We currently live in the twenty first century. The church is filled with lots of programs, small groups, life groups, men's ministries and so on. But if you could go back in time say three decades ago, you would find a very different world and a very different church. Evangelical churches worked with the same structural model in leadership, doctrine/discipline and discipleship, but you might be wondering what has changed? Practically everything. Let me explain.
The worship/walk/work model is just that, a model. Things like life groups or small groups are part of this new model for the evangelical church. How do I know that? Because of something called "man centered theology." If I had to define "man centered theology", it would be simple but not that simple, it is plainly stated any church model of doctrine/discipleship/or discipline that takes it's roots in dialectical thinking. This is not Bible conformity, which is the way that church used to be. The evangelical church used to have the Bible as the "means" of it's structure, and modeled it's churches after "God centered theology." In a "man centered theology" church, you will find the new paradigm large at work and this has changed the structure of the church's doctrine/discipleship/ and discipline. The way it used to be, church discipline only happened when a congregant was caught up in a lifestyle of sin, and it was handled by the leaders of the church in a human way. Discipline was administered for a unrepentant sinner, who was practicing sin in the church, similar to the way God disciplines His children. God used the church back then, to bring the disobedient sinner back into fellowship with Him and His church. And it worked.
In a man centered theology church, (which is where the most of the church is now) the structure of the church has been tampered with. Let me explain. The new model now found in almost every evangelical church is "conformity of thinking" not Bible conformity. Because "conformity of thinking" involves consensus, the structure of discipleship has been tampered with, no longer is the bible the means of changing ones beliefs and thoughts, dialectical thinking used in the context of life groups or small groups do the job very well. You might be thinking what is wrong with that? Glad you asked. No longer is the model for Christian character being used, but it is being used out of context which produces conformity without a real transformation of the heart. When man centered theology is used, which it is being used greatly. the reality of sin is being diminished in the professing Christians life and doctrine is no longer lived out by faith, but by belief only in some cases.
Without the bible being at the heart of the structure of the church, the church will fail to adequately transmit the gospel in a way that unrepentant sinners can understand. It is like a computer virus that has affected the church, when you introduce a different model or structure it affects these three areas (doctrine/discipline/discipleship) and takes the church in a direction where the new model has less effect than the correct model. The way the church used to work was more theologically sound, because the structure found in the bible was still in tack. In a discipleship model of the church the focus is taken off the work of God, off of Bible conformity and onto conformity of thinking. When one strays off course, it usually is not because of sin, but because of an error in thinking correctly.
The new model is all about changing the way we think. It is not about transforming the mind (Bible conformity) but conformity of thinking, and the whole structure is about enforcing this and eradicating any glitch in the wheel. If someone is still stuck in the correct model they will be cast out of the new model, because they are still about "God centered theology" not "man centered theology" in fact, a truly saved person will not last long in the wrong model and structure, because they were not designed by God to live in this kind of paradigm, Man was created to love God, and part of loving God is loving His church, but the church has changed it's structure from God centered to man centered, and the problem isn't with your beliefs or your faith, the root of the problem lies in a incorrect thinking construct, designed to reorganise the way you interpret the bible. If this church can get you to think differently about the way you interpret scripture, they can change your mind about how you feel about your sin. If it can change the way you think about your sin, you will not believe that faith is still necessary to please God and you will be thinking differently about your bible, about your church and about your fellow man. This model's goal is to deconstruct Bible conformity, and introduce conformity of thinking. The trick is that the bible is being used in the new evangelical churches to do just that.
Not only has the structure changed, but the goal has changed as well. When you tamper with the structure of the church's doctrine/discipleship/and discipline you have a new structure. It's like taking a '57 Chevy, completely gutting it, and putting in a whole new operating system. Or it's like taking the owners manual of your car and completely ignoring the instructions. The church becomes a place where the natural order of things is replaced by a system of things, and everything that clogs this system, needs to go. That is the order of the day in a man centered theology church. You make people feel comfortable, feed them the word of God and then change the way they think about God, their sin and their salvation, untill like their new structured mind
everything is gutted.
