Don’t get TOO carried away, Ken! lol

Look at this post from a member of YOUR OWN church!

“Yes this is the true meaning of evangelical that I have been striving to find and so far HAVE ONLY found it at Vineyard.”

Good God, Ken!!!

What kind of church fosters this kind of CULT-LIKE mentality???

I can think of a DOZEN evangelical churches in the Greater Detroit area, housing the VERY people whose views you so routinely denigrate, where the thought that THEIR church was the only stomping grounds for TRUE evangelicals would be anathema.

Yet, at least one member of Ann Arbor Vineyard is willing to be honest enough to admit what NO DOUBT many others believe.

And no matter of ex post facto backpedalling, which I’m sure will be forthcoming, can diminish the fact that THIS was the very FIRST thought he posted.

Wow!

As predicted, you are reaping the EXACT opposite of what were hoping for.

Creating a group that thinks THEY’RE the only enlightened evangelicals, which is pretty obvious what you’ve done, is the WORST possible outcome.

What hath God Wrought, Ken?

BD

Ouch!!! What a poor example I’ve set! So let me fix that. Ken, I love how you love people! I love how you love Jesus! And I especially love how you like to show the love of Jesus to people! Forgive my hypocrisy!

Funny, my experience of evangelicalism has been quite different from yours. I have seen the judgmental folk, but I have also seen folk that are anything but that. They have been loving, sacrificial, tender and Christ like.

I also think that the word judgmental is thrown around too liberally and is also being misunderstood.

I think as believers or really, just people with morals, we will be judgmental, in as far as we make judgments between right and wrong.

We can do that humbly or arrogantly, but we all need to do it for events such as choosing a mate, a job, a place to live, whom to vote for, guiding our children, etc.

For example, if a fellow member of my men’s group casually tells the group he is being sexually active with his girlfriend, I (and I hope the group)will make it a point to communicate to him that this behavior is not honoring to God and if this is news to him, we can gladly and gently make our point, maybe even study the Bible on the matter.

There are those who would call me judgmental, in which case I am happily guilty as charged and would hope to get support from the church’s staff in my actions.

That’s how I see ‘judgmental’ in a good light.

Beautifully put! My one comment would be that you have spent the last year telling us what evangelicals do badly. So I’m not sure what the point of your next post would be, except a rehashing of your posts of the last year.

I learned a valuable lesson from a wise mentor years ago. He told me “Anytime you are bringing correction or a criticism, sandwich it between two things that they do well”. I have tried to live that. I have also pressed my ministry teams to make sure that when they bring healthy, good criticism, to always end on a positive note.

But if you’re going to dissect everything the evangelical church has done wrong, not only do you end on a negative note, but it is sandwiched between the negative. This might make us evangelicals forget the good you mentioned.