I still read the CGGC eNews with interest, though I'm told that I'm one of the few to read it at all.
There are several reasons I comment on it here as often as I do, rather than always comment on it directly on its blog. One of the most important of those reasons is that I am giving it publicity and, hopefully, increasing its readership.
This week's title suggests that its about leadership [gag me] in a post-"Christendom" world.
(The demise of Christendom has been a regular theme for Lance of late.)
However, the article considers the challenges facing theological seminaries at least as much as it deals with leadership as a generic issue.
Lance notes dramatic changes talking at Fuller Seminary likening them to recent decisions made at (at least in name) the CGGC's own Winebrenner Theological Seminary.
Lance notes that what the seminary has become, is a bad fit for the world today and that change is necessary.
I have a few big-picture thoughts:
1. While many people don't realize it, the seminary itself is a rather modern phenomenon especially in the U. S.. Certainly, a few seminaries have been around for more than a century, but very few have.
Fuller, whom Lance notes is very important, was established in 1947. Winebrenner, in 1942 and the school from which I graduated, now known as Evangelical Theological Seminary, opened in 1953.
2. Taking the experience of the CGGC and Winebrenner as representing the larger picture:
The seminary era has been a disaster of historic proportions.
The 76 years in which Winebrenner Theological Seminary has been in existence has been, without question, the worst 76 years in CGGC history...
...by every Kingdom-focused, to use a fad word, metric.
As I understand CGGC history, the formation of the seminary was one part of a series of events that are fruit of the beginning of the spiritual decay from which the CGGC is now suffering, a decay now in an advanced stage.
According to ERC statistics wiz Jim Moss, Sr., the actual numerical decline began about a decade later.
But, there can be no question. The 76 years of the existence of its seminary has been the worst era in the history of the CGGC.
3. With its history in mind, then, the demise of the seminary, as it has existed, can only be a positive development and should be celebrated, not regarded with chagrin.
It's a fact that seminaries, as we've known them, will soon cease to exist. Lance's article makes that case powerfully.
Wisdom demands that the death of the seminary be understood to be an opportunity.
A theme of this blog is that disciples of Jesus must walk by the Spirit, as Paul admonishes in Galatians 5.
One truth is obvious to me. The history of the church in the seminary era, I believe, makes my conclusion indisputable:
The Lord of all authority and power and blessing isn't blessing the theological seminary.
He never has.
As far as the seminary as it has existed is concerned, its time to repent of it, turn from it and seek, in the Spirit, a way of moving forward from it that is a way that the Lord will bless.
4. I attended a seminary. And, I enjoyed the experience. Those years may have been, while I was living them, the most enjoyable years of my life.
I was on staff at Winebrenner for a number of years and, in many ways, I found those years to be joyful, though the whole experience was a mixed blessing.
And, I have connections to people at seminaries today, people whom I admire, respect and love.
But, the indisputable truth remains: The theological seminary has been a disaster and, as it exists today, it will continue to be a disaster...
...which will cost the church resources...
...and will impair its ability to serve the cause of the Kingdom.
The seminary, as it has existed, is dying. It must die.
The question now has to do with what lies ahead.
As I often say here, the only acceptable next step is repentance.
We have no idea what might come after a moment of earnest repentance.
Paul picks up on the theme of the so-called Beatitudes of Jesus and says that godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation.
We need to grieve about these things so we can experience the repentance that leads to salvation.
Let's, all of us, repent.
Interesting post.
ReplyDeleteAre you talking about crying your eyes out type of repentance or something deeper?
And if you mean something deeper - what would that look like in practical terms? So Bill, if you are willing to own your own stuff - what is that specifically?
I don't know you personally but it's very clear from your blog - pointing out other people's sin is your main focus. Sad very sad.
I don't hear God's heart like Isaiah when he saw the LORD. He was undone and saw himself and the people were no better than king Uzziah (full of self). It was earth shattering to his flesh.
From that broken place Isaiah could receive the Word of the Lord and speak it forth with the heart of God and character of God.
Yes, as New Testament people we all are prophetic and when we see the Lord and hear His voice - we worship, because Jesus Christ is rightful heir of ALL things. And whatever is not of the indwelling Christ may He judge, so that God may get His desire in His people His way.
And truly God will have His way in those who have ears to hear what the Spirit is saying. May we choose to walk in God's eternal purpose and see the vindication of the Cross in practical ways in each of our lives so we can walk in a fuller measure of the fullness of Christ in these days.
There are ones going on with the Lord even if it’s a remnant in the Church of God. Like Paul the apostle, “We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brethren, as is only fitting, because your faith is greatly enlarged, and the love of each one of you toward one another grows ever greater…” A sure sign of the indwelling life of Christ.
Cindy,
ReplyDeleteGood to hear from you.
I'm curious to know how you define deeper repentance.
As I reflect on the meaning of what repentance is, I'm convinced that repentance itself is an act of the mind...a change in what a person thinks.
Repentance itself doesn't involve crying your eyes out. But, it is, as I think both Jesus and Paul define it, fruit of deep emotion:
Being poor in spirit,
Mourning,
Hungering and thirsting for righteousness.
As Paul says it, a godly grief which produces the change of mind that is repentance.
I actually reject your contention that this blog points out other people's sins.
I write here about the body in which I participate, not anyone else.
And, while my posts regularly conclude with a call to repentance, I never, even once, have said, "You must repent."
It's always, "We must repent."
Certainly, in the CGGC, we are sinning. The Lord of all authority and power and blessing isn't blessing us. But, I always associate myself with that sin. This is an I/We issue for me.
Also, certainly, there are still those in the CGGC who obey and walk in the Spirit.
Some of those people are in positions of great influence. They grieve over the state of our corporate culture and they work for change according to their own gifts and calling.
Are they an actual remnant? I'm not certain that they are, but they are part of the picture.
As far as your implication that I'm self-righteous, I hope and pray that I'm not.
When I cite the Beatitudes and Paul's description of repentance being a fruit of godly grief and when I speak of working out your own salvation with fear and trembling, I'm speaking from my own daily walk and struggles.
Finally, I don't know what repentance in the context of this post would look like in practical terms. I actually considered that as I was writing and I got nothing from the Lord and I wrote, "We have no idea what may come after a moment of earnest repentance."
So often, in the Word, I think, the prophet's ministry ends with the call to repentance. It's often apostles and evangelists whom the Lord uses to bring fruit from the act of repentance.
I've said before that I understand my calling as having to do with what leads to repentance, not with what flows from it.