The theology in back of this initiative is, of course, strictly Arminian. But then, Dr. Kieschnick is in the habit of criticizing the LCMS tendency to be too concerned about pure doctrine, anyway.
I still can't get over the notion that a man could say that and still be re-elected- twice- to the presidency of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
Anyway, the LCMS actually has a display on its website which supposedly keeps track of the progress of this initiative, which is known as Ablaze! (c).
The Yahoo group sent out the following post today:
What's up with the Ablaze counter? We're not sure,Ablaze! (c) is itself a joke- despite Dr. Kieschnick's explicit claim to the contrary. Not a very funny one, though.
but apparently someone doesn't know their numbers from
a hole in the ground. Oh yes, we still have forward
progress (a whopping 93). But for some reason, the
"Guests" category went DOWN 17,804. This means that
our own congregations have "un-reached" 17,804.
Meanwhile the "Partners" category went UP 17,897.
Good thing we have all those poor fur'ners who depend
on us for funds, and are held captive to our numbers
game. If it weren't for them, we would have lost
TWO-THIRDS of our contacts!
So is it a math error at the LCMS website? Or is it
that our own pastors and congregations can't follow
directions?
We certainly haven't followed our Lord's direction
that we "teach all things", avoid praying to false
gods, simply sow the seed without worrying about
results or counting. We certainly haven't followed
his direction that the way to enlarge the kingdom is
to teach and baptize, not engage in
crypto-bapto-pentecostalism.
So I suppose it should come a no surprise that we
can't keep up with the IRS-like system where you write
on line 15b the number of flyers you sent out, on 16a
multiply by the number of prayers offered (we want a
million hours) subtract on line 16D the people who
didn't answer, and then count only those who responded
to you verbally. Send us that number, and then wait
two weeks and send us a new number that's less, so we
can keep running the numbers up and down to show the
world how truly incompetent we are.
And that's how we grow the church.
And use nouns as verbs.
+What misery I beheld+
The Ablaze Calculator
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