This is an important,
but unfinished introduction to a very revealing set of links:
Today's Biblical illiteracy, which is well documented by
George Barna, has left
churches vulnerable to countless marketing ploys and psycho-social
strategies that lure God's people away from His narrow ways. Cloaked in
theological terms and Biblical promises, the new highways become all the
more alluring.
Keep in mind, there is far more to the current
paradigm shift than meets the eye. For example, behind
Saddleback's mostly clean Christian image hides a plan for global transformation
and social restructuring that is hard to imagine. The sophisticated church
assessments and data technology that help Christians "discover their
spiritual gifts" and prepare for ministry fit right into the communitarian
visions of trained leaders and facilitators inside and outside the church.
The new "systems" view of the world focuses on a
three-member partnership between the private (corporate) sector,
the governmental sector and what's now called the third or "social sector" (which includes
churches). Each would be made up of managed "systems" -- all
interconnected through networks, standards and leadership training.
The basic blueprint for these vast networks was prepared by
Peter Drucker,
the communitarian mastermind behind the "systems
theory" of how to manage everything.
Drucker called Rick Warren
'the inventor of perpetual revival,'[44]
and Saddleback Community Church is a starring example of the success of his pragmatic
theories. The
following links and quotes expose some of the connections and philosophies
that drive the Church Growth Movement:
1.
The Drucker Foundation
:
"The Drucker Foundation worked to realize a vision of the social sector as an
equal partner of business and government based on the belief that a healthy
society requires three vital and effective sectors working together to change
lives. The Leader to Leader Institute will build on the Drucker Foundation
legacy by pursuing its mission in three primary goal areas:
developing social sector leaders of character and competence;
forging
cross-sector partnerships
that
deliver social sector results; and
providing leadership resources that engage and inform social sector leaders."
2.
The Leader to Leader Institute Vision 2010:
"The Leader to Leader Institute will chart the future path for the social sector to become the equal partner of business and government in developing responsible leaders, caring citizens, and a
healthy, inclusive society.
[This is where the small groups
and dialectic process enters in]
"The Foundation will bring the best leadership and management voices
from across the world to people of the world with a focus on providing social sector organizations with the ideas and tools that enable them to better serve their customers and communities.
"The Leader to Leader Institute
[the former Drucker Foundation]
will realize this vision by...
spotlighting social sector innovations and teaching the generic lessons of leadership and management to all three sectors....
Packaging knowledge and experience into tools for social sector leaders in critical areas such as: fund development,
marketing, volunteer management,
[This is where the surveys and
assessments of spiritual gifts and talents fits in]
collaboration, self-assessment, innovation, and
measuring results...."
3.
Emerging Partnerships: New Ways in a New World:
"A Symposium organized by The Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit
Management, sponsored by The Rockefeller Brothers Fund [December 1996]....
"The Drucker Foundation believes
that a healthy society requires three vital sectors: a public sector of
effective governments; a private sector of effective businesses; and a social
sector of effective community organizations [the focus is on large churches].
The mission of the social sector and its organizations is to change lives. It
accomplishes this mission by addressing the needs of the spirit, the mind and
the body--of individual, the community, and society....
"As government cuts back
social spending, many people expect the social sector to absorb much of the
anticipated need for services....
"The one million nonprofit
organizations... that comprise the social sector have only one common
characteristic--their tax exempt status. It is their diversity--in mission,
philosophy, and community--that uniquely qualifies them to deliver effective
services to the community. ... We are now talking about a true partnership to build community and
produce people who are needed by healthy
businesses and a healthy society."
The large community oriented and purpose-driven
churches fit right into the new
communitarian model for
organizing institutions and monitoring people. That's why the Rockefellers are
involved. (To see the Rockefeller continual support for
globalist and socialist programs the last century see
The Revolutionary Roots of the UN)
The
Lilly Endowment "a private foundation...that
supports community development, education and religion,"
has also helped fund the Drucker Foundation. But more recently, it has shown its
support for Baptist leadership and pastoral training. Strangely enough, the two
-- Druckers communitarian vision for the "social sector" and seminary training
in community-building -- fit together. The article, "Golden Gate Seminary Receives $300,000 Lilly Endowment Grant
tells us that the funds would provide "hardware,
software, renovations and training needed to fully integrate up-to-date
technology" with the seminary's training program.
This grant makes all the more sense in light of a
new partnership between Golden Gate Seminary and Saddleback Church.
The Baptist seminary will build a new branch on the Saddleback campus to train
church leaders to use the digital data tracking technology needed to meet and
monitor community needs around the world. ["Saddleback, Golden Gate Launch Partnership for Educating Laity"]
The next link sheds additional light on
Golden Gate Seminary's postmodern orientation:
4.