The worship/walk/work model is just that, a model. Things like life groups or small groups are part of this new model for the evangelical church. How do I know that? Because of something called "man centered theology." If I had to define "man centered theology", it would be simple but not that simple, it is plainly stated any church model of doctrine/discipleship/or discipline that takes it's roots in dialectical thinking. This is not Bible conformity, which is the way that church used to be. The evangelical church used to have the Bible as the "means" of it's structure, and modeled it's churches after "God centered theology." In a "man centered theology" church, you will find the new paradigm large at work and this has changed the structure of the church's doctrine/discipleship/ and discipline. The way it used to be, church discipline only happened when a congregant was caught up in a lifestyle of sin, and it was handled by the leaders of the church in a human way. Discipline was administered for a unrepentant sinner, who was practicing sin in the church, similar to the way God disciplines His children. God used the church back then, to bring the disobedient sinner back into fellowship with Him and His church. And it worked.
In a man centered theology church, (which is where the most of the church is now) the structure of the church has been tampered with. Let me explain. The new model now found in almost every evangelical church is "conformity of thinking" not Bible conformity. Because "conformity of thinking" involves consensus, the structure of discipleship has been tampered with, no longer is the bible the means of changing ones beliefs and thoughts, dialectical thinking used in the context of life groups or small groups do the job very well. You might be thinking what is wrong with that? Glad you asked. No longer is the model for Christian character being used, but it is being used out of context which produces conformity without a real transformation of the heart. When man centered theology is used, which it is being used greatly. the reality of sin is being diminished in the professing Christians life and doctrine is no longer lived out by faith, but by belief only in some cases.
Without the bible being at the heart of the structure of the church, the church will fail to adequately transmit the gospel in a way that unrepentant sinners can understand. It is like a computer virus that has affected the church, when you introduce a different model or structure it affects these three areas (doctrine/discipline/discipleship) and takes the church in a direction where the new model has less effect than the correct model. The way the church used to work was more theologically sound, because the structure found in the bible was still in tack. In a discipleship model of the church the focus is taken off the work of God, off of Bible conformity and onto conformity of thinking. When one strays off course, it usually is not because of sin, but because of an error in thinking correctly.
The new model is all about changing the way we think. It is not about transforming the mind (Bible conformity) but conformity of thinking, and the whole structure is about enforcing this and eradicating any glitch in the wheel. If someone is still stuck in the correct model they will be cast out of the new model, because they are still about "God centered theology" not "man centered theology" in fact, a truly saved person will not last long in the wrong model and structure, because they were not designed by God to live in this kind of paradigm, Man was created to love God, and part of loving God is loving His church, but the church has changed it's structure from God centered to man centered, and the problem isn't with your beliefs or your faith, the root of the problem lies in a incorrect thinking construct, designed to reorganise the way you interpret the bible. If this church can get you to think differently about the way you interpret scripture, they can change your mind about how you feel about your sin. If it can change the way you think about your sin, you will not believe that faith is still necessary to please God and you will be thinking differently about your bible, about your church and about your fellow man. This model's goal is to deconstruct Bible conformity, and introduce conformity of thinking. The trick is that the bible is being used in the new evangelical churches to do just that.
Not only has the structure changed, but the goal has changed as well. When you tamper with the structure of the church's doctrine/discipleship/and discipline you have a new structure. It's like taking a '57 Chevy, completely gutting it, and putting in a whole new operating system. Or it's like taking the owners manual of your car and completely ignoring the instructions. The church becomes a place where the natural order of things is replaced by a system of things, and everything that clogs this system, needs to go. That is the order of the day in a man centered theology church. You make people feel comfortable, feed them the word of God and then change the way they think about God, their sin and their salvation, untill like their new structured mind
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