Biblical authority Archives - Passion for Planting

5 Signs Your Church Might be Heading Toward Progressive Christianity

Sean Cronin — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 09:00:00 +0000

By: Alisa Childers

Several years ago, my husband and I began attending a local Evangelical, non-denominational church, and we loved it. We cherished the sense of community we found among the loving and authentic people we met there, and the intelligent, “outside the box” pastor who led our flock with thought-provoking and insightful sermons. Sadly, the church started going off the rails theologically, and after about a year and a half, we made the difficult decision to leave. Today that church is a self-titled “Progressive Christian Community.”

Back then I had never heard of “Progressive Christianity,” and even now it is difficult to pin down what actually qualifies someone as a Progressive Christian, due to the diversity of beliefs that fall under that designation. However, there are signs—certain phrases and ideas—that seem to be consistent in Progressive circles. Here are 5 danger signs to watch for in your church:

1. There is a lowered view of the Bible

One of the main differences between Progressive Christianity and Historic Christianity is its view of the Bible. Historically, Christians have viewed the Bible as the Word of God and authoritative for our lives. Progressive Christianity generally abandons these terms, emphasizing personal belief over the biblical mandate.

Comments you might hear:

The Bible is a human book…
I disagree with the Apostle Paul on that issue…
The Bible condones immorality, so we are obligated to reject what it says in certain places…?
The Bible “contains” the word of God…

2. Feelings are emphasized over facts

In Progressive churches, personal experiences, feelings, and opinions tend to be valued above objective truth. As the Bible ceases to be viewed as God’s definitive word, what a person feels to be true becomes the ultimate authority for faith and practice.

Comments you might hear:

That Bible verse doesn’t resonate with me…
I thought homosexuality was a sin until I met and befriended some gay people…
I just can’t believe Jesus would send good people to hell…

3. Essential Christian doctrines are open for re-interpretation

Progressive author John Pavlovitz wrote, “There are no sacred cows [in Progressive Christianity]….Tradition, dogma, and doctrine are all fair game, because all pass through the hands of flawed humanity.” Progressive Christians are often open to re-defining and re-interpreting the Bible on hot-button moral issues like homosexuality and abortion, and also cardinal doctrines such as the virgin conception and the bodily resurrection of Jesus. The only sacred cow is “no sacred cows.”

Comments you might hear:

The resurrection of Jesus doesn’t have to be factual to speak truth…
The church’s historic position on sexuality is archaic and needs to be updated within a modern framework…
The idea of a literal hell is offensive to non-Christians and needs to be re-interpreted…?

4. Historic terms are re-defined

There are some Progressive Christians who say they affirm doctrines like biblical inspiration, inerrancy, and authority, but they have to do linguistic gymnastics to make those words mean what they want them to mean. I remember asking a Pastor, “Do you believe the Bible is divinely inspired?” He answered confidently, “Yes, of course!” However, I mistakenly assumed that when using the word “inspired,” we both meant the same thing. He clarified months later what he meant—that the Bible is inspired in the same way and on the same level as many other Christian books, songs, and sermons. This, of course, is not how Christians have historically understood the doctrine of divine inspiration.

Another word that tends to get a Progressive make-over is the word “love.” When plucked out of its biblical context, it becomes a catch-all term for everything non-confrontative, pleasant, and affirming.

Comments you might hear:

God wouldn’t punish sinners—He is love…
Sure, the Bible is authoritative—but we’ve misunderstood it for the first 2,000 years of church history…
It’s not our job to talk to anyone about sin—it’s our job to just love them…

5. The heart of the gospel message shifts from sin and redemption to social justice

There is no doubt that the Bible commands us to take care of the unfortunate and defend those who are oppressed. This is a very real and profoundly important part of what it means to live out our Christian faith. However, the core message of Christianity—the gospel—is that Jesus died for our sins, was buried and resurrected, and thereby reconciled us to God. This is the message that will truly bring freedom to the oppressed.

Many Progressive Christians today find the concept of God willing His Son to die on the cross to be embarrassing or even appalling. Sometimes referred to as “cosmic child abuse,” the idea of blood atonement is de-emphasized or denied altogether, with social justice and good works enthroned in its place.

Comments you might hear:

Sin doesn’t separate us from God—we are made in His image and He called us good…
God didn’t actually require a sacrifice for our sins—the first Christians picked up on the pagan practice of animal sacrifice and told the Jesus story in similar terms…
We don’t really need to preach the gospel—we just need to show love by bringing justice to the oppressed and provision to the needy…

Conclusion:

Identifying the signs is not always obvious—sometimes they are subtle and mixed with a lot of truth. Progressive Christianity can be persuasive and enticing but carried out to its logical end, it is an assault on the foundational framework of Christianity, leaving it disarmed of its saving power.

We shouldn’t be surprised to find some of these ideas infiltrating our churches. Jesus warned us, “Watch out for false prophets” who “come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves” (Matthew 7:15). So if you spot any of these 5 danger signs in your place of worship, it might be time to pray about finding fellowship in a more biblically faithful church community.

Recommended resources related to the topic:

Join Alisa for a book review in the Discipleship.org Collective on Tuesday, April 20 at 10am CT.
Alisa is speaking at the National Disciple Making Forum in Nashville on November 4-5, 2021.

_____________________________________________________________________

Alisa Childers is speaking at the National Disciple Making Forum in Nashville, TN on November 4-5, 2021. She is an American singer and songwriter, best known for being in the all-female Christian music group ZOEgirl. She has had a string of top ten radio singles, four studio releases, and received the Dove Award during her time with ZOEgirl. In later years, Alisa found her life-long faith deeply challenged when she started attending what would later identify as a Progressive Christian church. This challenge pushed Alisa toward Christian Apologetics. Today you can read, listen and watch Alisa’s work online as well as purchase her recently published book on Progressive Christianity titled Another Gospel.