Church Growth Scholar Advocates Radical Change in New Millennium
:
(By Cameron Crabtree) "The evangelical church in
North America must undergo radical change with new kinds of leadership in order to fulfill its redemptive mission in the postmodern context of the next century,
a church growth scholar told conference participants at
Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary.
"'This ongoing process
of dying in order to live should not unnerve us if we are reading the scriptures
right, for crucifixion followed by resurrection is at the very essence of the
ministry of Christ,' said Eddie Gibbs, professor of
church growth
at
Fuller
Theological Seminary.
"Speaking
during the annual meeting of the
American Society for Church Growth
at
Golden Gate Seminary's Mill Valley,
Calif., campus, Nov. 12-14, Gibbs warned
churches must embrace transitions
or 'forfeit the possibility of
exercising a transformational ministry
within changing cultures.'
"In
the
shift from a modern era
emphasizing rationality and unified progress to a postmodern era characterized by
pluralism, ambiguity and
relativism the church is facing a context in which former concepts of self-identity and purpose are being challenged.
"'The
church itself will need to go through a metamorphosis in order to
find its new identity in the dialectic of gospel and culture,' he said.
'This new situation is requiring churches to approach their context as a
missional
encounter.'
"He said the cultural changes with which church leaders must grapple are:
-Global. "There is nowhere to run to."
-Rapid. "There is no time to reflect."
-Complex. "There is too much information to absorb."
-Comprehensive. "They affect every area of life."
Did you notice how the second paragraph puts the crucifixion into a new context?
The current "metamorphosis" of the church has nothing to do with the crucifixion!
Instead, it adapts the heart of the gospel to a human agenda, putting God's
unchanging Word into a postmodern context. As Pastor Warren does throughout The Purpose-Driven Life, it
contextualizes Biblical truth, using it
to validate its message rather than to preach the Word.
To "embrace transitions" churches must
embrace Georg Hegel's dialectic strategies. This process, embraced by Marx,
Lenin and Stalin, uses the tension between
opposites (thesis and
antithesis) to create synthesis and prepare people for change.
This dialectic process involves continual social change
following a pre-planned purpose.
[See Reinventing the World Part 2: The
Mind-Changing Process and Popular
Occultism]
Look at some of the
history behind the psychological strategies that prepare church leaders to build
churches that complement the envisioned 21st century community:
The History of Faith at Work:
"But a change was on the way. In the first place, the new leadership was open to
change. ... Smaller groups allowed greater openness and emotional intimacy. In that
environment new procedures developed.
"These
procedures were partly the outgrowth of the Human Potential movement and
related behavioral principles and processes. Transactional Analysis with
its emphasis on personal O.K.ness, the National Training Laboratories with
their interest in honest and open encounter, Parent Effectiveness Training which
argued for seeing the child as a person, Esalin, Gestalt and a host
of other workshops, laboratories, strategies and training centers -- all put the
total human being at the center and pleaded for a greater awareness of personal
growth and identity. ...
"Under the leadership of Faith at Work, and with some funding assistance
from the Lilly Endowment, a series of clergy conferences was held in the
spring of 1970 in six American centers: Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, Kansas City,
Chicago, and New York.... The result was the Leadership Training (Development)
Program which was launched with another
grant
from the Lilly Endowment
in the fall of 1970....
"The
objectives of self-awareness, self-acceptance and self-delight, of group building,
and of discerning gifts governed the institute program. Here as elsewhere there
was an effort to fuse Biblical faith with insights from the behavioral sciences."
Rom 12:2
Bob Buford, the founding
chairman of the Peter F. Drucker
Foundation for Nonprofit Management (now titled "Leader to Leader Institute),
made
his management strategies available to Pastor Rick Warren and Saddleback
years ago.
Among the sermons offered for sale at Pastor Warren's website,
www.pastors.com, is a 1997 sermon
credited jointly to Rick Warren and Bob Buford titled, "Leaving a Legacy."
Buford left his top role at the Drucker Foundation to
found Leadership Network, which seems to serve as
a virtual arm of the Drucker Foundation offering management theories,
training and technology to large churches around the world. Through its global network of large
churches, Buford has been bringing Drucker's
management structures to pastors and church leaders around the world. His
website,
leadnet.org, tells us more:
5.
To Everything There Is a Season:
"Leadership Network moved to Dallas and has grown to be a primary resource to which 21st century congregations and church leaders turn for information, innovation, and networking.
Under Brad's leadership, our services expanded to include networking the next generation of church leaders through the
Young Leaders Network
and the
Terra Nova
project. We launched the Leadership Training Network that has focused on equipping and releasing the laity in ministry and service. Our large church forums have grown to include urban as well as suburban churches and a new network is focusing on
missional
church leaders who are pioneers in community transformation."
