Sovereign Grace in Redemptive- historico-covenantal Reformation Theology

Funny thing is, many of the above words are rich in their meaning; unfortunately, they're often used to show off...if I can impress you with words, you'll give me more respect...

If you read some of the blogs that our pastor Mike has linked to, you'll see a few churches that, like ours, are really seeking what it looks like to love the world, to be Jesus to the world. It was interesting growing up in Grand Rapids, MI, where you have all these churches and 90% were not growing. Only Rob Bell's church grew. And then everybody got mad at Rob Bell because they saw liberal theology and influences in his writings and messages. How about learning a lesson...Mars Hill was the only church ever in GR to grow so fast!

Of course, the response is along the lines of, "It grows because people love hearing liberal teaching...the same way everybody loved Robert Schuller for his positive thinking." In other words, just plug in the whole critique of the church growth movement. Bottom line is, yes, there is some questionable teaching in some large churches in America today. But many of those churches having been preaching the true gospel! In fact, they're not just preaching it, but seeking to live it out as organizations and instill Christ-living in their congregations.

Look at Elevation Church in Charlotte. They didn't take an offering this past Sunday. Instead they GAVE AWAY $40,000 to their congregation and said, "Take this money and go bless someone." While the Tenth Reformed Presbyterian Church parking lot somewhere in the U.S. sat full of Escalades and Lincolns, and their drivers were listening to lengthy quotes from John Calvin's Institutes as part of the message. I guess I have a little bit of a beef with this sort of thing, because I was around it for so long. Ever so slowly God is changing my perspective on what it means to be Jesus to the community. It's really hard for me to get out of my Christian bubble mindset. I encourage you to read Mike's blog about the book "UnChristian." Sounds like an interesting book, and hopefully a little convicting...