Original Blog Source: https://www.alisachilders.com/blog/5-signs-your-church-might-be-heading-toward-progressive-christianity

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Episode 504: Does a Need Necessitate a Call?

Esther Ritchey — Mon, 06 Jul 2020 09:00:00 +0000

By: New Churches

In Episode 504 of the NewChurches Q&A Podcast, Daniel and Todd discuss if feeling like the community is in need of a biblically-based church necessitates a call to plant a church.

“My name is Justin and I am wondering if a need necessitates a call. My wife and I , and our four children, moved to an agricultural area and we cannot find a biblically-balanced church for ourselves to call home. The nearest church that would fit us and align with our beliefs is about 40 minutes away and out of the community. So, I am wondering if we should start one here. I have a ministry background, theological degree, I used to travel and speak. We did that for about 10 years, but over the last 5 years I’ve been in business and have done some work for others. I’m wondering if now, since we cannot find a church, if we should be the ones to start a church. Does the need necessitate a call?”

In This Episode, You’ll Discover:

If sensing a need in the community is the same as feeling a call to plant a church
Why you should start by making disciples

Shareable Quotes (#NewChurches):

“The need is one component, but it cannot be the driving force to plant a church, because there are needs everywhere.” – @danielsangi
“There will always be more needs than there is time to be able to meet them, especially for one church.” – @danielsangi
“It’s not just a mathematical decision, you really do need to commit this to God and experience that sense of call.” – @danielsangi
“There is no reason for you to at least not start a Bible study.” – @toddadkins
“It is poor stewardship of your life if you are not pouring into some biblical community in some way.” – @toddadkins
“Take a church planter assessment, see your gifting, commit it to prayer, but beyond all that start discipling.” – @danielsangi
“If you are used to preaching and leading, sometimes you have to submit yourself to say this is not perfect and I am not in charge, but I need to handle myself in such a way that I lead my family well in being part of a biblical community.” – @toddadkins

Recommended Resources:

Read Planting Missional Churches by Ed Stetzer and Daniel Im
Take the New Churches Church Planter Candidate Assessment

Help us Multiply the Mission:

Please subscribe
Leave a rating and review on iTunes
Ask a question by clicking Send Voicemail on the right hand side of NewChurches.com
If you’re on a phone or a tablet, then go to www.speakpipe.com/newchurches to download the app and record your message
When you’re recording, introduce yourself and your context in about 15 seconds and then record your question for 30 seconds

The post Episode 504: Does a Need Necessitate a Call? appeared first on NewChurches.com – Church Planting, Multisite, and Multiplication.

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Learning from Disciple Making Leaders: Renew Network

Sean Cronin — Mon, 17 Jun 2019 09:00:05 +0000

by Bobby Harrington: Our goal is to help you find the best guides out there so you can become a more effective disciple maker. That’s why we’re going to be introducing our disciple-making partners to you, our Discipleship-First Tribe.

This week we want you to meet Jason Henderson, Chief Operations Officer at Renew.

We interviewed Jason about his ministry, and here’s what he said:

Tell us about the name of your ministry.

Renew does what you might imagine: we renew the teachings of Jesus to fuel disciple making. We champion all of Jesus’ teachings leading to obedience-based discipleship.

What is your unique disciple-making emphasis?

We take to heart Dallas Willard and Bill Hull’s maxim: The Jesus you preach and the gospel you uphold will determine the disciple you get. We came out of the Restoration Movement (Independent Christian Churches and Churches of Christ) and seek to champion the best biblical theology of that heritage as a foundation for a disciple-making movement.

We help people see that true discipleship is based first upon the power of the Holy Spirit, second on a robust understanding of the gospel of the kingdom, and third on an understanding that saving faith is a faithful faith, an allegiance—it is both trusting and following Jesus.

Our seven values spell out our broader values:

Responding to God’s Spirit
Following God’s Reliable Word
Surrendering to Jesus as King
Championing Disciple Making
Loving Like Jesus
Living in Holiness
Leading Courageously

Picking up from the email link . . .

How do you help Everyday Disciples who aspire to be Disciple Makers?

We are a brand new network, still in the early phase. The next twelve months, we are focusing on helping everyday disciples in four key ways.

We have a new website – renew.org – where we champion all aspects of Jesus’ teachings. We focus on helping disciples articulate and gain clarity on biblical teachings. This includes advocacy for biblical truth on hot cultural topics – LGBTQ, environment, gender, etc. – and the substantive issues like apologetics, world religions, the inspiration and authority of the Bible, etc. Mixed in with these substantive issues are practical posts about how to make disciples and how to love your neighbor.
We have created specific models and specific material for disciple makers. Our Quick Start Guide: Starting a Discipleship Group is a good example – it gives you a specific model and material that you can use to start a group tomorrow (ask for your copy at info@renew.org).
We provide individual six-month coaching for church leaders based upon promoting our theology and one of our methods.
We have an annual pre-conference the day before the National Disciple Making Forum.

Who are the Key Leaders in your Network?

We are blessed with some effective leaders. They are drawn from and continue to help lead their own tribes, but they are also aligned with our theology and focus, so they help us also. Bobby Harrington is one of our leaders, along with men like Jim Putman, Dave Clayton, Shodankeh Johnson, and David Young.

How can people Connect with You?

Check out our website renew.org. If you are interested in individual six month coaching for a fee (we do not coach churches) contact info@renew.org. Join us at the forum and we would love you to join our pre-conference the day before the Forum click here for more information.

For King Jesus,

Bobby Harrington, Point Leader, Discipleship.org

Join us at our National Disciple Making Forum!

November 7th- 8th in Nashville, TN

Sign up Today!