Scriptures teach consistently that faith comes through the proclamation of the gospel, not through good works. Christ himself was not arrested and arraigned because he was trying to restore family values or feed the poor...The mounting ire of the religious leaders toward Jesus coalesced around him making himself equal with God and forgiving sins in his own person, directly, over against the temple and its sacrificial system. Michael Horton
Hey George, I curious, why do you have this post on your website? I'll tell you that this was one of the options for Bell Mill when they were going through their difficulties. For them (or for any other stuggling church or church plant) I think it would have been a good option. I absolutely believe that sometimes you have to use options that don't jump out of scripture. It may be true that Multi-site church may be pragmatic, but sometimes you need to be.
Dave, I posted it mostly because I'm curious what kind of response this post will produce. Secondly, I'm not sure how all the pieces of the "local" church puzzle fit when you are split three or four ways. What about the local church under-shepherd? What about church discipline? What about making eye contact with the people you are speaking to? It seems to me that this approach decentralizes the pulpit and the preaching of the Word. It also depersonalizes the rapport between the pastor and his people.
You raise some good points, but htey are based on a couple of assumptions. M-S churches take all sorts of different forms. Most have Elders and Pastors for each congregation and then come together for larger meetings throughout the church. So each congregation has someone doing the undershepard work. As far as the repport with the congregation, Even piped in Sermons are preached to a live congregation at least once. The other times it would be much like you listening to a sermon mp3, just your surrounded by other believers and you get to see who is speaking. Not all m-s churches have piped in sermons. I think that the church puzzle does fit together, the benefit it has is that the tentacles of the church reach much further.
My question would be: if these MS churches have Elders, why aren't they doing the teaching and preaching at these locations?
Also, what will stop us in the future from just hooking up with Piper or MacArthur and have piped sermons for say - a thousand churches?
I would much rather see churches plant new churches when the attendance gets to be about four or five hundred. The apostle Paul instructed leaders everywhere to ordain Elders in every city. I take that to mean that these churches were autonomous and self sustaining. They had local leaders who did the shepherding, teaching and preaching etc.
4 comments:
Hey George,
I curious, why do you have this post on your website? I'll tell you that this was one of the options for Bell Mill when they were going through their difficulties. For them (or for any other stuggling church or church plant) I think it would have been a good option. I absolutely believe that sometimes you have to use options that don't jump out of scripture. It may be true that Multi-site church may be pragmatic, but sometimes you need to be.
Dave,
I posted it mostly because I'm curious what kind of response this post will produce. Secondly, I'm not sure how all the pieces of the "local" church puzzle fit when you are split three or four ways. What about the local church under-shepherd? What about church discipline? What about making eye contact with the people you are speaking to? It seems to me that this approach decentralizes the pulpit and the preaching of the Word. It also depersonalizes the rapport between the pastor and his people.
You raise some good points, but htey are based on a couple of assumptions. M-S churches take all sorts of different forms. Most have Elders and Pastors for each congregation and then come together for larger meetings throughout the church. So each congregation has someone doing the undershepard work. As far as the repport with the congregation, Even piped in Sermons are preached to a live congregation at least once. The other times it would be much like you listening to a sermon mp3, just your surrounded by other believers and you get to see who is speaking. Not all m-s churches have piped in sermons. I think that the church puzzle does fit together, the benefit it has is that the tentacles of the church reach much further.
My question would be: if these MS churches have Elders, why aren't they doing the teaching and preaching at these locations?
Also, what will stop us in the future from just hooking up with Piper or MacArthur and have piped sermons for say - a thousand churches?
I would much rather see churches plant new churches when the attendance gets to be about four or five hundred. The apostle Paul instructed leaders everywhere to ordain Elders in every city. I take that to mean that these churches were autonomous and self sustaining. They had local leaders who did the shepherding, teaching and preaching etc.
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