Run Missiouri!! Purpose-Driven Methods (aka Ablaze™) Don't Produce Christian Disciples

Granger Community Church is considered to be one the brightest stars in the Purpose-Driven Church universe and is the 6th most influential church in America.  Thousands of churches (including LCMS churches) have purchased, downloaded and preached Granger's sermons. Past and present pastors from Granger are considered 'rock stars' and thought leaders in purpose-driven / seeker-sensitive circles. But how effective are these Purpose-Driven / Seeker-Sensitive methods at making true converts and true Christian disciples? Well, Granger just released the results of their Reveal Now survey and the data is bleak. In fact, Granger and their 'pastoral' staff get an F.  Here are some of the low lights.

47% of those attending Granger DO NOT believe in salvation by grace. (This means they are NOT Christians, regardless of whether or not they identify themselves as those who are 'Growing in Christ' or 'Christ Centered'.  The correct term for them would be 'false converts'.)

57% of those attending Granger DO NOT believe in the authority of the Bible.



56% of those attending Granger DO NOT believe Jesus is the only way to eternal life.

This is exactly what we should expect from churches that spend their time trying to be 'relevant' and scratch itching ears rather than preaching and teaching God's Word in season and out of season.  Or to put it another way, Christless Christianity is completely impotent when it comes to making Christians and Christian Disciples. These survey results prove that beyond a shadow of a doubt.

These results are a complete train wreck and highlight the fact that it is time to abandon the circus church approach once and for all and get back to the 'boring' and 'irrelevant' work of preaching and teaching God's Word, the Lord's Supper and proclaiming Jesus Christ as crucified for our sins.

Comments

[chad]

First, I've read the PDL book and very not a fan. Ironically, I was reading Luther's 'Concerning Christian Liberty' at the same time and they cover very similar topics.

However - I draw different conclusions from the information you present here. If your goal is to have a congregation of pure Christians, then this would be alarming. However, if your Sunday morning service(s) are an outreach event (not solely, but an aspect of them), you would be salavating at the opportunities right in front of you!

I'd love to see the context of where you got these images... to see how they actually are addressing it.

...and take a look at Luther's CCL... and I'd encourage you to have a copy of PDL next to it and see how similarities there are.

[Jonathan Schultz]

On a related note,

http://www.ideateblog.com/

There you will find a post praising Granger. Ironic that they would, and embarrassing that that church isn't being dealt with in the Synod, but is instead proclaimed as the example we should follow.