Did you notice the word "missional"
again? It was used in the earlier statement by Eddie
Gibbs, professor of
church growth
at
Fuller
Theological Seminary who spoke at the Golden Gate Seminary. Let me repeat
his explanation:
"'The
church itself will need to go through a metamorphosis in order to
find its new identity in the dialectic of gospel and culture....'This
new situation is requiring churches to approach their context as a
missional
encounter.'" In other words, the dialectic process (facilitated small groups) must synthesize (blend) the two opposites: "gospel and culture."
That's wrong! Jesus Christ, our
Lord, made a clear distinction between the two. He tells us to be "in the
world" but not "of the world." God's holy gospel and the
world's corrupt culture are incompatible.
They cannot be synthesized!
[2 Cor 6:12-18]
God's people
must not conform to the unholy world. Yet the dialectic process is driving
both Saddleback and other compromising churches further from the truth
and closer to the world. [Romans
12:2]
In
the past few years, the postmodern vision of the "missional Church" has
spread underground like a cancer. One of its "missionary centers" is Regent
College in Vancouver Canada, former "home" of
Professor Eugene Peterson,
author of
The Message:
6.
Congregational Resource Guide
[Regent College, Vancouver]: "With the current decline of mainline churches in our pluralistic culture,
the 'professional' pastor has become ineffective and must give way to
the
'missional' pastor.
Effective Church Leadership defines and lists the major resources of a missional pastor-leader. The reader will find practical help with the
four central tasks of a missional leader: helping people rediscover power in the whole of their lives; helping people
become communities of reconciliation; helping people discover meaning in everyday life; and helping people discover how they can make a difference. The missional pastor helps church members discover who they are now on the mission field,
their specific mission tasks [that's why they must "discover" and
"develop" their "spiritual gifts"], and the central convictions about ordinary life in light of the gospel. The author gives practical insight into how pastors and key leaders can
transform themselves and their communities of faith into vibrant and true
mission outposts. A plan for pastoral evaluation and an evaluation worksheet are
included."
The next two links show the same collective "transformation" -- based on the same
psycho-social strategies -- in a secular context.
Both articles are written by Rick Smyre, President of
Communities of the Future.
Both indicate the need to motivate the masses to accept the planned
transformation. The standard process for motivating people is embrace this
collective change is to exaggerate the gap between the current crisis and a
lofty vision of an ideal future. In the Purpose Driven Paradigm it would be the
gap between a current inadequacy and the noble purpose or vision of future
perfection. The worse the present condition -- and the higher the envisioned
goal -- the greater the gap and the more powerful the motivation to change.
7.
Building Capacities For Community Transformation: "All local communities are faced with the need to prepare themselves for a
constantly changing, interconnected and increasingly complex society. This article emphasizes the needs to develop
webs of learners throughout any community who have the capacity to understand the impact of trends of the future and who work in parallel to community strategic planning....
"Without developing new capacities for transformation, communities will continue to try to improve existing ways. It is important to be aware that incremental change and the old ways of doing things no longer work....
"Until an individual sees the need for change, no true change can occur because of the struggle and commitment that is necessary. In addition, until a community environment allows people to be
open to new ideas, there is no safe haven for thinking differently. Finally, until local communities begin to see value in talking about ideas, there will be
resistance to real change.
...
"No longer fixed and rigid with standardized rules, a pattern of dynamic and constantly changing connections require a
change in our human consciousness....
"Transformational change reflects a
change in the very essence of the institution, concept, method or technique....
"Focus on building a
core group of community leaders who have
a passion for learning. The potential for all communities of the future is to evolve an overall framework of innovation by developing
small networks of learners."
8.
Rewiring a Community’s Brain for the 21st Century:
Aligning the Cosmic Dance:
"The Principles of Transformational Learning. ...Leadership in general will move from top-down direction, prediction, and control of outcomes, to the natural idea of
facilitating and motivating diverse people in methods of adapting to changing circumstances....The idea of a
shifting context of information will become the new environment of learning.
All people will need to become adept at adaptation.... A futures context requires that the idea of a
'mindset' be discarded and replaced with the concept of 'mindflex.' All
learners will need to become comfortable with rethinking, reorganizing, and redesigning....
"Those who are able to understand the
changes in context
brought about by the transformation of change will be capable of vitality in a dynamic society....
"Be
open to new ideas of any kind. Filter those that do not resonate with an understanding of a new reality. One of the greatest obstacles to learning within a constantly changing society is the need for
certainty. The idea of certainty of outcomes will be replaced with the idea of continuity of principles.
[Naturally, Biblical absolutes will seem obsolete. They won't "resonate" with
the new understanding of reality.]
Certainty of values will be the glue that holds communities together. It will be important for all education and learning to search for, emphasize, and
bring to consensus a family of values
[such as tolerance, unity, inclusiveness]....
