Berger on Ablaze!®
My congregation is not Ablaze!®.
Last year the Oklahoma District pushed to have an Ablaze!® presentation at every circuit (grouping of 10 congregations). The purpose of this was not so much to inform the congregations of the Ablaze!® movement; rather it was to get them to commit to the fund-raising side of the program, entitled Fan Into Flame!®. You see, the goal of Ablaze!® is to reach 100 million people by 2017. In order to meet that goal, the Synod has also set the goal to raise $100 million.
But money was not coming in. The books are not open, but it appears from recent reporting that the Synod is millions in debt from the program right now. Hence, the Districts are pressured to sign congregations up to contribute 10% of their budget in over-and-above giving to send to Fan Into Flame!®
The scheme was presented to my congregation in a voter's meeting. The congregation declined to participate.
But why is Ablaze!® so bad? David Berger, Associate Professor and Director of Library Services at Concordia Seminary wrote an essay describing the un-Lutheran foundations of Ablaze!® here. Please note: there is no direct link to the essay, but you must click the essay title ("'Ablaze!®- the Movement' by David Berger")
3 comments :
Hi Chris,
Thanks for the peek into how Ablaze is trying to infect Oklahoma and a big thanks for staying faithful to the LORD.
I also wanted to make sure you did not miss a very good post by Scott on his blog, Stand Firm: http://stand-firm.blogspot.com/2008/05/tale-of-two-reports.html
You're welcome...and thanks for the tip about Stand Firm.
I actually saw this post earlier this morning, and right now it's percolating. I remember reading the initial CTCR report, but have no recollection of Kieschnick asking the CTCR to "review" it. Interesting.
You mean. . . Redeemer. . . isn't on fire? Hmmm. . . oh well.
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