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I currently attend a somewhat conservative church that preaches from the bible, and although the pastor does not expound on the scriptures as much as I wish, he teaches a very biblical verse by verse exegis of the scriptures. However, the Lord led me to visit my previous church and what I heard (and saw) there was disheartening to say the least.

The pastor there got up on the stage and spoke for 15 min on his recieving junk mail, fliers, sale adds, etc. in his mailbox. He then read (he did not have anyone use thier bibles) from Luke 24 regarding the disciples on the road to Emmaus. And from that scripture he drew the conclussion that we need to meditate on the scriptures... Huh, what? How he drew the line from mail to meditation is beyond me, and that the church has strayed so far off coarse from biblical teaching is scary. (When I first joined the church the pastor taught from the bible exclusivly without props, analogies, stories, etc, but was starting to deviate from that method when I left.) This lack of bible teaching has filtered down into the Sunday School classes as well.

My question is this; After viewing several of the lessons of the Theology Program, I felt an urge not to suggest it to my current church, but to suggest it to my previous one, seeing if they wanted to implement it into thier small group or Sunday School curriculum. This is BEFORE going back to visit! I'm wondering if I should go with the idea of talking to the church about TTP and seeing where it goes, or should I forget about it and let them "do thier thing." If you all could pray about it and council me in what you think or might do in this situation, I would appreciate it

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Yours in Christ Jesus,

Don

One may only offer an opinion - these suggestions are best received from those with whom we are on good terms. If your relationship with those at your former church is a loving and respectful relationship = the suggestion would probably be welcomed.

It is always appropriate to share good things with our brothers and sisters, but make the sugggestion positive - as a positive addition rather than a correction.

In Christ, Pastor John

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"The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love." Gal 5:6b

Pastor John C. Blackburn

Pastor John;
As a former member, I am in good standing with the church and the few there that know me, and was a teacher for a while. The problem is that it is a mega church with about 3000+ members, so finding any specific individual to speak to is very difficult, if not impossible.

Also, I am not very good at confrontations; when I attended Sunday school, I was incensed when the teacher went off on a tangent not even related to the study (Col 2:8-19). No discussion of false doctrine, the person of Jesus Christ, legalism,... nothing. And I just sat there shaking my head, supprised that no one made a comment or ask a question. (As I was a visitor, I did not feel it my place to input or question.) The irony of it is that I came to Christ via a false gospel, so I could comment extensively on the topic.

Anyway, perhaps I'm making too much of it, but that it has been nawing at me the last two weeks makes me wonder if the Lord might be somewhere behind it. Take care and have a good weekend.

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Yours in Christ Jesus,

Don

If it is a Mega-church or small-church any change comes from the same place IMO. The Leadership.
If you are looking at this confrontationally I would suggest you let it go. I agree with PastorJohn that positive suggestions will be more likely to help. If you know a Sunday School teacher you should build rapport with this person and then suggest the Theology Program as a good source for study & preparation.

I think that gnawing could be the Spirit stirring you up. IMO it certainly is not of worldly passions. My experience as a Baptist has shown me that we are not getting solid theological teaching out there and, at times, are leaving our congregants with an easy-believeism sort of mentality. Sometimes as Pastors the ministry of outreach, funerals, weddings, and various problems within the congregation distracts us from prayer & the ministry of the Word (see Acts 6:1-4). The result can be a serious lack of sermon preparation and study which leads to weak teaching at best. (I'm sorry to say, I've been there.) What is modeled in the pulpit will eventually filter down to other teachers in my experience.

Pastoring a church of eighty is really tough, I cannot imagine the pressures involved in mega-church leadership. I would suggest much prayer for this pastor and leadership before making any decision in this matter. I will pray for you!

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Blessings,
Randy
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dmyers, why not get an interview with the senior pastor and share, in kindness and concern, what the TTP has done for you, and encourage him to give it a try. When Jesus refused to allow the Gaderene Demoniac to stay with Him, He told the man to "return home and tell how much God has done for you".(Luke 8:39) No one can tell your story but you. Neither should anyone dispute what only you have experienced.

If you do this in love and nonjudgmentally, you may not change anything but you will have told the man who can do something about you concerns. Tell him and leave it in the Lord's hands. Jack