"Establish experiments and receive feedback.... Focus on
collaboration among diverse people and ideas and allow them to combine in different ways...
....Develop a new system of evaluation to judge the systemic integration of core competencies, the ability to ask appropriate questions, and the ability to connect disparate ideas in continuous innovation.
...Build webs of learners throughout an organization and community. Understand that
the subpatterns of change will demand a new concept of individual learner.... The ideas of
'learning webs' will be added to Peter Senge’s popularization of the idea of
'learning communities.'”
Let's go back to Bob Buford, founder of the
Leadership Network. Buford gave
Peter Drucker an amazing compliment in the
dedication of his book, Half Time. He called Drucker "the
man who formed my mind." Honoring his mentor, Buford helped fund a 2002 documentary on Peter Drucker's
long life. It was aired on CNBC in 2002.
In 1998, Buford wrote chapter 7 ("How
Boomers, Churches, and Entrepreneurs Can Transform Society")
in a "Drucker Foundation" book titled The Community of the Future
[http://www.jossseybass.com].
In it, Mr. Buford wrote:
"There are three major sectors in American society: the government, which
ensures compliance with laws and allocates resources; the business sector, which
proves jobs and fosters economic development; and the social sector, which
addresses social and existential needs ("existential" meaning the making of
personal choices in the context of a free society). All three sectors must do
their part if we wish to create... healthy, socially functioning communities in
the twenty-first century. ...
"For if we cannot learn to live with each other in vibrant, fully functioning
communities, then we will soon have everywhere what we already have to a large
extent in the inner city, which is anarchy. And anarchy quickly and inevitably
gives rise to tyranny, whether on the right or the left." (page 35)
The Community of the Future,
introduces Bob
Buford as
"founder of Leadership Network, a nonprofit organization that
encourages innovation and entrepreneurship among leaders of large churches
and parachurch organizations.... He has held leadership roles with the Young
Presidents' Organization and the World Presidents' Organization and has
been a moderator of executive seminars at the Aspen Institute."
The Aspen Institute gained
a moment of public fame shortly before sweet little Elian Gonzales was sent
back to Cuba some years ago. Because the little boy's mind had been
corrupted with American thinking, the six-year-old had to go through a
mind-changing re-entry process at the Aspen Institute. His little friends
were transported to the temporary "school" so that the small
facilitated group and the dialectic process
could wash his young mind of individual thinking and retrain him in
collective ways.
Founded in Aspen, Colorado, but linked to the
British-based Tavistock Institute for
Human Relations, The Aspen Institute for Humanistic
Studies (AIHS) calls itself "a global forum" which
"seeks to improve the condition of human well-being by fostering
enlightened, responsible leadership and by convening leaders and
policy-makers to address the structural changes of the new century." This training center for a
global army of psycho-social change agents works through offices in Germany, Japan, Italy and France
as well as the United States. Its manipulative and transformative conferences are
usually held in Aspen or at the beautiful Wye plantation in Maryland .
The AIHS
website
summarizes its mission and policies in nice-sounding words that few would
challenge. For those who look deeper, they reflect the socialist vision of the
master-minds behind the world's sophisticated mass psychology and manipulative consensus
process -- well indoctrinated men and women determined to crush all hindrances
to their quest for a new world order: not quite capitalism, not quite
socialism, but Communitarianism or the Third Way. Ponder this statement on
its program
page:
"The
Leading Change seminar is both intellectually challenging and
immediately practical. For example, research indicates that as many as 80%
of all change initiatives fail. A major factor contributing to the high
failure rate of change initiatives is a natural, deep-seated resistance to
change within an organization. Throughout this seminar, senior executives
consider the nature and sources of resistance to change and how to overcome
them. They explore ways of making the organizational environment receptive
to ongoing change and ensuring that beneficial changes become embedded in
culture and practice."
In 1976, the AIHS published
A New Civic Literacy. It offers a glimpse of the philosophy taught
and touted at its global conferences -- one that shows alarming sympathies
with the manipulative education strategies used by Fidel Castro's team of
Communist trainers. The author, Ward Morehouse, writes,
"Experimental
activities should be undertaken to see to what degree formal
learning experiences can shape the world views of Americans so as to make
those views more compatible with (or at least less resistant to)
adjustments in behavior and attitudes necessary to cope more effectively
with problems of interdependence....
"The kind of
educational transformation for which we have argued in these pages will
not come easily. Changing complex social institutions in any fundamental
way requires unlimited quantities of sweat and almost certainly some
tears, if not blood."[2]
In
light of the above agenda, it's not surprising that the
Aspen Institute is funded by globalist foundations such as the Carnegie Corporation, The Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (once headed by Alger Hiss) and the Ford Foundation.
See also
Creating Community
(Part 1)
through Transformational Leadership
Creating Community (Part 2) through a New
Way of Thinking
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